CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BX5680.W74B32Tr|Jf''-'''™^ WllllMlSfllMll'*' *"*°"' °°- ^'^*^°P 3 1924 008 011 367 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008011367 -7 -^^.- Uir pi'.sscf:^ion (■!" the Rev"* IVui' Wilt>r.n ^ ■^■^wJi.'T.y /.y eff^ld .zn^ l!nciyfn.3^fj' THE LIFE O P DANIEL WILSON, D.D., BISHOP OF CALCUTTA AND METROPOLITAN OP INDIA. B Y JOSIAH BATEMAN, M.A., RECTOR OF KORTH CBAT, KENTJ HIS SOS-IIf-LAW AKD OTKST CHAPLAIN. ft Saiflj portraits, Plap, mtb lUnstralimrs. BOSTON: GOULDAND LINCOLN, 60 WASHINGTON STREET. NEW YOEK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. CINCINNATI: GEORGE S. BLANCHARD. 18 6 0. P E E F A C E. In his preface, a biographer may be allowed to say a few words concerning himself; and I would fain use this privilege, to dep- recate any charge 6f presumption in undertaking the present work, and to acknowledge my obligations to those friends who, by their contributions, have enriched it. The late Bishop left the copyright of his works, and his private papers, to his son, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, and this would seem to have pointed him out as the biographer ; but the tie of rela- tionship was deemed too close to admit of that freedofn of speech, and impartial exhibition of character, without whicli the records of a life are valueless. It was necessary, therefore, to select a substitute ; and in this selection, the combination of personal knowledge, relationship near enough yet not too near, some ecclesiastical experience, and a familiarity with Indian life and customs, were deemed desira- ble, if not indispensable, qualifications. Tluis it fell out that the duty was assigned to me; and, coming unsought, it was not declined. IV PEEFACE. The delicacy and difficulty of the undertaking were sufficiently obvious. To draw a likeness when the expression was continually varying ; to describe a character far above the common standard ; to preserve a just balance between the inner life with God and the outer walk With man ; to touch controversy on many points, without awakening, or at least embittering it ; to discuss the proceedings of great religious societies without doing harm ; to speak of individuals without giving pain; to tell the whole story " without partiality and without hypocrisy ; " — all this, and much more, was requisite ; and how could I not but painfully feel my own incompetency, and my need of that wisdom which is from above, and which is " first pure, then peaceable? " For nearly two years, however, I have given myself to the work with all diligence, and in humble reliance upon the guidance and the grace of God. He has been pleased to con- tinue the leisure, and bestow the health which were alike indis- pensable.. Hay He now vouchsafe to give the blessing, and make the finished work tend to the good of His Church and the glory of His great name. The various sources from whence the information wrought up into this Biography was derived, are pointed out in the book itself It will suffice, therefore, here to say, that every statement rests upon direct and undoubted testimony. To the counsel and advice of friends, in doubtful matters, I have been much in- debted ; but the final decision, in every case, and the undivided responsibility, rests with myself alone. PREFACE. V I wish that the name of my brother, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, « could have appeared with my own upon the title-page, as calcu- lated to give authority to the work, and confidence to the reader ; but he was imwilling to take (as he was pleased to say) the credit, without sharing the labor. Every word, however, has passed under his eye, and met, generally speaking, his approbation. This was his wish ; and to this he was entitled, as the chief guardian of his father's honor. The verdict of the public must necessarily be a subject of great uncertainty and some anxiety. Peeling the impossibility of pleasing all, I only venture to profess honesty of purpose, and to express a hope that the acknowledged difficulty of the undertaking will be allowed to plead on my behalf, and procure pardon from those who may detect faults, and indulgence from those who may. feel disappointment. It only remains for me gratefully to acknowledge my obliga- tions to those who have so readily placed letters and papers of various kinds at my disposal, and have been otherwise assisting during the progress of this work. I am indebted to the Marquis Cholmondeley for many important letters ; to the family of the late Rev. Dr. Pearson, Dean of Salisbury; to Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Ashby, surviving daughters of the late Rev. John Eyre, and to Mr. Vardy, Jun., for access to early and authentic documents; to Lady Malkin, Mrs. Poljambe, Miss "Wilson and Mrs. Drew, daughters of the late George Wilson, Esq. ; to my own immediate relatives ; to the representatives of the late Rev. C. Jerram and VI PREFACE. Eev. William Jowett; to H. Harford, Esq., of Blaise Castle ; to , Miss Cecil ; to the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, the Rev. Francis Cunningham, the Rev. Henry Venn, the Rev. Henry Elliott, the Rev. John Hambleton, the Rev. S. C. Wilks, the Rev. Thomas Harding, the Rev. George Clayton, and the Rev. J. Tarlton, for numerous letters, valuable advice, and interesting anecdotes ; to the venerable Dr. Marsh, Mr. Bridges, Mr. Clifton, and Mr. Woodward, for oral communications ; and, above all, to Arch- deacon Pratt for two thousand five hundred folio pages of im- portant records, copied at my request, and under his own eye, from the archives of the diocese of Calcutta. To all these friends I would desire to express grateful acknowledgments. They will find, I trust, that their confidence has not been abused, nor their advice neglected. J. BATEMAN. NoBTH Ceat Eeotoet, Kbnt, NOVEMEBR 17, 1859. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EARLY LIFE. 1778 — 1796. THE WILSON PAMILT — PARENTAGE OS' DANIEL WILSON — SCHOOL DATS — APPRENTICK- SHIP — WILLIAM WILSON — EMPLOTMENTS — JOURNALS — LEISURE HOURS — ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF AND OP OTHERS — IMPORTANT COl^VERSATION — RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS — LETTERS TO MR. BYRE — TO HIS MOTHER — BREAKFAST WITH REV. JOHN NEWTON — STATE OF MIND — SECOND INTERVIEW WITH MR. NEWTON — HIS PIOUS GRANDFATHER — JOSEPH WILSON — SYMPATHY AND INSTRUCTIONS OF MR. EYRE — LETTERS — CLOUDS — FIRST COMMUNION — SUNSHINE, 1 CHAPTER II. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 1796 — 1798. THE DEEP FOUKDATIOHS OF KELIGIOB"— SOB JEOT OPENED — LETTERS TO ME. EYRE — HIS FATHEE'S BEFUSAL OF HIS WISH — HIS OWH EEAS0S8 — COHSULTS KEV. KOWLAND HILL — JOUENAL — CONSULTS EEV. R. CECIL — FATHER CONSENTS — ENTERS AT OXFORD — PUPIL OF REV. J. PRATT, ... 22 CHAPTER III. STUDENT LIFE. 1798. REV. J. PRATT — STUDIOUS HABITS — LETTERS — ATTEMPTS AT DOING GOOD — FAMILY PRATERS- JOURNALS — ATTAINMENTS, ... S2 VIII CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. COLLEGE LIFE. 1798—1801. STATE OI' THE HHIVERSITT — ST. EDMUHD'S HALL — HIS rRIEMBS — EBV. J. OEODCH — JODEHALS — SOttlPTUKAL DrsOUSSIONS — VAOATIOK — LETTERS — EXPENSES — TEHDEE- HESS OP OOHSCIEHOE — COlfPIEMATION — LOHG VACATION— JOnEHAL — COnSIN AHSE — REMINISCENCES— PLAN OP STUDY AT HOME — OOERESPONDEHCE — PROSPECT OP A CUKACY — EXAMINATION — DEGREE — UNIVERSITY PEIZE — HEEEE AND WILSON — COM- MON SENSE, 2^ CHAPTER V. CHOBHAM. 1801 — 1803. CHOEHAM AND BISLET — REV. R. CECIL — PARISHIONERS AND VISITORS — PREACHING — ME. PEARSON — CECIL'S MANNER — LATIN JOURNAL — ORDINATION AT PAENHAM — REFLECTIONS — FIRST SERMONS — SUCCESS — SKETCH OP SERMONS — INDICATIONS OP CHARACTER — PROSPECT OP TUTOESHIP — OP MARRIAGE— LETTEE OP WILLIAM WIL- SON— JOURNAL— PAREWELL SERMON — LONDON — BIS MARRIAGE, ... 53 CHAPTER VI. FAMILY LIFE. 1803 — 1832. JOURNAL — MRS. WILSON — BIRTH OP HIS CHILDREN — HAPPY HOUSEHOLD — DOMESTIC CHAEACTEE — TROUBLES — DEATH OP LITTLE ANN — ILLNESS AND DEATH OP HIS YOUNGEST CHILD — TWO ELDEE BOYS AT WOETON — LETTEES TO THEM AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE- OEDINATION, PREFERMENT, AND MARRIAGE OF HIS ELDEST SON — NARRATIVE OF HIS SECOND SON — DESCENDANTS, 69 CHAPTER VII. OXFORD AND WOETON. 1804—1809. ASSISTANT TUTOESHIP AT OXFORD — REFLECTIONS — RETIREMENT OP MR. CROUCH — SOLE TUTOR — HIS PUPILS — HIS MANNER — "BANDS WILSON" — HIS INDEPENDENT CHAEACTEE— LATIN APPEAL — DISCUSSION IN CONVOCATION — HIS WALK BEFORE GOD — SUNDAY AT WORTON — NATURE OP THE CUP^ACY — SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY- OXFOED VACATIONS — MAHNEE OP PREACHING — RESULTS OP PREACHING — ME. WIL- LIAM WILSON, OF WOETON — MEMORIAL-CALL TO ST. JOHN'S, BEDFORD ROW — BIFPI- ' OULTIES — PINAL SETTLEMENT —RETROSPECT, go CONTENTS, IX CHAPTER VIII. LITEBART LIFE, 1810 — 1831. HABITS AiSD TASTES — I.IBKAB7 — PBIZE ESSAY — SERMON ON OBEDIENCE — FUNEEAL 8EBM0N FOB ME. CECIL — STYLE — COSVEESATION WITH BELLINGHAM — ON CONFIRMA- TION AND LORD'S SUPPEK — rUNEEAL SERMONS FOB MR. OAEDALB, MRS. CARD ALE, AND REV. W. QOODE — PAMPHLET ON SOCIETY FOE PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWL- EDGE — CONTROVERSIES ON THE SUBJECT — SERMON ON REGENERATION — VIEWS ON REGENERATION — OFFENCE TO THE UNIVERSITY — POLITICAL VIEWS — SERMONS TO CHILDREN — ANNIVERSARY SERMON FOR CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ^PAMPHLET IN DEFENCE OF CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY— VOLUME OF SERMONS— DOCTRINAL VIEWS — ANECDOTE — PRAYEK BOOK AND HOMILY SOCIETY — FUNERAL SERMONS FOR THE REV. THOMAS SCOTT — PREFACE TO ADAM'S " PRIVATE THOUGHTS," BUTLER'S " ANALOGY," WILBERFOROE'S " PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY," BAXTER'S " REFORMED PASTOR," QUESNEL ON "THE GOSPELS " — DK. CHALMERS — " LETTERS FROM AN ABSENT BROTHER" — EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY — HANNAH MORE — ROHAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION — SIR R. PEEL — LETTERS TO "CHRISTIAN OBSERVER"- SIR J. MACK- INTOSH— DR. CHALMERS — MR. SIMEON — SERMONS ON LORD'S DAY — FUNERAL SER- MONS FOR MR. CHARLES GRANT, EEV. S. CROUCH, REV. B. WOODD — CONTROVERSY WITH DR. BURTON, 104 CHAPTER IX. ST. JOHN'S. 1796 — 1798. ORIOII7 OF ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL — DB. SAOHEVEE.EL — CLOSING OF ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL — MANNER IN THE PULPIT — COMPOSITION OF SERMONS — ANECDOTE OF A FRENCH PAS- TOR — NUMBER OF SERMONS — COURSES OF SERMONS — LOST MSS. — CONGREGATION — DISTINGUISHED AUDITORS — FIRST IMPRESSIONS — EXTENSIVE USEFULNESS — DR. BU- CHANAN — CANON DALE — BASIL WOODD — CORRESPONDENCE — QUESTION OF LAW — CONFIRMATION — COLLECTIONS— DISTRICT VISITING SOCIETY — AUXILIARY BIBLE SO- CIETY — VISITS TO OXFORD, NORFOLK, BIRMINGHAM, DUBLIN, ARMAGH, BRISTOL, MANCHESTER, STAFFORDSHIRE, NORTH WALES, LIVERPOOL, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, NORTH- AMPTONSHIRE, CAMBRIDGE, HALIFAX, HUDDER9FIELD, CA8TERTON, LEEDS, KNARES- BOROUQH, CHANNEL ISLANDS, FRANCE — ANECDOTES — OPINIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS — FRENCH TRANSLATIONS — ECLECTIC SOCIETY — FAILURE OF HEALTH — CONTINENTAL TOUR — DANGEROUS ILLNESS — RECOVERY — BECOMES VICAR OF ISLINGTON, . 133 CHAPTER X. ISLINGTON. 1824 — 1832. LIVING OF ISLINGTON — DR. STRAHAN — SUCCESSOR FOR ST. JOHN'S — LETTER FROM ME. PRATT — HIS OWN IMPRESSIONS — ANTICIPATIONS OF THE PARISHIONERS — PAROCHIAL MATTERS — VESTRY MEETINGS — ADDITIONAL SERVICES — HEW CHURCHES — PUBLIC A ; CONTENTS. APPEAL— PRATEE— BISHOP OP LOKDOH — CHUBOH OOMMISSIOKEES — SITES — PLAMS — CUKATE3— SCHOOLS — PASTOBAL ADDRESS — LEOTUBESHIP VESTRIES — OITILDFORD — JOUBNALS — ILLHESS OP MRS. WILSON — HER DEATH — COSPIKMATIOH — HEW LIBBABY — PERSONAL HABITS — OOHSECRATION OP HEW CHURCHES — PEOPRIETAKY SCHOOL — THE APOCRYPHA C0HTBOVEB8Y — HEWFOHHOLAHD SCHOOL SOCIETY — PARISH TROU- BLES — MB. OHURCH-WABDEH WOODWARD — BISHOP TURHEB — CHABLE8 GRAHT — PIRST IDEA OP BISHOPRIC OP CALCUTTA — IHTERVIEW WITH ME. CHARLES GRAHT — APPOIHTMEHT TO CALCUTTA — IHTERVIEW WITH LORD QBE Y — COHSEOBATIOH AT i,AM- BETH — EEPLECTIOHS — ECLECTIC SOCIETY — ATTEHDAHCE AT COUBT — VISIT TO PABH- HAM CHAPEL — ISLIHQTOH TESTIMOHIALS — DEP AKTUEE PEOM ISLIHGTOH, . 178 CHAPTER XI. THE VOYAGE TO INDIA. 1832. POETSMOtTTH- THE "JAMES BIEEALD " — OCCUEREHCES OS THE VOYAGE — RELIGIOUS SEEVIOES — POUE GERMAH MISSIONARIES — THE SINGING SAILOE-BOY — STUDIES — CORRESPONDENCE — CAPE TOWN — HOSPITALITIES — VIBITATIOH OP THE SCHOOLS- INFANT SCHOOL — SOCIETY FOB PEOMOTIHG CHEISTIAH KHOWLEDGE — ORDIKATIOH — DEPARTURE FROM OAPE TOWH — COREBSPOHDEHCE — BIOKHESS — THE HOOGHLY — WELCOME TO IKDIA, 229 CHAPTER XII. INDIA. 1832 — 1834. JITItlSDICTIOK OF THE IXDIATf EPIBOOPATE — ITS STATE ON HIS ARRIVAL — PIRST DIEFI- CTJLTY — HOW SETTLED — PIRST SERMONS I» THE CATHEDRAL — CORRESPOHDEXCE "WITH THE ARCHDEACONS AHD OTHERS — MARRIAGE OP HIB DAUGHTER — HIS DOMES- TIC LIFE AHD PERSONAL HABITS — RE8IDEH0E AT TITTAGHUR — BISHOPS HEBER AND TURNER — LORD W. BEHTINCK, GOVERN OR -GENERAL — ECCLESIASTICAL QUESTIONS — FREE SCHOOL — LENT LECTURES — CLERICAL MEETINGS — BISHOP'S COLLEGE — ORDINA- TIONS — CONFIRMATIONS — NATIVE BAPTISMS — INFANT SCHOOLS — STEAM COMMUNICA- TION — BEGUM SUMROO'B FUND — THE NEW CHARTER — CHURCH-BUILDING FUND FOR INDIA — MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE AMONG NATIVE CHRISTIANS — RELATION OF THE CHAPLAIN TO THE GOVERNMENT AND THE BISHOP — THE INDIAN CLIMATE — CORRE- SPONDENCE, 243 CHAPTER XIII. PRIMARY VISITATION. 1834 — 1835. BISHOP'S CHARGE- VOYAGE TO PKHAHQ — SCENERY — PRODUOTIOHS — ^OPULATIOH — EPISCOPAL REVIEW — PEHAHO HILL — SINGAPOEE — CHURCH BUILDING — SCHOOLS — LAHDIHG AT MALACCA — JOSS-HOUSE — DUTCH HOUSE — MOUI.MEIN — CONSECRATION CONTENTS. XI OF THE CHTTRCH — GET LOW — ITS TROUBLED STATE — MARRIAGE L1CEMBE8 — BIBLE TRANSLATIONS — DUTCH PROPONENTS — COTTA — SPLENDID SCENERY — KANDY — AN- CIENT TEMPLE — king's PALACE — BHUD'S TOOTH —INTERVIEW WITH ADIGARB AND PRIESTS — BADDEOAME — SEVERE STORM —LANDING AT MADRAS — SOUTHERN MIS- SIONS — CASTE QUESTION — TANJORB — CONFERENCE WITH THE NATIVES — SWARTZ — TKICHINOPOLY — CORRESPONDENCE, 300 CHAPTER XIV. PRIMAKY VISITATION.— Continued. 1835 — 1836. MISSION AKT CHARGE — DEPAnTUBE PROM TANJORE — VIZAGAPATAM — VISIT TO THE TEM- PLE OP JUGGERNAUT — ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA — DIVINE SERVICE AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE — THE ARCHDEACONRY— THE MISSIONARIES — CONTROVERSY WITH THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY — SELECT VESTRY— CALCUTTA DISTRICTS— LA MARTINIERE — BAILY LIFE— VISITATION RESUMED- THE SYRIAN CHURCHES — CONFERENCE WITH THE METRAN — WHITE AND BLACK JEWS AT COCHIN — GOA — BOMBAY — OLD FAQUEER — CORRESPONDENCE, .... . . 388 CHAPTER XV. PRIMARY VISITATION. — Concluded. 1836 — 1838. BOMBAY CHARGE — THE MARCH — THE ESCORT — THE CAMP — AHMEDNUGQUR — EURO- PEAN TROOPS — AURUNGABAD — LITTLE GROUP OF CHRISTIANS — MHOW —DURBAR AT INDORE — NEEMUCH — NUSSEERABAD — AJMERE — JYEPOOR — DAY AT THE PAL- ACE — THUGS — DELHI — MEERUT — MUSSOOREE — NEW CHURCH — JOURNEY ACROSS THE HIMALAYAH MOUNTAINS — 8IMLAH — "SERMONS PREACHED IN INDIA" — RETURN TO THE PLAINS — ON THE SUTLEJ — LODIANAH — KURNAUL — THE CITY OF DELHI — VISIT TO THE KING —AGRA — TAJMAHAL — BAREILLY — CAWNPORE — CHURCH BUILDING — FUTTEHPORE — ALLAHABAD — THE PILGRIMS — PILGRIM TAX — ON THE GANGES — ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA — KRISHNAGHUR— BURDWAN — DEPARTURE OF DR. MILL AND BISHOP'S CHAPLAIN — DEATH OF SIR BENJAMIN MALKIN — JOURNAL — CORRESPOND- ENCE, 156 CHAPTER XVI. SECOND VISITATION. 1838 — 1842. THE BISHOP'S SECOND VISITATION — IMPORTANT CHARGE — VOYAGE TO THE STRAITS — CHITTAGONG — SIR WILLIAM JONES'S HOUSE — APPOINTMENT OF PROFESSOR STREET — LENT LECTURES IN CALCUTTA — FIRST IDEA OF THE HEW CATHEDRAL — AWAKENING AT KRISHWAGHUR— PROPAGATION SOCIETY MISSIONS — BAPTISM OF NATIVES— CON- SECRATION OF CAWNPORE CHURCHES — LUCKNOW — DELHI— ALMORA — MUSSOOREE — 8IMLAH — MOONLIGHT AT AGRA — ADDITIONAL CLERGY SOCIETY— QWALIOR — JHANSI XII CONTENTS. — SAUGOK—JUBBirLPOBi:— CALCUTTA — COOTKOVERBT WITH PKOPASATIOH BOCIETT — MKa. WILSOS AMD FEMALB OEPHAN KEFDGE — JOUKITAL-LETTEKS — BTLHET AMD CHIBRAPOOHOEE — TEN THOUSASD OBAN8ES — CAUBUL TEAGEDY — JOUBMAL-LETTEES — COBESSPONDENCE, CHAPTER XVII. FIRST METROPOLITICAL VISITATION. 1842 — 1845. BISHOP'S PIEST METEOPOLITICAL CHAEGE — PENSIOHS POE BISHOPS — MINnTES OF CONPEBENCE WITH SCPPEAGAM BISHOPS — MADEAS — BISHOP SPENCEE — TAKJOEE — SWAETZ — TINNEVELLT — PALAMCOTTA — STBIAN CHUBCHES — OPEN MISSIOM SET UP — BOMBAY — JOUEKAL-LETTEBS — PUTTEHPOEE — NYNEE-THAL — SIMLAH — SEEMOSS OS EPISTLE TO THE C0L0S81ANS— GIFT OF TEH THOUSAKD EnPEES TO HIS CATHE- DEAt — LODIAKAH — UMB ALLAH — SEIZED WITH JUNGLE FEVEE — HIS DAHGEEOUS STATE — ME. PKATT'S HABBATIVB — BISHOP'S KEPLEOTIOHS — OEDEEED HOME — SAILS FOE ENGLAHD — CORBESFONDBSCE, 557 CHAPTER XVIII. POURTH VISITATION. 1845 — 1848. FOUETH AND PAEEWELL CHARGE — LEAVES CALCUTTA — AREIVAL IN ENGLAND — OLD FBIENDS — PEOPOSED PLANS — , ADDEE8S FBOM THE PEOPAGATIOS SOCIETY, AND EEFLY — BETDBK OF FEVEE — VISIT TO ADDIKGTON AND HUDDEBSFIELD — ELLAND SOCIETY — DUEHAM — 8HEEBURN — RIPON — YORK — LOBD METCALFE — DINNEE BY EAST INDIA ^COMPANY — PRESENTED AT COURT— PRIVATE AUDIENCE — VISIT TO MILK STREET — DINNER AT THE MANSION HOUSE — CHURCH MISSIONARY ANNIVERSARY SERMON — JOURNALS— EADCLIFFE INFIRMARY SERMON— JEEUSALEM CONSECEATION SEEMON — OHOBHAM — BRIGHTON — EXETEE — TORQUAY — QUEEN'S COMMUNION PLATE — PAEE- WELL SEEMON — LEAVES ENGLAND — VOYAGE — ARRIVAL IN CALCUTTA — JOURNALS — CONSECEATION OF CATHEDBAL — BEPOET — LORD HABDINGE — JOUENAL9 — COBEE- SPONDENOE, . 590 CHAPTER XIX. FIFTH VISITATION. 1848 — 1851. BISHOP'S FIFTH CHAEGE — VOYAGE TO BOMBAY — ACCIDENT — CEYLON — MADRAS — CALCUTTA — JOURNALS — CHANGE OF EESIDENCE — THANKSGIVING SERMONS — VAL- IDITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW IN INDIA — SIR CHARLES NAPIER — NEW PALACE — ME. PRATT MADE AEOHDEAOON — PRINCIPAL KAY, OF BISHOP'S COLLEGE — LORD DALHOUSIE — JOUBNALS — VISITATION — CHURCH BUILT FROM " ILLUSTRATED LON- DON NEWS" — EEV. J. BLOOMFIELD, DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN— RAJAH BBOOKE— VOY- AGE TO BOENEO — RETURN TO CALCUTTA — JOURNAL — PROFESSOR STREET'S ILLNESS AND DEATH — CATHEDRAL MISSION CONVERTS — DANGEROUS ILLNESS — COKEESPOND- ^^<^^' • 630 CONTENTS. Xril CHAPTER XX. SIXTH VISITATION. 1851 — 18.55. en AEGE — JOCKHALS — SUDDEN DEATHS OF MR. WEITBKEOHT AHD PE0FE880B -VVEIDE- MANN — VOLUME OP SEKMOKS ON "THE GREAT ATONEMENT" — BISHOP OB* VICTORIA — IMPRESSION MADE UPON HIM — LOVE OP FLOWERS — VISITATION — ELECTRIC TELE- GRAPH — MRS. ELLEBTON AT THE PALACE — GATHERING OP THE BISHOPS — CONSECRA- TION OF THE BISHOP OP LAEUAN — CORRESPONDENCE, 658 CHAPTER XXI. SEVENTH ANT) LAST VISITATION. 1855 — 1857. LAST CHARGE — VISITATION TO BUUMAH — MEETS LORD DALHOUSIE — SUCCESSFUL APPLI- CATIOSS — PROMPT ACTION —AMERICAN MISSIONARIES — PRIMITIVE ABODE — MODEL FARM — TAKES SPIRITUAL POSSESSION OP BURMAH — SERMONS — CONFIRMATIONS — VOYAGE TO MADRAS — BISHOP DEALTRY — VISIT TO CEYLON — PEARL SERMON — LORD AND LADY CANNING — CALCUTTA JOURNALS — THANKSGIVING SERMON FOR PEACE — CATHEDRAL IMPROVEMENTS — DONATION — TERRIBLE ACCIDENT — TENDERNESS OF SPIRIT — REARRANGEMENT OF CATHEDRAL ENDOWMENT FUND — PLAN FOR A COADJU- TOR BISHOP — INDIAN MUTINIES — SERMON ON " PRAYER, THE REFUGE OF THE AF- FLICTED church" — T^E BISHOP ENTERS HIS EIGHTIETH YEAR — REFLECTIONS — MEETING FOR PRAYER — HUMILIATION SERMON — CAPTAIN PEEL AND THE " 8HAN- ITON"' — TRIP TO SAND-HEADS — CAPTAIN KEY AND THE " 8AN6PAREIL " — FIVE LET- TERS — RECEIVING- SHIP — REFLECTIONS — RETURN TO CALCUTTA — HIS DEATH — FUNERAL SERMONS IN ISLINGTON — NARRATIVE OF ARCHDEACON PRATT, DR. WEBB, AND MR. WALTERS — RESPECT PAID TO THE BISHOP'S MEMORY — TESTIMONIES TO HIS WORTH, 677 CHAPTER XXII. REFLECTIONS ON THE BISHOP'S CHARACTER. HIS ENERGY — THE SIMPLICITY OF HIS AIM — HIS DEEP PIETY — SPIRIT OF PRATER — STUDY OP SCRIPTURE — MORAL COURAGE — UNTIRING INDUSTRY — CONSISTENCY — DEEP SELF-ABASEMENT — FIDELITY TO CHRIST — MISSIONARY ZEAL — GKOWIHQ CHAR- ITY—UNBOUNDED LIBERALITY- FEARLESSNESS — PEOULIAItlTIKS, ... 729 fist of lllwslratiflns. POETEAIT OF BISHOP WILSON, by Phillips, .... Frontispiece. THE BISHOP'S BIRTHPLACE IN SPITALFIELDS, . . Facing pagel. PARE CHOBHAM CHURCH IN 1801 59 UPPER WOKTON CHURCH IN 1804 92 ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW, WITH DWELLING-HOUSE IN CHAPEL STREET 135 ISLINGTON PARISH CHURCH 183 STRAWBERRY HILL, PENANG 308 TRIUMPHAL ARCH, CEYLON 323 TRINCOMALEE, CEYLON, 830 INTERIOR OF MISSION CHURCH AT TANJOEE, WITH GRAVES OF SWAETZ AND OTHER EARLY MISSIONARIES, ... 364 MISSIONARY SCENE AT MUTTOOPUTTY, ON THE COLEROON RIVER, MADRAS, 378 SYRIAN CHURCH AT COTTAYAM, 426 INTERIOR OF A SYRIAN CHURCH, WITH METRAN AND CATANAE, . 437 SYRIAN CHURCH AT CAEANYACHIRRA 443 NATIVE VILLAGE IN THE HIMALAYAH MOUNTAINS, 478 HIMALAYAH WITCH 481 THE PEACOCK THRONE, DELHI, 494 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, CALCUTTA, IN 1847, 617 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, CALCUTTA, IN 1859, WITH BISHOP'S PALACE, 688 FAC-SIMILE OF THE BISHOP'S HANDWRITING A FEW HOURS BE- FORE HIS DEATH, n3 THE CHANCEL OF THE CATHEDRAL AND BISHOP'S VAULT, . . 718 PORTRAIT OF BISHOP WILSON, BY Claxtok, . . . Facing page 126. MAP OF THE BISHOP'S JOURNEYS IN INDIA, . . .End of Volume. |?tsIjop mUsDit's §iitl2^lnct, itt gpiialfidlJs. THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON, D. D. CHAPTER I. EAKLY LIFE. 1778—1796. THB WILSON FAMILY — PAEEMTAGE OF DANIEL WILSON — SCHOOL DATS — APPKENTICK- SHIP — WILLIAM WILSON — EMPLOTMEHTS — JOUKHALS — LEISDRE HOUKS — ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF AND OF OTHERS — IMPORTANT CONVERSATION — RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS — LETTERS TO MR. EYRE — TO HIS MOTHER — BREAKFAST WITH REV. JOHN NEWTON — STATE OF MIND — SECOND INTERVIEW WITH MR. NEWTON— HIS PIOUS GRANDFATHER — JOSEPH WILSON — SYMPATHY AND INSTRUCTIONS OF MR. EYRE — LETTERS— CLOUDS — FIRST COMMUNION — SUNSHINE. The name of Daniel Wilson has been more or less prominently before the church for fifty years. He was the eldest son of Stephen Wilson and Ann Collett West, and was born in Church Street, Spitalfields, on July 2nd, 1778. For many generations the Wilson family has been settled at Stenson, a hamlet of Bari-ow-cum-Twyford, near Derby.^ In the register books of the parish it may be traced up to the year 1657, when, those records ceasing, the clue is lost : and as a somewhat curious coincidence, in connection with this biography, it may be noted that in the year 1C82-3, there is the entry of a marriage solemnized "per dominum Danielem Wilson." Prosperous in their affiiirs, they gradually rose from tenant farmers, to be land- owners in their own right, and freeholders of the county. The custom seems to have been, always to keep the eldest son at home 1 One of the last acts of the Bishop of Cal- above referred to, on the application of Am- cutta was to send £50 as a donation towards brose Moore, Esq., a near relative, the erection of a vicarage house in the parish 2 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. to succeed in due time to the farm ; and then, giving the younger sons the best education possible, to send them into the wide world of commerce. Participating in the growing spirit of enterprise which has pervaded the country during the last century, and uphold- ing the family character for integrity and ability, many of these younger sons have attained high rank in the commercial world, realized large fortunes, and become possessors of considerable landed estates. Amongst them, Stephen Wilson held an honored place. He lived for some years in Spitalfields, carrying on the business of a silk manufacturer. From thence he removed, in the year 1798, to No. 12 Goldsmith Street, CheapSide. For some time he had a country house, called Marsh Gate, at Homerton ; and finally resided till his death in New Ormond Street, Russell Square. He was a gentleman, a true Christian, a kind father, and a good master; methodical in his habits, and somewhat quick in his temi^er. In middle life he was grievously afflicted with asthma, and died of that complaint on the 7th of December, 1813, aged 60 years. His wife, Ann Collett West, before referred to, survived him many years. She belonged to a highly respectable family, who had been intimate with the Rev. George Whitefield ; and her father, Daniel West, was appointed one of his trustees. In early life she had chosen "the better part," and subsequently became an exemplary wife, an affectionate mother, and a careful mistress. She died in the faith of Christ, on the 3rd of June, 1829. At his birth, their son Daniel was a weakly child, and M^as placed out to nurse in the country. But after a few years this early deli- cacy entirely passed away, and he grew up a healthy, vigorous boy, with a firm step, buoyant spirits,, and a handsome, intellectual countenance. A few traditionary stories of his early days still linger in the memory of friends, but they are not worthy of preservation. He himself records the fact, that when at school, and sensible of some transitory impressions of religion, he used to get upon a chair, select a text, and preach sermons to his schoolfellows. When he returned to England for his health in 1845-6, he visited on one occasion the house where he was born, pointing out the broad oak railing of the staircase down which he used to slide, and inquiring as to the fate of one of a group of mulberry trees at the bottom of the garden, which he instantly missed. It was one of those good, roomy, and comfortable houses which abound in the old-fashioned parts of London ; and the sight of it seemed to recall to his mind many of the pleasing reminiscences of childhood. 1778-96. EARLY LIFE. 3 At the age of seven years he was sent to a preparatoiy school at Eltham, in Kent, kept by a Mr. and Mrs. Searle : and from thence, in his tenth year, he was removed to Hackney, and placed under the care of the Rev. John Eyre. Mr. Eyre had been curate to the Rev. Richard Cecil, at Lewes, for a short time, about the year 1778 ; and was now the pious and highly respected minister of an episcopal chapel at Homerton, erected in 1729, and commonly called "Ram's Chapel," from Mr. Ram, who had built and endowed it for the service of the Church of England. There were but six or eight pupils in the school when Daniel Wilson joined it. His master soon appreciated his character, and said, " There is no milk-and-water in that boy; he will be something either very bad or very good." A fit of idleness and perversity one day seized him, and he would neither do his accustomed work, nor an imposition which had been set him as a punishment. His master, passing through the room, saw him idling at his desk, and said, "Daniel, you are not worth flogging, or I would flog you." Not worth flogging! It stirred the boy's pride, and he was never in similar disgrace again during all the years he stayed. He became persevering and indefatigable. Finding himself unable to do his appointed work one morning, he steadfastly refused to join the fam- ily at dinner, saying, " No ! if my head will not work, my body shall not eat." Before long he became the delight and pride of his master, who always spoke of him as possessing an intellect of the highest order, and used to tell how, when his own theme was writ- ten, he would sit down and -wiute themes for the duller boys, vary- ing the matter, but keeping to the point, in all. Under Mr. Eyre, Greek, Latin, and French, were grappled with, and the usual ele- ments of a sound and useful education acquired. The affection manifested on the one side, was thoroughly reciprocated on the other; and his "dear master" was often consulted by Daniel Wil- son in the emergencies of after-life. He remained at school till June 1792, when he had nearly attained the age of fourteen; and on the 4th December in the same year, was taken into the ware- house of Mr. William Wilson, and bound to him, in the way then usual, for seven years. A new world thus opened before him ; he had but to follow in the track already marked out, and stores of wealth lay at his feet. Mr. William Wilson was his near relative by blood, and his ma- ternal uncle by marriage. He was an extensive silk manufacturer and merchant. A strict and just man, he claimed " unlimited obe- dience " from all who served him ; and expected the same industry 4 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. and perseverance which he manifested himself. He was a widower with seven children, and resided at his place of business in Milk Street, Cheapside, ordering his household in the fear of God, keep- ing holy the Lord's Day, and conscientiously availing himself of the ordinances of the church. In his establishment preferment fol- lowed merit. Every one was honorably dealt with ; but very little allowance was made for boyish levity or impulse. As an illustra- tion of the strict discipline enforced, one who entered the ware- house soon after this time, testifies, that sometimes for weeks together he never put his hat on ; and that more than three years elapsed before his first holiday was granted. But Daniel Wilson himself shall speak of these times, for they have an important bearing on his early life. " My parents,'' he says, for the first years of their marriage, were a kind of loose church people, from the want of piety in their parish ministers, attending regularly at Mr. Komaine's, of Blackfriars Church, in the morning of the Sunday, and at the Tabernacle, I suppose, in the evening. When their young family made the distance from Blackfriars inconvenient, they attended at a dissenting meeting-house in their neighborhood in the morning, and at Spitalfields Church in the evening. My schoolmaster, however, being a cleVgy- man, — though not strictly regular, — I was accustomed to the church service during the four years of my residence with him. When I went to live with my uncle, before I was fourteen, an entire change took place in these respects ; for he was a strict and conscientious Churchman, attending first Mr. Komaine, and after his death, Mr. Crowther, of Christ Church, Newgate Street, Mr. Cecil, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Basil Woodd. My prejudices, therefore (for I had no religion), were then in favor of the Church of England, and though the predilection was slight before I went to college, it became, from the moment I entered the university, so deeply conscientious, that I have never done any one act inconsistent with the bonds of that communion from that period." The records of his first three years of service are somewhat scanty. His daily duties are described in the following letter to a school companion, named Vardy, with whom for a short time he carried on an active correspondence : " Feb. 16, 1797. " My individual employment is not laborious, but it is constant. Our usual hours of work are from six o'clock in the morning till eight o'clock in the even- ing in the summer ; and from seven o'clock in the morning till eight in the evening in the winter. So that you see I have but little time to myself After eight o'clock, in general, I am at liberty to read or write alone, till supper-time, which is at half-past eight o'clock, or a quarter to nine ; and after this I sit reading with the family till ten o'clock, when my uncle calls them to prayers, and all go to bed. But as my leisure moments were by these regulations exceedingly circumscribed, I have always been accustomed to spend a couple i'lS-Oe. EARLY LTFE. 5 of hours in mj' room before I retired to rest. Then I used constantly to study my Latin and French, so that I was making considerable progress in both.'' The journals of a cousin, who was his intimate friend at this time, and who still happily survives, will give a further insight into his movements at this time. The following are extracts : " 1794, Dec. .30. Went with Daniel to Messrs. Gosjjngs in Fleet Street. " Tuesday. Daniel called, went with him to Wood Street. " Saturday. Went with Daniel to Cornhill with a bill, which was returned. ; " Tuesday. Daniel called, went with him to the Chapter Coffee-house. " Wednesday. Daniel called, he went with me to the banker's." Thus we have a glimpse of him in the city. We may also see him at the desk ; for in the hours stolen, as he mentions, from sleep, not only were Latin and French kept up, but English composition was diligently practised. An old manuscript book affords the proof. It is filled with essays of various kinds, some on the truth of the Scriptures, and some on moral subjects, after the manner of the Spectator, with appropriate mottos. There are also various transla- tions from old devotional Latin works. All are written in the clearest hand, as if prepared for the press ; and they manifest a love of literature and a skill in composition very unusual under similar circumstances. The ore would crop out. In another point of view, however, his character during these three years appears to have developed itself unfavorably. The following is the account he gives of himself in the year 1796 : " As far back as I can remember, my whole heart was given to sin. Even when a boy at school, when particular circumstances recur to my mind, I am shocked at the dreadful depravity of my nature as it then discovered itself. I have indeed proceeded in a regular progression from the lesser sins of bad books, bad words, and bad desires, to the grosser atrocities of those emphatically known by ' the lusts of the flesh.' I was constantly acting against a better knowledge. I had received a religious education, and had been accustomed to a regular attendance on public ordinances. I could criticize a sermon, and talk and dispute about particular notions ; but I loved my sins, and could not bear to part with them. I never had gone so far as to deny any one doctrine of the gospel. I acknowledged them to be true, but for want of that neces- sary attendant, self-application, I could hear whole sermons — but not a word belonged to me ! I took a false idea of the gospel, and from this distorted view, dogmatically pronounced it out of my power to do anything; and so, hushing my conscience with ' having done all I could,' I remained very quietly the willing slave of sin and Satan." This witness against himself may no doubt be true ; and it is to a 6 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. certain extent confirmed by the testimony of contemporaries. One of these was himself in early life an attendant at the Sunday evening lecture in Spitalfield's Church, founded by the Weavers' Company, and preached alternately for three years at a time, by the Rev. R. Cecil and the Rev. J. Foster. This lecture, Mr. William Wilson and his family used to attend, sitting in the rector's pew. Our informant sat with them, and his attention was drawn to Daniel Wilson by the marked irriverence he showed during divine service. Whilst others were standing or kneeling, he would be sitting in a careless, lounging manner, and often laughing and talking. It was understood also, at the same time, that he was skeptical in his views. He himself acknowledges that he lived entirely without prayer; others testify that he scoffed at it, saying that "it rose no higher than the ceiling." If it was so, the fault was in the heart rather than in the head. Religion was disliked, not disbelieved. The feelings were perverted, not the intellect. These considerations will afford a clue to some of the remarks which have gone before, and to others which will follow. The age in which he lived, was, in fact, chai'acterized by coarse infidelity. He was surrounded by the temptations of a great metropolis. His temper was impetuous, his passions were strong, and his companions, more or less, like minded. And there can be little doubt that, for a time, in early life, he " walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and stood in the way of sinners, and sat in the seat of the scornful." But a great change was at hand ! The full tide of business is flowing through the warehouse in Milk Street ; five hundred weavers in succession, of all ages and both sexes, are depositing their finished work or seeking more ; cus- tomers are hurrying in and out, books are being posted, bills nego- ciated, and a colossal fortune reared. The master's eye is every- where, and in his presence all is order and decorum. But when the day draws to a close and he retires, restraint is thrown off and dis- cipline relaxed. The young men gather together, conversation is let loose, jokes are practised, words are unguarded, disputation is aroused. The topic of religion is familiar to them, and is commonly discussed without reserve. One finds his amusement in it, a second quiets conscience by it, and a third excuses sin. Amongst them is Daniel Wilson, with high intellect, high powers, high aspirations — all checked and held down by Self — in some of its linked forms of self-esteem, self-will, or self indulgence. Such was his natural character. ^ The Grace of God began to work upon this character ; and a conflict ensued between the old nature and the new, between the flesh and the spirit, which never ceased till death. 1778-96. EARLY LIFE. 7 It is this work of grace, leading to true conversion, which has now to be considered ; and Daniel Wilson shall himself describe the process. He is writing to his friend Mr. Vardy, on November 29, 1796, and he says: " One evening (March 9th, 1796) I was as usual engaged in wicked discourse ■with the other servants in the warehouse, an4 religion happening (humanly speaking, I mean) to be started, I was engaged very warmly in denying the responsibility of mankind, on the supposition of absolute election, and the folly of all human exertions, where grace was held to be irresistible. (I can scarcely proceed for wonder that God should have upheld me in life at the moment I was cavilling and blaspheming at his sovereignty and grace.) We have a young man in the warehouse, whose amusement for many years has been entirely in conversing on the subject of religion. He was saying that God had appointed the end — he had also appointed the means. I then happened to say that I had none of those feelings towards God which he required and approved. ' Well, then,' said he, ' pray for the feelings.' I carried it off with a joke, but the words at the first made some impression on my mind, and thinking that I would still say, that ' I had done all I could,' when I retired at night I began to pray for the feelings. It was not long before the Lord in some measure answered my prayers, and I grew very uneasy about my state.'' This uneasiness led him to immediate action. There was none of that concealment or delay so common and so hurtful to the growth of conviction in the soul. On the 9th of March it might be said of him, as it was said of St. Paul, "Behold he prayeth;" and on the third day after, that is, on the 1 1th March, he was conferring with Mr. Eyre, as with another Ananias, on the " things that accom- pany salvation." The effect of prayer was most strikingly manifested in his case. God heard in heaven his dwelling-place, and every religious feeling prayed for, was roused at once to life and action. But all was confusion. His eyes were opened, but he saw nothing clearly. And those very arguments which served to exclude truth before, now stood as stumbling-blocks in his search after it. His first letter to Mr. Eyre, under these circumstances, deserves an attentive perusal ; for few young persons, when thus brought suddenly under conviction of sin, are able to describe the tumult of their minds so clearly. " March 11, 1796. " I hope you will excuse my freedom while I lay before you, in a simple manner, the state of my mind. In consequence of the religious education I have received, I am theoretically acquainted with the leading features of the gospel, and though I acknowledge with shame how little practical influence they produce on my conduct, I have never rejected one doctrine of the gospel. 8 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. neither have I imbibed any of the pernicious principles of Socinians, or any other heretical sect. " But what is to me a great stumbling-block, is the idea which I have enter- tained, on the supposition of its general reception among the Calvinists, con- cerning election. This doctrine I have conceived to mean, that all the true children of God are elected by God before the foundation of the world. Now, my wicked heart argues thus: If this be true, how can the endeavors of a weak man assist or impede the accomplishment of the divine decrees ? If God hath foreordained that I shall be brought to a knowledge of Himself, how can any- thing I do or say prevent the designs of His omnipotent will? Thus do I sometimes think to myself. " Another thing which my mind works upon, is the idea that good works are inefficacious to salvation, which depends on the conversion of the heart to God ; and therefore, before any external reformation can be of any use, a change must be produced in my mind. In consequence of this idea impressing me, I venture to kneel before the Lord, and entreat Him, as sincerely as I can, to send those feelings into my heart, that it may be changed from its present pursuits to those of a heavenly nature. But alas ! 1 find it extremely difficult to collect my thoughts, and when I utter words with my mouth, my heart seems but little engaged. When I rise from my knees and open the sacred Word of God, I endeavor to ejaculate a petition that God would open my eyes to understand His truth, and open my heart to receive it ; but alas ! I find it a dead letter. I scarcely know what part to refer to, and when I have read one or two chapters, I discover no sensible difllerence in my feelings. I then per- haps think of throwing off my concern about reli^on, and determine to mix in the world, and be as cheerful as I used to be ; but my mind revolts at the idea. I ask myself. Will such conduct last ? When fifty or sixty years have passed over my head, what shall I think then ? " In a word, I know not what to do. I feel no love to God or Christ. I do not see the wickedness of my sins in such a hideous light as my conscience says I ought. My heart is hard. I find more pleasure in the enjoyments and levities of this world than in thoughts of futurity. What I have done, I am afraid is insincere ; for though I refrain from any outward acts of sin, my mind is forever mingling in the worst scenes of wickedness. I know not what to do. But I have resolved to write to you, as a person who I have the greatest reason to think has a sincere regard for my present and future welfare, and I beg your consideration of my case, and hope you will pity and advise me. " What I think that I most want to know is. Whether a conscientious refor- mation of my outfWard life is in the least accessory to my future safety? Whether the endeavoring to lift up my heart to God in prayer, when it is cold towards Him, is not daring presumption ? And what part of the Scriptures you would particularly recommend to my perusal ? " P- S. — I scarcely know whether it be not too great a boldness in me to send you this ; but trusting in your indulgent love towards me, I venture tO' send it, as I consider you the only friend I can unbosom myself to with free- dom. I feel a backwardness in acquainting my dear parents with my feelings, and soliciting their advice. I can only add that if you think it would be better for me to speak to them, I certainly shall think myself bound to do it, for they have ever been to me most kind and indulgent. " D. W." 1778—96. EARLY LIFE. 9 The anxious state of his mind may be gathered from the fact that although this letter was written on the 11th March, and he had since seen Mr. Eyre personally, yet he writes again on the 16th as follows : " Since I saw you on Monday, my situation is but little altered. I feel the seeds of wickedness as strong as ever, and although they do not burst forth in profane or unbecoming expressions, or in wicked actions, yet my thoughts are too much allied to the world, and too little fixed on eternal things. If any worldly subgect is talked of in my hearing, I find my vile heart hankering after it; and though I have been enabled (dare I say, by God's grace?) to abstain from opening my lips, yet my Bible says that God searcheth the heart, and if such be the case, I am sure my transgressions are infinitely increased every day I live. " I often think of what you said, ' Is not 'sin your burden ? ' But my heart answers, or I think it answers, ' I would wish to feel this burden ; but, woe is me, I do not.' Sometimes in the daytime, when sitting at the books, or walking in the streets, I endeavor to pray for an interest in the Saviour ; but alas ! I feel little need of Him, and my blind mind cannot discern how I am to know that God will accept me, and blot out my sins through the blood of Christ. In short, I utter words with my lips ; I groan and sometimes weep over my situation ; and yet I can refer it to no cause." It might be expected that his parents would soon be made acquainted with the state of his mind ; and so it was. An imme- diate and anxious inquiry seems to have been addressed to him by his pious mother, to which he responds as follows : " April 7, 1796. " I have received your letter, and would answer in sincerity your solemn query. How is it between God and your soul ? "What shall I say? How is it between the great omnipotent God, the creator and preserver of my life, in whom I live and move and have my being ; and the soul of me, a worm of the earth, who exists only at His will ? Awful thought ! " But this is not all. How is it between a just and holy God, — a God of infinite purity, — and my soul full of corruption and pride ? How can I answer such a query ? " But when I add to these considerations, that whilst this God has been blessing me with the blessings of His providence ; whilst He has been con- tinuing me in life, and preserving me from every danger, I have been trans- gressing against Him in the most aggravated manner, against light and knowl- edge, and even now daily transgress against Him, — I say, when I think on this question in connection with these ideas, I am confounded, and know not what to reply. " This I know and feel : that I have forfeited His favor ; that in me does not my help lie ; that the curse of God is upon me ; and that it is because He is God, and not man, that it has not long ago been executed. This also I am 2 10 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. sensible of, that the curse may be executed this night, that my breath is in my nostrils, and that if I this night should be cut off, I should sink — where ? Into that tremendous place where the 'worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.' I " But I have cried unto the Lord for mercy, and do endeavor still to cry unto Him from, as it were, the very mouth of hell. And I have some faint hopes that the Lord will be merciful unto me, and bless me. And this pursuit I hope and trust I shaE never relinquish till I am blessed with an answer of peace. " Oh ! my dear mamma, it is not the pleasures of this life, nor the possession of its vain riches or honors which I seek after. No ; but it is even the happi- ness of my immortal soul, which must exist for ever and ever. Oh ! may the word Eternity never enter my ears without impressing my heart." On the 20th April, Daniel Wilson had an interview with the Rev. John ifewton, rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, to whom his uncle's family and his own were aifectionately attached, and whose ministry they often attended. It was the custom of that excellent clergyman to open his house for religious purposes on every Tuesday and Sat- urday evening. On Saturday evenings, several of the London clergy regularly met there : on Tuesday evenings, he received (to use his own words) " Parsons, Parsonets, and Parsonettas." On these occa- sions some religious subject was freely discussed and conversed upon, and the meeting closed with prayer. Mr. Newton had also his breakfast-parties, open to friends by in- vitation. They were perhaps the most edifying ; for the good old man, in his velvet cap and damask dressing-gown, was then fi-esh and communicative, always instructive, always benevolent. His ex- positions of Scripture with his family, which consisted of a niece, some aged servants, and some poor blind inmates of his house, were peculiarly simple and devout. It was to one of these, no doubt, that Daniel Wilson was invited. He was greatly interested with what passed, and sent a very full account of it to Mr. Eyre, as follows : " I this morning breakfasted with Mr. Newton. I hope the conversation I had with him will not soon be effaced from my mind. He inculcated that salutary lesson you mentioned in your letter, of ' waiting patiently upon the Lord.' He told me God could, no doubt, if He pleased, produce a full-grown oak in an instant, on the most barren spot ; but that such was not the ordinary working of His Providence. The acorn was first sown in the ground, and there was a secret operation going on for some time ; and even when the sprout appeared above ground, if you were continually to be watching it, you would not perceive its growth. And so, he said, it was in spiritual things. '"When a building is to be erected for eternity, the foundation must be laid deep. If I were going to build a horse-shed, I could put together a few poles, and finish it 1778—96. EARLY LIFE. 11 presently. But if I were to raise a pile like St. Paul's, I should lay a strong founda- tion, and an immense deal of labor must be spent underground, before the walls would begin to peep above its surface. " ' Now,' he continued, ' you want to know whether you are in the right road ; that is putting the cart before the horse ; that is wanting to gather the fruit before you sow the seed. You want to experience the effects of belief before you do believe. " ' You can believe a man if he promises you anything, but you cannot believe Christ when He says, " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." If you are cast out, it must be in some wise, but Christ sayp, " in no wise." If He had said, I will receive all who come except one hundred, then you might certainly think that you were of that hundred; but the " in no wise " excludes all such arguing. There are few awakened sinners who doubt Christ's ability to save, but the fear seems to run on Ilis willingness, which, of the two, is certainly the most dishonoring to our blessed Saviour. To illustrate my meaning; — Suppose you had promised to pay one hun- dred pounds for me, and had given me the promise in writing. Now, if you should refuse to pay the money when I sent for it, which do you think would involve the greatest impeachment to your character, to say that yon were perfectly willing to fulfil your engagement, but really had not the power; or to say that no doubt could be entertained of your ability, but you were unwilling to be bound by your promise ? " ' Unbelief is a great sin. If the devil were to tempt you to some open, notorious crime, you would be startled at it; but when he tempts you to disbelieve the promises of God, you hug it as your infirmity, whereas you should consider it as a great sin, and must pray against it. '"When Evangelist, in the " Pilgrim's Progress," asked Christian if he saw a wicket-gate at the end of the path, he .said No. Could he then see u. shining light? He thought he could. That light was the Bible, and it led him to the wicket-gate. But when he had passed that gate, he still retained the burden. It was not till he looked to the Cross that the burden fell from his back and was felt no more. Now,' said Mr. Newton, ' the gate through which you have to pass is a strait gate; you can but just squeeze in yourself. There is no room for self-righteousness; that must be left behind.' " In a letter -written to his mother a few days after this interview, he says : " The words of Mr. Newton, that unbelief is a great sin and should be prayed against as such, continually recur to my mind. Alas! my heart is unbelieving and hard, but I hope I may endeavor to pray to the great Redeemer to give me a believing heart. " I dread that I am yet a hypocrite, and deceiving myself and others. For I feel that all my terrors and prayers arise from a fear of condemnation, and not from a love of God and concern for His glory. I feel that I dread God instead of loving Him ; and that if I have at all a hatred of sin, it is unaccom- panied by a love of holiness. The fear of presumption on the one hand, and of unbelief on the other — of hypocrisy here, and eternal wrath hereafter, have well-nigh sunk me into a state of utter despondency." 12 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. A gleam of light shines through this watery sky : " 3lAT 9, 1796. "It has been some cause of relief to my mind, to reflect what could have made me first think about the concerns of my immortal soul. I look into my- self, and I see a source of corruption within me which poureth out iniquity like water. Every imagination of the thoughts of my heart is only evil con- tinually. And I am convinced that if left to myself, I should have shut mine eyes against the light, have gone on still in sin, and continued trampling on the blessed gospel till I had filled up the measure of my iniquities. " In the alteration, therefore, which I hope I may say has, at least in some degree, taken place in my views, I must recognize a power invisibly operating on my mind. And what can this have been ? Surely it must be of free, rich, unmerited grace ! For it could never be the interest of Satan to produce ter- rors and conviction of sins upon me ; but rather to have kept my conscience quiet, to have drowned its voice, and held me ever in his slavish chains. " Influenced by such reflections as these, I am sometimes led to hope that God has designs of mercy towards me ; that He will in His own good time open my eyes to see clearly the riches of His grace in Christ Jesus, and enable me to overcome the power of sin, and trust for salvation on His merits alone, who died, the just for the unjust, that we might be saved." The clouds return after the rain : " JiTNE 14, 1796. " I am grieved, my dearest mother, to distress you with my sorrows. You may perhaps be astonished (though if you knew my heart you would not) when I say that I am dead — literally dead to spiritual things. And I am as certain that a corpse might with infinitely greater ease raise itself to life again, than I could raise myself from this death of sin to the life of righteousness. Here then I live, or rather exist, with a live body, but a dead heart. The stone lieth within me, insensible to all the terrors of God's law, or the invita- tions of His gospel, and I believe that unless the Holy Spirit of God awake me from this sleep of sin, I shall continue in it till I am effectually aroused by the commencement of an awful eternity. " This is my state with regard to spiritual things. But alas ! how lamenta- ble a reverse presents itself to view with regard to earthly things. Here all is life. Here I enjoy all my faculties perfectly, — I see, I hear, I understand, I believe, I think, I speak, I act. My soul is here in its element. Such is its total depravity and vileness that words cannot express its abominations ; nor can any self-exertions or human power extricate me from the sea of misery in which I am involved. " And indeed, the sum-total of my present situation is, that I am the most miserable, vile, and wretched creature that ever lived ; and all I can do is, to look unto Jesus as my only helper, and cry unto Him for mercy ; and but for that blessed word Utteriviost, my case would be hopeless." Conscience, the barometer of the mind, becomes very sensitive at 1778-90. EARLY LIFE. 13 this time, and responds quickly to every change, as the following most affecting letter proves : " Oct. 28, 1796. " Alas ! my dearest mother, I continue a sinner, lying under an awful curse, and groaning under a grievous burden. Every day furnishes me strong proof of my total helplessness and inability, and yet such is the deceitfulness of sin, I constantly forget, at the time of temptation, to whom I should flee for refuge ; ;ind so, trying to resist in my own strength, I am always worsted, and Satan triumphs over me to the destruction of my own peace, and the discredit of my Christian profession in the eyes of those around me. Day after day do I fall into scandalous sin, insomuch that I think I am worse now, in my relative capacity, than I was some time back. And it is my grief and burden that it is so ; and often, night after night, do I bitterly bemoan myself, either for my levity, or my moroseness, or my ovei-bearing, proud temper and forgetfulness of God, or my vile and abominable thoughts and imaginations, my intemperate language, and every other sin which naturally springs from a corrupt heart. " But alas ! what avails me all this ? Words won't save me ; and though I again and again resolve against my sins, and implore God's gracious support, yet as soon as I arise from my knees and go into the warehouse, my thoughts, which were solemnized, suddenly disperse. No sooner does temptation present itself than I resolve to oppose it, and think I can easily overcome it. I am therefore silent for a little while. Then something is said or done which goes against the grain, and this puts me out of humor, and I feel morose and sulky, and so everything gets wrong ; sin gains strength faster and faster ; my words are akin to my tempers, my actions correspond, and when the devil has thus got possession of me, I love the sin and hug it, and feel an unwillingness to part with it. Yet at the same time, I am conscious that I am heaping up cause for future repentance ; but I think I will go on a little longer ; and then per- haps a conviction strikes me ; I secretly cry unto God ; suddenly a fresh temp- tation occurs, and again I fall. " When I am in this melancholy state, my only way is to leave the ware- house, and go into the cellar, and there make known my complaint unto the Lord, and pour out my heart before Him; and on these occasions I feel such an abhor- rence of myself, and find sin the cause of such anguish to my soul, that often and often, at night, have I earnestly besought the Lord that if He would not have mercy on my soul hereafter, and deliver me from the guilt and condem- nation of my sins, at least to deliver me from the power of them, and not let sin make me wretched and miserable in this world, as well as in the next." In the month of November in this year, he had a second inter- view with Mr. Newton, which, at the request of his mother, he thus narrates : " As I spoke but little, Mr. Newton said : " ' I cannot tell what to say to you, if you don't speak. A pump, when it is dry, may be restored by pouring in a little water at the top; so if you begin, I can chatter 14 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. for an hour; but otherwise, I can sit a whole morning without speaking a word. Once set me a-going, and you may get as much out of me as you please.' " I said I was afraid I was deceiving myself— or words to that eflfect. " ' That depends,' he replied, ' upon your response to two questions. If an angel were sent from heaven to tell you you were to die this very night, what would you trust to — to any merits or performances of your own, or to the Lord Jesus Christ alone? And the second question is this -Which way does your life tend: are you the willing slave of sin, or do you hate and oppose it? ' "I asked Mr. Newton his opinion concerning reading other books than the Bible. " ' I would not have you read many books,' he said, ' though some may help you forward. The Bible is the spring from whence they are all derived ; and you have as much right to draw from the fountain as any one else. The Winchester bushel, you know, is kept in the Exchequer, and, on any dispute about measure. Is always re- ferred to as the true standard. Such is the Bible. It is a Living Word, and as though God were speaking to you face to face.' " I complained of my want of humility. " ' We shall never think ourselves humble enough,' he replied; 'for as we go on, and see more of our own hearts, we shall find increasing cause for it. If you look down into a well, it seems to be deep; but all is confused, and you cannot really see far down it. Now, such is your heart. You cannot distinguish what it is now: but as you proceed you will be obliged to go down into the well, and thus get thoroughly acquainted with it.' "He proceeded: 'All your doubts and fears and conflicts are as scaffolding to a building, which is no part of the edifice, nor ornamental, but to be considered as a blejnish. Still the house cannot be built without it; and when that is finished, all the scaffolding will be taken down as of no further use. " ' If you are in company with Christians of thu-ty or more years standing, you wonder that your feelings are not more like theirs. But there is a regular gradation of progress, — " Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." " ' I don't like folks who jump into " comfort " all at once. It is better to go on gradually. God lays the foundation in the heart; and the walls no sooner peep above ground, than we want the roof clapped on. But that won't do. " ' You want what is commonly called assurance. But it is a dangerous thing, and the Lord knows you cannot yet be trusted with it. Many young converts thereby grow careless, and have turned back into the world for many years, and It is a great mercy if the Lord ever brings them back as poor prodigals.' " Daniel "Wilson's aged and pious grandfather was still living, and a short conversation between the old and the young disciple, towards the close of this year, is worth preserving. " I was talking to my dear grandfather, when my uncle was last in the coun- 1778—96. EARLY LIFE. 15 try, and he said, that when we bring our burdens to Christ, we should leave them with Him, and not take them back again with us. " When I told him what a sinner I was, and how sin reigned over me, he told me, the Lord saw perhaps that I did not bear well the mercies He had bestowed upon me. He added, that he believed sin would always cleave to us ; that when he was a young man, like me, he thought he should have done with sin long before now; but he found there were old age sins, as well as young age sins; and his old nature would sometime rise, so that he found an Almighty Saviour as needful to him now, as when he first set off." The words of these good men render further observations on the work of grace now going on, superfluous; and the thoughtful reader will prefer pondering on the ways of God, to listening to the com- ments of man. It must not, however, be supposed that the change in Daniel Wilson's mind was unaccompanied by a change in his conduct. He writes bitter things against himself, and is very slow to .recognize any signs of improvement, but they were perceptible to others. His cousin Joseph, the eldest son of Mr. William Wilson, well known in after-life, and respected wherever known, as the founder and active promoter of the Lord's Day Observance Society, was an early associate and friend. They lived in the same house at this time, and shared the same room, and Joseph Wilson was wont to express the unfeigned astonishment he felt at the change which had taken place. Night after night he observed Daniel Wilson sit- ting up for hours ; and engaged, not now in common study, but in the reading of God's word, and other religious books. Oftentimes, fifter he had fallen asleep and awoke again, he found him still thus occupied, or on his knees in long-continued and earnest prayer. The very individual who was instrumental in his conversion, by bidding him " pray for the feelings," and who still survives, aged and highly respected, though unconscious till recently of the effect of his words, bears testimony to the same purpose. He says that Daniel Wilson promised to be an excellent man of business ; but that when religion took possession of his mind, he lost all interest in it, became serious and devout, and quite " another man." All books of a light or irreligious character had been burned at once, as though the very bridge must be destroyed which might facilitate his return from the newly discovered country ; and whereas he had been foremost in every wild scheme, he was now most anxious, not only to get good himself, but to do good to others. His state of mind seems to have excited great interest wherever it was known ; and it is told by Mr. Eyre that on one occasion when he had returned home to Hackney, weary with a long day's work in London, and desiring repose, one of Daniel Wilson's letters was jjut 16 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. into his hand. After reading it attentively, he roused himself, called for his boots, and prepared for a further effort. When asked whether a written answer would not do for that one niglit, he replied, "No, writing alone will not do. I must see and talk to him. I cannot leave the young man to pass the night in despair." And he instantly set off, and walked to the city and back again, to afford him counsel and relief. But as man, "of his own will," cannot produce conviction of sin, so neither can he give " peace with God through Jesus Christ." He may speak comfortable words to the "prisoner of hope," but he can- not draw him out of the pit where there is no water. God's time of deliverance has not yet come ; and the year 1796 passed away, leav- ing its dark shadows upon Daniel Wilson's soul. On January 18, 1797, he writes, complaining of the diiSculty he found in understanding holy Scripture, and reading it to profit : " I think my greatest trial at this time is ignorance of God's word. I know not how to read, where to read, nor in what manner to apply it to my own heart and conscience. Though I daily read it and pray over it and try to understand it, yet I fear it is all in vain. It is to ine a sealed book. When I read any other book, with a little attention I readily discover the meaning. But when reading the blessed word of God, which is Light, Life, and Truth itself, I know not what I read. When I endeavor to meditate on any particu- lar portion, I cannot, as it were, make anything of it. I hear of other Chris- tians who see Christ in every page, who find in it food and medicine, and to whom the promises are sweet and refreshing ; but to all these things I am an utter stranger. Pray for me, that God the Holy Spirit may shine on His word and into my heart." As the period came round from which he dated his first serious impressions, his mother wrote reminding him of it. He replied in the following letter, which shows that it was still with him a " dai-k and cloudy day : " " March 2, 1797. " I think if there ever was a poor wretch whom sin has rendered miserable, that wretch am I. I know not how to describe myself in any terras calculated to convey an adequate idea of my feelings. When I come to try myself by Scripture tests, how awful is the result ! I hear the glorious Saviour himself declaring, that if I believe not on Him, I shall die in my sins, and I am con- strained to say that I believe not, that I see not His beauty and excellency, and feel not His preciousness and value. I hear the ajjostle solemnly declaring, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed ; and of love to Christ I know I have none. And seeing I have been spared another year, a cumberer of the ground as I am, and seeing that I bring not forth good fruit, what can I expect, but the fate of the tree mentioned in the gospel ? 1778—96. EARLY LIFE. 17 " You ask me the particular day from -whicli I date my first convictions ; I am indeed unable to inform you to a certainty, but I generally reckon it to be the 9th of March, 1796. The circumstance itself will never, I trust, be effaced from my mind ; but as I have already acquainted you with it some time back, I shall not now repeat it. " Pray for me, my dear mother, that I may observe the return of that day In a proper manner. It would more accord with my own inclination, and more conduce to the tranquillity of my mind, could I spend it in fasting and prayer ; but as my opportunities are so very circumscribed, I think I cannot do less than go to see Mr. Eyre, whose love to me will I hope be amply repaid, not by my poor gratitude, but with the blessing of Heaven into his own bosom." The purpose thus expressed was carried into effect. The 9th of March found Daniel Wilson in company with Mr. Eyre, and the natural desire to know what passed on an occasion so interesting, may be to a certain extent gratified ; for notes of the conversation are still extant. They serve to show the general nature of the intercourse which took place between them, and the kind of instruc- tion and encouragement communicated by Mr. Eyre ; and are the more valuable, because none of the many letters which must have been written by him from time to time have been preserved. The notes were taken from a memorandum made by Daniel Wilson, and were inclosed to his mother in a letter dated March 17, 1797. " We were talking of repentance, and I said that the more I read about it, and thought about it, the more I found reason to fear that I never had true repentance. He asked my reasons for thinking so, and what I considered repentance to be. I replied, that I had been guided by Mr. Scott's discourse on that subject, who, among other characteristics, described it as consisting in a genuine sorrow for sin, not only on account of its punishment, but because of its odiousness and malignity as committed against a holy, just, and good God. Mr. Eyre agreed, and drew many comfortable conclusions in my favor. " We then turned the conversation to faith, and he asked me the idea I had of it. I replied, that I supposed it to be a believing apprehension of Christ as mine, and an assurance that He died and rose again for me. To this he objected, as confounding two distinct things, faith and the assurance of faith. " ' I know,' he said, ' that is Mr. Hervey's definition, hut I think it is one of his great errors. Faitli is no such thing. It is simply loolcing : it is simply believing. It is even less than that;, for there can be no desire to look, without faith. " ' Dr. , in his sermon preached at my chapel last Sunday (March 5), spoke in a very apposite manner respecting faith. " Faith," he obsei-ved, " was described in many different ways. It is sometimes represented in allusion to the feet, and then it is, 'Come unto me;' 'As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so wcUk ye in Him.' Sometimes it is spoken of with reference to the hands, and then it is, ' To as many as received Him to them gave He power;' 'Lay hold on eternal life.' At 3 18 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. other times the allusion is to the ears, and then it runs, 'This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him;' 'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.' At other times the eyes are used foe the purpose of illustration, and then it is, ' Look unto me and he ye saved; ' ' He that seah the Son,' " etc. "I then said, 'I thought if I had true faith, I should be one with Christ; united to Him, and enabled to oppose in His strength the dominion of my cor- ruptions ; but that of all this I had no experience, and consequently must conclude I was not a believer in Him." " ' What you say,' returned Mr. Eyre, 'of the effects of true faith is correct; and this I will tell you, that you are one with Christ.' I seemed to wait for his explana- tion, and he thus proceeded : ' If I were to curse, and swear, and blaspheme the name of Christ, should you not be shocked?' I said. Yes. 'Well, then,' he continued, ' that is one thing. You are not concerned for the honor of Christ. Then, do you not love the word of God?' I hesitated, but at length answered. Not as I onglit. ' That is nothing to the purpose,' he rejoined, ' for we none of us do anything as well as we ought. But, do you love it? ' I replied in the affirmative. ' Further : do you not love the house of God? Do you not love the people of God?' To these questions I answered. Yes. 'Why, then,' he said, 'how can you say you are not united to Christ? You love his honor, his word, his house, his people; you are united to Him in the same spirit.' " After this conversation Mr. Eyre went to prayer with me with the greatest affection.'' The good effect produced upon his mind by this conversation was, however, only transient. It passed away, and the heavens grew black with clouds. "Apkil 12, 179T. " You know me not, my dearest mother, or else I am sure you must hate me ; for to a gracious heart, such a complication of inbred corruption and out- ward transgression as constitute my character, must, I am sensible, be altogether loathsome and detestable. I have great reason to fear that I am one of that awful number whom God hath given up to final obduracy and impenitence, and who are constantly increasing their condemnation by the opportunities of grace they daily abuse, and concerning whom the Almighty has declared, that he has ' no pleasure in them.' " The hearing of the gospel, and the reading of God's word, produce no effect on my obdurate heart. All the invitations of the gospel are useless, all its threats produce no terror. The old serpent has been trying long to have my soul, and now he has it fast. He rules in it. He reigns over it. And I, his wretched slave, obey it in the lusts thereof I verily am persuaded that my evil tempers have a more absolute sway now, than when I never knew I had a soul to be saved — or, what amounts to the same thing, when I never thought seriously about it. My dear mother, it is not willingly that I distress your mind with the account of my dreadful state. To you heaven is safe, and I rejoice in it ; though I believe you will never meet there your poor son." 1778—96. EAELY LIFE. 19 From this dark cloud the following letter darts like a flash of lightning. It was written to Mr. Vardy, who was purposing at this time (though the purpose was eventually frustrated) to give himself to the missionary work, and was entering on the necessary prepara- tion with much fear and trembling. His services were offered to the London Missionary Society, and, before leaving England, he went about attending religious and devotional meetings, and preach- ing when the opportunity presented itself. As his friend Daniel Wilson took much interest in all this, he occasionally accompanied him and heard him preach, encouraging and cheering him, and offer- ing such suggestions as to the choice of texts and manner of treating them as occurred to his own mind. " June 8, 1797. " Pardon my ignorance and presumption, but I think your choice of a sub- ject was not the most easy and simple, which is what you should aim at. I should think if you were to take texts such as these — " ' The love of Christ constraineth us.' " ' Christ Is all and in all.' " ' Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.' " ' With Him is plenteous redemption.' Or any other where you would be unavoidably led to speak principally on the person and work of Christ, your heart would be more likely (humanly speak- ing) to be affected with your subject than on other topics, which, though con- nected with, do not so immediately lead you to dwell on the glories of Jesus. " I should think you might with little difficulty preach a good sermon on that one word, Christ. Begin with Christ, go on with Christ, and end with Christ ; and I am sure your hearers will never be tired, for His name is like ' ointment poured forth.' " On such a subject you need only look within to find matter enough to explain what Christ came to redeem you from ; you need only go to Calvary to see what redemption cost, and to have your soul so moved by the sight of a bleeding Saviour, that you could no longer hesitate what to say ; and you need only reflect on what you are, to explain the necessity of Christ's intercession at the right hand of God. Look more, my dear friend, to Jesus. There is nothing like looking only, looking simply, and looking perseveringly to Him." Words so bright, from a soul so dark, are very remarkable : to be accounted for partly by the peculiarities of a character itself full of striking contrasts, and partly by the fact that the communication of spiritual gifts is to a great extent independent of the enjoyment of them. The attempt to benefit his friend seems to have had a good effect on Daniel Wilson's own mind, by withdrawing his attention some- what from himself. Nor was it an isolated act. In letters written 20 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. I. about this time, he is found rejoicing over two of his fellow-servants, who last year were "children of wrath," but are now "plants of grace." He writes to one of his sisters, pressing religion on her attention ; and mentions his purpose of writing to another on the same subject. He endeavors, in a similar way, to comfort his mother under some domestic affliction ; and thus, watering others, he appears to have been watered himself; and at length to have found ^'' rest to his soul." It came like the "morning spread upon the mountains," and in the use of God's appointed ordinances. The account is as follows : — In a letter written to his mother on August 23d, 1797, he uses this expression : "Remember me to Mr. Eyre. I intend writing to him soon, on a subject which has lain on my mind these three months." And what was this subject? He tells us himself, in a letter to Mr. Eyre, written on September 7th, from which the following are extracts : " It almost makes me tremble when I think on the important and solemn subject I am introducing ; for I fear it savors very much of that spiritual pride which I feel entwining itself with my every duty. That one who knows so little of the Lord Jesus Christ, so little of his own evil heart, and who lives so little to the glory of his Redeemer, should think of partaking of that sacred ordinance which the oldest Christians rejoice in the enjoyment of, is, I fear, a prominent token of self-ignorance and presumption. " I hope I am enabled to believe that it is a table spread for the refreshment of every penitent sinner, and that all are welcome who have been brought from a state of nature to a state of grace, and from slaves of Satan have been made willing servants of the Lord Jesus. " If you continue to think it my duty to approach the sacred table, I should feel myself very much obliged if you would find time to talk it over with ray dear mother, who, I am sure, would be very willing to spare you the trouble of writing, by sending me, herself, a letter on the subject." This letter produced its due effect, and, on the first Sunday in October, Daniel Wilson received the Jioly sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, for the first time, from the hands of Mr. Eyre, in his chapel ; and found, indeed, that "drawing near with faith," he took " that holy sacrament to his comfort." On the very next day he writes to his mother, who was absent from town, as follows : " MoKDAT, October 2, 1797. " I have nothing but mercy to tell you of. Oh that my heart was but melted with love and gratitude to my dear Redeemer for such rich grace as he is continually showering upon my soul ! " To know that my Lord still does continue, and over will continue, to love my worthless soul ; that He still pardons all my unnumbered sins, and still 1778—96. EAELT LIFE. 21 shines upon me with the beams of His love ; — to feel and know such precious truths as these, is enough to break the very adamant into praise. Pray for me my dear mother, that under th^ mercies with which the Lord is, as it were overloading my soul, I may be kept very humble at His feet, sensible of my utter unworthiness and absolute dependence upon Him. " But, doubtless, the main design of your desiring me to write, was to hear how I was carried through the solemn and delightful business of yesterday ; and, blessed be God ! I trust I can say that your prayers for me were answered, and that the Lord was with me of a truth. " When I came into the chapel I was very full of fears, and was rather cold whilst Mr. Eyre preached a sweet discourse from the words, ' Without sheddin" of blood is no remission.' Between the services I was exceedingly favored with the Lord's presence, and was enabled to offer secret addresses to Him, that He would keep me humble, and make me give up myself — all I am, and all I have — to be His, and solely devoted to His glory. " When I approached, with Mrs. Eyre, the sacred table, I was so full of trembling (I cannot describe my feelings), that I doubt not I appeared very foolish to those around me. " But not to be too tedious, I have abundant reason for gratitude and praise. Nor have the blessings of this ordinance been confined to yesterday ; for, blessed be God ! I think I never was so comfortable in my soul, and so desirous of loving my Saviour more and more, and living to His glory, than I have been to-day." There is the same sunshine in a letter written to Mr. Vardy, on October 4th : " My heart is so full I know not where to begin, nor how to describe the unspeakable mercies which the Lord is showering on my worthless soul. Oh for a tongue to sing the praises of my dear Redeemer ! Pray for me, that I may be kept humble and thankful. " I wrote you word that I had opened my mind to dear Mr. Eyre respecting my approaching the sacred table ; and, blessed be God for undeserved mercy I I can now tell you that on last Sunday morning I took that solemn and important step, and the Lord was with me. Never did I enjoy so much the presence of my dear Redeemer, as I have since that time ; and this, not so much in great sensations of pleasure as in brokenness of heart, and, I trust, in sincere desires to be devoted to His glory. Yesterday and to-day have been, I think, the happiest days I ever remember. The Lord shines so upon my soul that I cannot but love Him, and desire no longer to live to myself, but to Him. And to you I confess it (though it ought perhaps to be a cause for shame), that I have felt great desires to go or do anything to spread the name of Jesus ; and that I have even wished, if it were the Lord's will, to go as a missionary to heathen lands.'' Thus he obtained "joy and peace in believing," and with it there sprung up a desire, which received its accomplishment after a lapse of thirty-five years. In October 1797, Daniel Wilson felt his spirit stirred to go as a missionary to heathen lands ; and in October 1832, he stood on the banks of the Hooghly as Bishop of Calcutta. CHAPTEE II. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 1796—1798. 1BE DEEP ffOUNDATIONS OF RELIGION — SUBJECT OPENED — LETTEKS TO MR. EYEE — HIS FATHER'S REFUSAL OF HIS WISH — HIS OWN REASONS — CONSULTS REV. ROWLAND HILL — JOURNAL — CONSULTS REV. R. CECIL — FATHER CONSENTS — ENTERS AT OXFORD — PUPIL OF REV. J. PRATT. Many eminent Christians may have felt surprise whilst perusing the narrative of Daniel Wilson's conversion in the last chapter. They may have known nothing like it in their own experience. The change in their own minds may have been gradual and impercepti- ble. They may have heard God's voice in early life, awakening, but not alarming them. They may have been built up in their holy faith, like the temple of old, without the sound of axes, or hammers, or any tool of iron being heard. And hence they will scarcely be able to realize the " strong crying and tears " of a deeply earnest mind when grace suddenly grapples with it. But it is nevertheless divine " workmanship " they have been looking on. No doubt there is something peculiar in the case of Daniel Wilson : something peculiar in the depth of his penitential sorrow and self- abhorrence ; and something peculiar in the long period of eighteen months ere deliverance came. Even those who have known him best in after-life, will read with surprise the conflicts of his youth. But there was a purpose in this, as there is in all the Divine deal- ings. Here was a young man of vigorous health, strong passions,' quick temper, decided character, great energy, and sure to be a leader in after-life either for good or for evil. God had purposes of mercy concerning him, and important work for him to do. He was to be an " ambassador for Christ," and a " steward of the mysteries of God." All the various phases in the ministry of the church were in turn to be exhibited -by him. As years rolled on, he was to be the university prizeman, the college tutor, the popular preacher, the parish priest, the successful author, the eastern bishop and met- ropolitan. And he was to meet and surmount all the temptations attendant upon these offices; — the "knowledge which puffeth up," 1796—98. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 23 the "settling upon the lees," the "praise of man," the "ease in Zion," the " seeking after great things," the " lording it over God's heritage." Hence, probably, the duration and severity of the or- deal through which he had to pass. The foundations of such a superstructure needed to be well and deeply laid ; and in his pro- found sense of the evil of sin, his open confession, his dread of hypocrisy, his knowledge of self, his conviction of weakness, his prostration of soul, his insight into the heart's corruption, we see laid the deep foundations of truth, the best preservatives against error, and the sure preparatives for future and extensive usefulness. " I have never seen in any person," said Mr. Eyre to Daniel Wilson's mother, "such deep conviction of sin, and such a view of the heart's corruption, where God has not had some great and special work for that person to do. I should not wonder if God makes your son an eminent minister in His church." Such a result seemed little likely at the time the words were spoken ; but it was God's purpose, and he brought it to pass. It was in October 1797 that the desire to enter the sacred minis- try, which had fixed itself in Daniel Wilson's mind, found expression. When it first arose, it had been determinately repressed by himself, as only another form of that pride which, he said, so easily beset him. But whilst he kept silence, his soul had no peace ; and at length, after much earnest prayer, he went to Mr. Eyre, and made known the matter. " On Sunday night, October 15th," he says, " my soul was exceedingly drawn out in earnest prayer for direction ; and whilst on my knees, the thought came into my mind, that the Lord never worked without means, and that it was only in the use of them that I could expect His direction. This first induced me to go to Mr. Eyre, which I did on Wednesday evening, the 18th. I had only time to say a very few words to him. He did not wish me to be in a hurry, but promised to open the subject to my parents, and to talk to me more fully when I came next." This short interview was followed by a long letter written to Mr. Eyre a few days after. The following are extracts; " Since the conversation I had with you last Wednesday, the important sub- ject which occasioned it has continually impressed my mind, and has been often spread before the Lord. I trust it is in answer to those prayers that I feel my whole soul engrossed with ardent desires to engage in the important work, inso- much that I think I can appeal to the Great Searcher of hearts, when I assure you that the world has shrunk to nothing in my esteem, and that its pleasures, riches, and honors, are so far from being desirable in my view, that the Lord enables me to consider them as objects of aversion ; and that the only thing 24 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. L worth living for is to be the means, in His hands, of doing good to the souls of my fellow-sinners. " I sometimes am discouraged on account of the dreadful corruptions of my heart, and of my utter unfitness for such a great work ; but these unbelieving fears vanish when the Holy Spirit enables me to remember that my 'suffi- ciency is of God,' and that it is not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, but in ' demonstration of the Spirit and of power,' that the blessing must come. " It is true that mountains of difficulty seem to oppose my deliverance from Milk Street ; but the Lord has all hearts in His hands ; and 1 found much com- fort from reading Acts 5:19, 20, and am enabled to believe that He will fulfil in me all His good pleasure, in spite of every opposition. But I would still desire to have my will resigned to His, and when that will is manifested by the events of His providence, to say, 'It is the Lord, let Him do as seemeth Him good.' " When the matter was first opened to Daniel Wilson's father, it met with his decided disapproval. It thwarted all the plans which he had laid : and he would not hear it. Mr. Eyre at once commu- nicated this check to his young friend, and told him that, under such circumstances, delay became a duty ; that another year in Milk Street would do him no harm ; and that measure^ which, were he of full age, might be lawful, would at the present time be sinful. As for himself personally, Mr. Eyre said he had made up his mind what to do: he should be silent for a twelvemonth, and not venture even to give an opinion. It was now November 4, 1797. On Nov. 4, 1798, he should be prepared, if his advice was asked, to give it ; and to give it in a decided manner. Meanwhile, he recommended that all irritating discussion should be carefully avoided. Daniel Wilson submitted. " Here then," he says, " humanly speaking, the affair rests for the following twelvemonth, and if the Lord should spare me so long, I trust He wiU be pre- paring me for this great work. Nothing is desirable, nothing valuable in my eyes, but the glorifying my dear Redeemer." The matter, however, was not allowed to rest without discussion. His mother wrote to him to ask his special reasons for wishing to change his course of life, and why he thought himself called to enter the ministry. He deemed it a cause of "joy and gratitude that God had inclined her heart to ask these questions," and proceeded at once to answer them. In his answer he refers to Newton's Cardiphonia, where the reality of a call to the sacred ministry is discussed under three heads : first, in the soul being moved to a warm and earnest desire to be employed in this service ; secondly, in there being, in due time, a 1796—98. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 25 competent sufficiency of gifts, knowledge, and utterance ; and thirdly, in the hand of God's providence pointing out the time, the place, and the means. " With regard to the first point," he says, " the Lord has made it as clear as though it was written with a sunbeam. I feel all the desires of my soul contin- ually and increasingly drawn out towards this work, and my soul yearns over the vast numbers of my poor fellow-sinners who never heard of Jesus, nor of the life which is in Him. The prevailing desire of my heart is that He alone may be exalted, and His throne set up in the hearts of guilty rebels, that Sa- tan's kingdom may be destroyed, and the love of Christ made known. Though I feel the pride of my heart rising in me, yet I trust it is not my wish to exalt the monster Self, but to be the instrument in the Lord's hands of spreading the savour of His name and the riches of His salvation all around." On the second point he felt himself "inclined to say a great deal;" but fearing " the detestable pride " of his heart, and knowing that all abilities and qualifications for the work were "gifts of God," he would not say " a single word." On the third topic he enters fully, considering both God's work within him, and the outward openings of His providence. Touching the last of these, he states that his retirement from his present situation would cause no sort of inconvenience to his uncle ; and as to himself, he is sure that he should "never make a good tradesman ; " that he " never loved business ; " that his " dislike to it was now increased;" and as a subordinate argument under this head, he mentions that he had lost but little of his school learning, for that even when " dead in sin," he had always a love for it, and " used to spend many hours in study, which would otherwise have been employed worse." " And now I have endeavored," he concludes, " to open all my mind to my dearest mother, on this important subject. " What can I say to these things ? If this work proceed from the deceitful- ness of my carnal heart, it will come to nought; but if it be of God, it cannot be overturned. From whence can the strong, the fervent desires of my soul proceed, save from the Lord the Spirit ? For of this I am sure, that such things could never come from myself, or from Satan. Yes, my dear mother, I feel sure it is of the Lord, and I humbly believe that He, in His good time will work, and then none can let it. When He is pleased to ' lay to His hand,' mountains will sink into plains, rough places become smooth, crooked things be made straight, and an open door set before me." This letter was written on November 13th, and on the 22d he tells Mr. Eyre that he is ignorant what effect it may have produced. 4 26 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSOX. Chap. II. " I took it to my closet," he says, " when finished, and spread it before a throne of grace, and was enabled solemnly to give it up to the Lord, acknowl- edging that in itself it was totally incapable of convincing my parents in the smallest degree, and imploring that He would be pleased to accompany it with His almighty power, and make it the instrument of opening their hearts." Though he had received his father's refusal and Mr. Ejre's sug- gestion with exemplary submission, yet when a month elapsed with- out anything further being said or done, his mind became harassed and uneasy. He began to fancy he had done wrong by conferring in this matter with flesh and blood : his whole soul, he says, " was agitated with fervent longings to go out into the highways and hedges and compel poor sinners to come in." He remembered that there was such a thing as " carnal prudence," and " the fear of man . which bringeth a snare." Might not his compliance with the wishes of parents and friends be a shrinking from God's service, and an un- willingness to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ ? He could not avoid thinking, he says, that "secondary objects and motives, easily conceived but difiicult to express, might have nar- rowed and influenced their views." He did not feel, therefore, "full satisfaction of mind, and longed for a clearer view of the Lord's will concerning hira." These thoughts were tossing in his mind, and keeping sleep from his eyelids one Saturday night, when suddenly the idea occurred to him that he would consult the Rev. Rowland Hill upon his case, and endeavor to learn through him the path of duty. Immediate action followed ; and after he had sought help from God, the evening of December 31st found him in the vestry-room of Surrey Chapel, in- troducing himself to Mr. Hill. He was received, as might be antici- pated, with the courtesy of a Christian gentleman, and invited to breakfast the next morning. Accustomed as the Rev. Rowland Hill must have been to eveiy variety of application, he could not but be struck with the address of this young stranger, who, immediately on being seated (the ac- count is from his own notes), opened his business by saying that he thought he had " a call to go into the ministry." « Well," said Mr. Hill, " that is a very serious thing indeed ; " and he proceeded to inquire into his reasons, — to probe the depth of his religious knowledge, — to ask whether his parents were cognizant of the matter, and whose ministry he had attended. These points being ascertained, Mr. Hill said that it was very dif- ficult to advise in such a case, and suggested that his own minister should be applied to. He thought Daniel Wilson very young both in years and grace ; and reminded him of the text in the Epistle to 1796-98. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 27 Timothy, " Not a novice, lest being puffed up, he fall into the con- demnation of the devil." He inquired minutely into his connec- tions, expectations, motives, and wishes; and finally expressed a hope, in his fervent manner, that if the thing was really of the Lord, it might prosper. So far all was satisfactory : but now cam^ the main question, which was at once proposed by Daniel Wilson, as follows : " Do you think it my duty to wait till I am out of my time, before I give up myself to the work ? " "'Tcs, certainly/ replied Mr. Hill; 'your time is not your own. By a mutual agreement you have hound yourself for a certain number of years, and that obliga- tion is superior to any other. I hope,' he added, ' that during this time you will man- ifest by your walk and conversation, that the grace of God is in your heart ; and that may be instrumental in altering your father's mind more than anything else. Hu- mility is a sweet and guardian grace. If I saw you pert and proud, and wanting to go," without the Lord," I would not give a farthing for you or your preaching either. But if you are humble and child-like, afraid of taking a single step unless the Lord point out the way, then you will be owned and blessed.' " Some little disappointment may have crossed Daniel Wilson's mind at this result of the interview ; for it is natural to suppose that in the selection of Mr. Hill, there had been a secret lurking expec- tation that one so zealous would not hesitate a moment in sending a fresh laborer into the vineyard. But if this disappointment was felt, it was not manifested : and nothing can more clearly show the won- derful influence exerted by grace upon the natural temper, than the way in which he receives these repeated checks. There is no resist- ance ; no kicking " against the pricks:" the submission is prompt, unrepining, and even cheerful. "I need not say," is his comment on Mr. Hill's decision, "that the conversation was both sound and sweet ; and, through the Lord's blessing, I hope never to forget it." He resolved now to tarry the Lord's leisure, and to do each day what good he could in the ordi- nary duties of his calling, and to put in " a word for Christ " when- ever the opportunity offered. About this time he began to keep a journal, in which he recorded the workings of his mind in the most unreserved manner, and occa- sionally alluded to passing events in which he was personally inter- ested. From this journal frequent extracts will be given.' 1 The first entry in this journal is made on less continuous, and written in Latin. There December 26, 1797. From that date to June is then a blank till the year 1830, when it is 13, 1801, it is written in minute short hand, resumed, and written in French. Whilst he From August 1801, to September 1807, it is was in India, it is all in English. 28 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. II. We have now entered uporn the year 1798, and Daniel Wilson's position remains unchanged. He has been taught that his strength was to sit still: and having learnt that lesson, God now begins to work on his behalf, and at once all wills change, all diflaculties vanish, and all events yield. ' It appears that he had hitherto held no direct communication with his father on this anxious subject, but Mr. Eyre had been the "days- man " between them. Acting now upon the advice of his mother, he writes a very earnest, respectful, and affectionate letter to his father, taking blame to himself for his backwardness in not having done so before. The circumstances under which he wrote, and the result produced by his letter, are thus recorded in his journal : " MosDAT, March 12, 1798. " Through the Lord's mercy I am brought to the present moment. Two years have now elapsed since His work of grace began in my soul. It is His love and faithfulness which has kept me hitherto, and upon his unchangeable- ness do I rely to be carried through all the hosts of inward and outward foes, to the haven of eternal rest. My mother has been mercifully restored to wonted health. On Wednesday, the 28th ult., by my dear mother's advice, I wrote to my honored father on my going into the ministry, and I desire to be thankful for the very kind letter I received in reply, in which he promised at the end of the year seriously to enter upon the subject, and to follow, as far as he could, the Lord's will. Oh ! what a God is my God ! How clearly is His hand to be seen ! On my first application, my father would not hear anything about it. In the course of a month or two, his mind was so far altered as to promise that, after having faithfully served my time, he would then enter upon the subject. And now he has kindly engaged at the expiration of the twelve- month (four months of which have nearly elapsed) to take it into serious con- sideration. Oh ! to grace how great a debtor ! Oh for a heart seriously affected with the Lord's goodness, and humbly dependent on His powerful arm under the darkest dispensations ! " But this was not all. Events moved on rapidly. On the 22d of March he writes to his friend Vardy, as follows : " I just drop you a line to say that, since we parted on Monday evening, it has been settled that I am to go to Mr. Cecil's on Monday morning next. My father yesterday informed me of this, and seemed to view things in a much more favorable light than he had yet done. He said he only wished to know what the Lord's will was ; and as soon as he felt satisfied, should no longer continue to oppose my desires. He said nothing as though the result of this interview should be absolutely binding, but hoped it would have its full weight with me as coming from a man of such wisdom and experience. To this I readily assented. After this interview I am to have another of a similar nature with Mr. Goode, of White Row. Pray for me without ceasing, that the Lord 170e— 98. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 29 may stand by me and be a mouth unto me and wisdom ; and that both Mr. Cecil and your poor friend may be under the immediate influences of the Holy Spirit." Accordingly, on the 26th of March he waited on the Rev. Mr. Cecil, and announces the result to the same friend, on the same day : " I seize the first moment to acquaint you with the blessed event of my inter- view with Mr. Cecil. I have not time to enter into particulars. To sum up all in one word, he is fully persuaded that I am called of God to the work of the ministry, and advises me by all means to go on in it. " Slacken not your prayers on my behalf, that the Lord may keep me humble and grateful for His mercies.'' A few days afterwards, however, he sends to his mother a full account of the interview : " On the 26th March,'' he says, " after importunate prayer, I went to Mr. Cecil's, not without great fears and tremblings. When I was seated opposite a sofa on which Mr. Cecil reclined, he said : " ' I understand you have views to the ministry. Now Providence scorns to have cast j'ou into a different line, and I suppose you have serious reasons for wishing to go out of it. I have labored, and labored successfully, to induce a young man to give himself to this work when I thought he was really called. He is the son of Sir E. M , and was in his banking-house, and had eveiy prospect of sharing in that lucrative concern. He is now at Sk Edmund's Hall. I mention this to show you that I am quite at liberty to advise on either side, in an unbiassed manner.' " " I then related the abiding desire of my soul towards this work, and the different steps which had brought me before him as a judge. He inquired the manner and time of my conversion ; and when I mentioned (as I could not but do) the dreadful lengths of iniquity into whiph I had sunk, he stopped me, when I called myself ' the chief of sinners,' to put in his claim to that character ; and this was the point in which he said he exceeded every one : that he kept a kind of school of infidelity, and used to have a number of young men, and teach them to ridicule the Bible, etc. " I told him I had not abilities for that, or else I am sure my heart was bad enough. " After I had finished my narrative, he said the call appeared perfectly clear to him, and he advised me by all means to go on in my pursuit. This being settled, I mentioned that my father was doubtful whether I had qualifications for a minister. In reply to this, he observed : " ' That if none but men of genius and shining parts were to be in the ministry, there would be few indeed ! It was not genius nor great abilities that ever saved a soul ; and that even a dull understanding, with industry in the use of means, and a heart set on the work, might form a very useful man. He knew some ministers now of that character, who had improved themselves so much by diligence and 30 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. ChAP. II. study, that they were as useful as any men of the day. The grand matter is, whether the heart he right with God. The main question asked at ordination is, Do you trust that you are inwardly moved hy the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and min- istration? Now, do you expect a voice to call to you from the top of the ceiling? Do you expect some dream to teU you of it? No. The only proof is, a conscious- ness of an abiding desire after the work, with a single eye to the glory of God and the good of souls. Having this, what other token or sign can you require? Tou must give up all thoughts of worldly wealth, and leave your future provision in God's hands. When I married I had only £80 a year, and I lived as well as though I had £10,000. If your heart is in your work, you wiU consider the salvation of souls as your reward ; and, having food and raiment, you must be content. " ' I have no objection to your going into the church. But you should endeavor first to' learn what is the course the Lord marks out for you. I love consistency. If you think you have a general call to evangelize, and to go about proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation, then you cannot conscientiously enter the Established Church. Now I don't call Mr. Whitefleld or Mr. Berridge inconsistent characters. They were perfectly consistent. They entered the church in the simplicity of their hearts ; God afterwards called them to another line; and what they had done could not then be helped. But to promise regularity, while at the same time a man intends to be irreg- ular, cannot be done with a good conscience.' " I told him I had no wish or purpose to be irregular ; and the wishes of all my friends corresponding with my own preferences for the church, seemed to point it out as my line of duty. " Mr. Cecil said that when he was first convinced of sin, he had no idea of being a minister. But his father was a High Churchman, and his mother a Dissenter ; and his father forced him to go to college. " This was the substance of our conversation ; and I have great cause for thankfulness to the Lord, for his mercies to the vilest of sinners. " How wonderfully has the Lord led me hitherto ! Every step my father has taken, for all I could tell, was as likely to lead backwards as forwards. And this has been blessed, I hope, to keep me more in the exercise of faith and prayer. Excuse my brevity and haste. The dying words of Mr. Hervey are much on my mind, ' If I had my life to live again, I would spend more of it on my knees.' " No further difficulties of any kind seem to have arisen. It had pleased God to make a plain path for his feet to walk in. The result is entered in his journal as follows : " Oh, the wonders of the Lord's goodness ! My dear father let me go to Mr. Cecil's and Mr. Goode's, and they, after due examination, gave their opinion that I was called of God to the ministry. My father consented to my leaving business. In a few days I am to go and enter myself at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, and be at Mr. Pratt's as a private pupil till I am ready to reside in college. My dear uncle has conducted himself with the greatest kindness dur- ing the whole matter, and has readily consented to the arrangement made by 1796—98. CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 31 my father. The Lord has led me by a way that I knew not. To His great name be all the glory I " In accordance with the plan thus proposed, Daniel Wilson went up to Oxford and entered himself at St. Edmund's Hall, on the 1st of May ; and on the 10th of the same month, he writes to his mother from Doughty Street, Russell Square, where the Rev. Josiah Pratt then resided : " The desire you expressed to hear from me as soon as I was comfortably settled here has not been forgotten. I am encircled with mercies. In every point of view, I find myself, as to outward circumstances, in the best possible situation. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt are extremely good-tempered and agreeable, and very pious. My fellow-students (two), though not serious, have been educated in a Moravian College, and are very civil, moral youths. I have a most beautiful prospect from my room over the fields, unobstructed by any houses. So much as to outward blessings ; but these are nothing compared with spiritual — though all should excite gratitude from him who is unworthy of any." " ' Then are they glad because they are at rest; and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.' " i 1 Ps. evil. 30. CHAPTER III. STUDENT LIFE. 1798. REV. J. PEAIT — BTUDIOnS HABITS — LETTEKS — ATTEMPTS AT D0III8 GOOD — FAMILY PRAYERS — JOURNALS—. ATTAINMENTS. To enter upon the student life of Daniel Wilson after what has passed, is like gliding into a quiet harbor from a stormy sea. Former troubles enhance present enjoyment; the fretting and chafing of his mind subsides ; his vehemence of expression, with much of its peculi- arity, disappears ; each day's employments are congenial to his taste ; his correspondence becomes calm and devotional ; and, though his journals still manifest a fierce conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, yet, on the whole, his growth in grace and in divine knowledge is manifest. A wiser and better tutor than Mr. Pratt could scarcely have been elected. He was in the prime of life ; had been married only a year before ; and was commencing, as curate to Mr. Cecil, at St. John's Chape], Bedford Row, that career of usefulness which has justly endeared his memory to the church. Daniel Wilson seized every opportunity, in after-years, of bearing afiectionate testimony to one " who had guided his youth and pre- pared him for the university in 1798, and continued his bosom friend till death." "I owe to him," he says in 1845, "under God, and to two or three other eminent men, the entire guidance of my mind when I first entered seriously on the care of my salvation, and the earnest study of theology : — the Rev. Thomas Scott, the commen- tator, from 1796 to 1798; then, in 1798, the Rev. Josiah Pratt; next at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, the Rev. Isaac Crouch; and lastly, in my first curacy, from 1801 to 1803, the Rev. Richard Cecil. These continued uninterruptedly my most intimate friends, till their sev- eral deaths. But to no one was I more attached than to him who was spared to me and to the church the longest — the Rev. Josiah Pratt — my honored brother." ^ 1 Charge in 1845. 1798. STUDENT LIFE. 33 Under Mr. Pratt's guidance, he applied himself with indefatigable diligence to his studies. His time was thus proportioned out, as de- scribed by himself : " 5-30 to 7 o'clock. Devotional exercises and writing letters, as I am now doing. " 7 to 8. Preparing my Latin task. " 8 to 9. Prayers ; and breakfast, during which two or three numbers of the Spectator are read by each of us in turn. "9 to 11. Lecture on Natural Philosophy and Geography, and readin" Latin. "11 to 12. Preparing my Natural Philosophy for the next morning, and a problem of Euclid. " 12 to 1-30. Greek. " 1'30 to 3. Hebrew. " 3 to 4. Constantly to be devoted to walking for my health. " 4 o'clock. Dinner ; after which Mr. Pratt hears my Greek, Hebrew, and Euclid, and then we spend the time till tea in lighter books. " 5-30 precisely. Tea. " 6 to 7. Abridging Dr. Home's Commentary on the Psalms, so as to make it my own. " 7-30 to 8. Divinity, in a strict sense. " 8-30. Prayers, and then supper ; which is only, with us, a passing meal. " Till 10 o'clock reading Adam's Geography ; at 10 o'clock, retire." He was quite alive to the dangers attendant upon close study. To his mother he writes : " I would cheerfully send you a long letter, if my time would in any way permit; but really I am obliged to steal a few minutes, when I ought to be otherwise employed, to scribble even a note. " My great fear is, lest from constant application to human learning, I should lose the savor of religion in my heart. I am afraid of being puffed up with pride, and falling into the condemnation of the devil ; afraid of putting means in the place of Christ, and of trusting to literary attainments, instead of the grace and spirit of my Redeemer. Believe me, I had rather be as illiterate as a ploughboy, with a warm impression of Christ's dying love upon my heart, and a single aim to enthrone Him in the souls of my fellow-sinners, than a cold-hearted worldling, with all the learning in the universe. " One thing let me impress upon you as a particular favor : that you will be always faithful to my soul. Never shun to tell all that is in your heart, as soon as you perceive, or think that you perceive that I am going back into the world, that I am losing my spirituality, or falling into a bigoted, narrow spirit. If you knew what a heart I have, your fears for me would be increased, and I trust your intercession on my behalf would be doubly earnest." Of his own accord he seized every possible opportunity of doing good to those who had been his former companions, and to whom he feared he might, by his example in time past, have done harm. 5 34 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. III. Conversations are preserved ; and copies of letters, having this end in view, are still extant ; and in advanced life he was happy enough to know that some of his earliest friends were walking with him as heirs of the grace of life. His new position was soon recognized. In the month of June, referring to a pleasant visit he had paid to an aunt at Highbury, he says: " The Lord was with me at family prayers this morning, which they made me take. But alas ! I feel so much of abominable pride after it, that the reflec- tion confounds me." This may be contrasted with his first attempt of a like kind about two years before ; and the account of it may encourage some, by showing with what trembling lips a "man of prayer" sometimes begins. The letter was written to a friend, and it refers to a request made to him by his uncle, that he should engage in prayer with his family in his absence. " No words can convey any idea at all equal to the intense trouble of my inmost soul on that occasion. The family consisted of four men and two female servants, out of whom one only feared the Lord at the time. Conceive my feelings if you can ! I am sure I cannot describe them. I was, however, enabled to cry mightily unto the Lord for help, and though my uncle was willing I should make use of a book, and though I was never before engaged in such a service, I was helped to trust the Lord alone. When I first knelt down, I trembled like a leaf from head to foot. I was scarcely able to speak. My head, as it were, turned round, and I knew not where I was. However, I began ; and the Lord began too : for my heart weis enlarged, and I was enabled to go through the exercises with liberty and satisfaction." A few extracts shall be now given from his journal. " July 1, 1798. " Should I be spared till to-morrow, I shall enter my twentieth year; now, therefore, I desire to look back a little at the year which is passed. Surely I may say that goodness and mercy have followed me. 1 find I am the same poor sinner I ever was, equally unable to take a single step without Christ. He has stirred up my soul to desire the work of the ministry. He has opened the way for me, subdued all opposition, removed all difficulty, and brought mo to my present condition. Oh ! what a God is my God ; and what an ungrateful wretch am I ! Instead of living to the glory of my God and Saviour, I live, alas ! in much darkness. I live much in the spirit of the world. My love is very cold and weak. But, O Lord Christ ! Thou art my hope, and Thou alone. Oh ! give me true repentance, true faith, true humility." " Septemb'EE 9. " Sunday is now passed, and I would desire to bless Gtod for His mercy to me. I have had through grace a good day. I have enjoyed much of God in His ordinances, particularly under Mr. Pratt, whom I think a most excellent 179S. STUDENT LIFE. 35 preacher. As we came home this morning in a coach, I had some conversation ■with him. He told me if the Lord intended to make use of me in the church, I must have a long schooling.'' " September 23. " I have been much harassed about the reality of spiritual things. On Tues- day I dined with Mr. Eyre, at Hackney, and had a very pleasant time. He advised me to study mathematics, geometry, and history, and to write themes. He said Mr. Cadogan wrote three hundred sermons before he preached at all." " October 21. " I am to leave Mr. Pratt on Nov. 5th, and go to Oxford the day following. And now, O my soul ! what is thy state before God ? Alas ! it is very bad indeed. Oh that it were with me as in months past ! Where is that love to Christ and love to souls that I once had ? What will become of me ? " " October 28. " I had a most interesting conversation with Mr. H , my fellow-student, to-day. I hope the work of grace is begun in his soul. We ended by a mutual promise to correspond." Thus, to use his own expression when examining the state of his heart and affections before God at this time, he was " sometimes up and sometimes down :" but on the whole, it is evident that he was making progress in the divine hfe. Of his diligence in general learning there could be no doubt. He continued during the six months of his student life to rise at five o'clock, and retire at ten o'clock. One hour's exercise in the day sufficed him. At breakfast the "Spectator" and "Johnson's Lives of the Poets" were read through. Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and the elementary parts of mathematics occupied the morning. The after- part of the day was assigned to divinity, logic, history, natural philosophy, geography, and general literature. The books read were, " The Holy Scriptures " in Hebrew and Greek, Hooker's " Ecclesias- tical Polity," Doddridge's " Lectures," Fuller's " Calvinism and Soci- nianisra," Rowning's "Natural Philosophy," Drallois' "Epitome of Logic," Chisseldon's "Anatomy," Adam's "Geography," "Anach- arsis' Travels," Wilcock's " Rome," Bisset's " Life of Burke," Blair's " Lectures," and Payne's " Epitome of History." This account was given in answer to the inquiry of a friend, after some little time had elapsed, and might, therefore, he says, be incom- plete. Some of the books are now little read ; but the enumeration serves to show what were then considered standard books for stu- dents, and to prove the industry manifested by Daniel Wilson dur- ing the six months' preparation for the university. His student life at Mr. Pratt's ended in November, 1798; and thus furnished, he entered into residence at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford. CHAPTER IV. COLLEGE LIFE. 1798—1801. STATE OP THE TTHIVEKSITY— ST. EDMUND'S HALL — HIS FRIENDS — KEV. J. CROUCH — JOURNALS — SCRIPTURAL DISCUSSIONS — VACATION — LETTERS — EXPENSES — TENDER- NESS OP CONSCIENCE — CONFIRM ATIOH — LONG VACATION — JOURNAL — COUSIN ANNB — REMINISCENCES — PLAN OP STUDY AT HOME — CORRESPONDENCE — PROSPECT OP A CURACY — EXAMINATION — DEGREE — UNIVERSITY PRIZE — HEBER AND WILSON — COM- MON SENSE. Seventy or eighty years have witnessed great changes and im- provements in onr universities. All testimony goes to show that, towards the close of the last century, religion had little life there, and learning little encouragement. The Classes and the Tripos which now gauge a man's ability, and assign him his proper place, were then unknown. At Oxford, with which only we have now to do, the exarnination was a mere form. A man chose not only his own books, but his own examiners. It was consequently the very general custom to choose the easiest books, and the most indul- gent examiners. There was no audience. The three Masters of Arts who were the examiners, and the undergraduates to be exam- ined, were alone present ; and it was not unusual to proceed to the Schools from a pleasant breakfast, or to adjourn, after the successful termination of the day's labors, to a good dinner ! " Quid solidus ahgulus? " Such was the question of an examiner in the schools : and receiving no answer from the respondent, he answered himself by grasping the corner of the desk at which he stood, and saying — " HlO SOLIDUS ANGULUB." Such is a specimen of the traditionary stories of that day ; and it might be capped by many of the same kind. A glimpse also may be obtained of the state of religion prevalent at the same university. A most accomplished member of St. John's, an excellent scholar, and one who was deemed a model of an un- 1798-1801. COLLEGE LIFE. 37 dergraduate of those days, not only never read his Bible, but did not possess one. Being remonstrated with by a friend, his rejoinder was — " How can I help it ? Do you think that I could by any possi- bility go into Parker's shop and ask for a Bible ! " If such was the tone of the university, those who maintained religious consistency were, of course, marked men ; and those who read diligently, formed the exception rather than the rule. Happily it is so no longer. No one now can obtain real university honors without deserving them ; and no one now would shrink from pur- chasing a Bible. Before the last century had closed, many changes had begun, and many abuses were corrected. The authorities of the university ap- pointed the examiners, and publicity was given to the examination. Though there was not as yet any fair and impartial criterion of ability, such as the Classes have since presented, yet the opinion of the Examiner was publicly expressed, and sent through the univer- sity the gradually widening circle of commendation or disgrace. It was in November, .1798, that Daniel Wilson entered into resi- dence at Oxford, and took possession of his rooms at number four, up two pair of stairs, in St. Edmund's Hall. It was but a small society, and perhaps at that time better known for its piety than its learning. Still, he says that he found the men reading what re- quired from him five hours preparation daily. He was soon introduced into a pleasant circle of young men, like- minded with himself; amongst whom he specially names in his journal, Marsh,' Fetch, Hyson, Knight,^ Randolph, Wheeler,' Pigott, Greig,'' Hood, Fry,' Morris, and Lardner ; and soon after Pearson," and Spooner,' Cawood,^ Natt,' and Gleed." The Hall was happy in its vice-principal and tutor, the Rev. Isaac Crouch. His influence over his pupils was most beneficial, and the good effects of his wise and paternal counsels seem never to have been obliterated from their minds. Thirty-four years after this time, Daniel Wilson, writing to him from the Indian Ocean, says : " I look back now with fond delight to my introduction to you on April 30th, 1 The venerable Dr. Marsh. 6 Afterwards Eev. Hugh Pearson, D. D., -' Afterwards the Eev. W. Knight, Hector Dean of Salisbury, of St. Michael's, Bristol, and author of "Lee- 7 Afterwards the venerable W. Spooner, tures on some of the Prophecies," etc. Archdeacon of Coventry. 3 Afterwards a Judge in the Supreme Court 8 Afterwards Eev. John Cawood, Vicar of of Calcutta. Bewdley. 4 A Fellow of St. John's, and Curate of St. 9 Afterwards Kev. John Natt, Fellow of St. Nicholas's, Worcester, at his death. John's, and Vicar of St. Sepulchre, London. 5 The Eev. Thomas Fry, author of "The W Eev. J. Gleed, B. D., Vicar of Chalfout Life of Legh Eichmond." St. Peter's, Bucks. 38 THE LIFE OF DANIEL -WILSON. Chap. IV. 1798. I recall your friendly advice, cautions, and instructions. I remember the Greek Testament lectures (of which I have my short-hand notes still), the delightful dinner parties, the Sunday evening readings, the various scenes ■where I used to see your friendly countenance, and where I used to pass such happy hours with Mr. Greig, William Marsh, Cawood, and others. Many and many a reflection dropped by you in conversation, now returns to my mind with double force. Accept, then, once more my best acknowledgments. I have now in my cabin your present of Van-der-Hooght's Hebrew Bible, given me by you in 1801. It has been my companion ever since. Its binding has become again as old as that which you replaced by so splendid an exterior, thirty-two years back." And when, in the year 1835, Mr. Crouch died, he summed up his character as follows : " There have, perhaps, been few men more remarkably adapted for the sphere in which he moved. " His course of solid, quiet, unobtrusive labors precisely met the circumstan- ces of Oxford and of his own society during the period that he was called to fill the post of public tutor. To maintain a spirit of vital piety in union with modesty, good order, and diligence in their studies among a number of young students, is at all times a most difficult task. Nearly sixty years then from the present time, it may readily be conceived that the attempt in a great university was both arduous and doubtful. Mr. Crouch, however, made it in the strength of God, persevered in his one great object, overcame prejudice gradually by a uniformly holy life, gained the affections of his pupils, acquired the confidence of the Heads of the university, saw new opportunities of useful influence con- tinually opening before him, witnessed the rising tone of Christian doctrine and feeling in his own society, and retired as his health declined after nearly thirty years' service, with the universal benedictions of the young and the re- spect of the aged resting on him." Such was the college tutor. Attention may now be turned to the undergraduate. On Nov. 23, he writes in his journal : " Surely I am surrounded with mercies ! How good and gracious has the Lord been to me ! I have been for two hours in company with Mr. Greig, Marsh, Hood, Fry, and Morris, — all of them excellent men, — and I feel quite another creature. I am able to go on with my stud- ies as much as I could wish. I have got an interleaved Greek Testa- ment to take down Mr. Crouch's lectures, which are indeed excellent." " December 1. " Yesterday I was at Mr. Fry's, and was introduced to Mr. Spooner and Faber. As to myself, I hardly know whether I am a child of grace or not. Oh, what depths of s!n are there in my soul ! Oh for a new heart, desires, affections, pursuits, objects!" 1798-1801. COLLEGE LIFE. 39 " December, 16. " I wrote yesterday to my brother, and said a little about his soul. Oh that it may be blessed to his good ! I love college more and more, and hope God may bless me in it. I am prospered in my studies. In my soul I go on pretty well, though I have still much to strive against." lie was soon invited to join an association of pious men from various colleges, who met regularly in each other's rooms for mutual intercourse and the discussion of scriptural subjects. More than one fellow and one tutor belonged to it, and Mr. Crouch thoroughly ap- proved of it. It was by his advice that prayer was omitted, in order to avoid giving o6casion of offence to the authorities. One of their meetings, in 1797, is described by a member, who was then an un- dergraduate at St. John's. It was his first attendance. " I was much astonished," he says, " to see Spooner place a Bible on the table as soon as tea was over, and open the consideration of a scriptural subject. It was as to ' the degree of information possessed by the Jews respecting a future state, and in what light we are to view the declaration that " life and immortality " are brought to light bv the gospel.' Every one present delivered his opinion. We had many criti- cisms on the te.Kt, and references were made to many commentators, amongst others (' tell it not in Gath! ') to the learned and pious Doddridge. We separated at nine o'clock, and dissolved the only party I have ever regretted to quit since I came to St. John's." The same individual thus describes Daniel Wilson at that time : " Wilson was very good-looking, but reserved, and somewhat deficient in manner. It was obvious, however, that he was no common person; and though he entered the university under great disadvantages as to classical learning, his extraordinary and determined diligence, aided by robust health, atforded a, sufficient pledge of future eminence and success.'' His first term being ended, he went to London for the Christmas vacation, and after a pleasant visit to his friends, he returned to Ox- ford on the 5th Jan. 1799. On Jan. 14th, having heard of the serious illness of one of his sisters, and of an accident which had happened to his brother, he writes to his mother; and after many expressions of most tender and affectionate sympathy, makes the following suggestions : " Mr. Newton was accustomed to say that whenever the Lord wanted to pull him down, the trial was sure to come through his wife. She was afflicted for his good. Now perhaps, my dear mother, God sees fit to lay his hand on those who are most dear to you, in ordpr to stir you up from the world, and make you see that every earthly comfort is unstable, and that no peace is solid, no joy lasting, but what is derived immediately from Himself." 40 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. ChAP. IV. Most of the letters in the earlier part of his life, enter very little into the detail of passing events. After a kindly introduction, he generally discusses some religious topic which has occurred to him- self, or been suggested by his correspondent. Letters to his father, however, form partial exceptions to this rule ; and when some of those college friends with whom he corresponded in Latin, ask, " Quid novi apud vos?" he responds, and tells the university news. But what is most noticeable is the careful preservation of his letters. They may be numbered by hundreds; and not merely single letters, but whole series — twenty by one correspondent, fifty by another, seventy by a third, a hundred or a hundred and fifty by a fourth. His mother preserves them, his sister preserves them, his school- master preserves them, his schoolfellows, college friends, fellow- tutors, brother ministers, all preserve them ; and that, long before there was any halo round his name. Surely this proves that there must always have been some powerful influence attaching to his character, and some shadowing out of future distinction. Eminent men seem to exercise this influence and cast this shadow as they walk through life; and others, seeing and feeling it, are unwilling to let, their words fall to the ground. The number of such letters intro- duced into this biography, bear no proportion to those which have' been necessarily excluded : and it will be readily admitted, that the difiiculties of the biographer have been greatly increased from the necessity of producing a true likeness with so few touches. He writes to his father during the short vacation in March, 1799, consulting him about the income tax ; and mentions that, being com- paratively free from lectures, he was giving more time to Hebrew and Greek. He makes also a successful application for permission to have a private tutor, in order to work at Thucydides. " I am perfectly well," he says, " in health, not as yet experiencing any in- convenience from my studies. Very few days pass when I do not walk for about an hour." His father allowed him, it appears, one hundred guineas a year ; and he contrived to make it suffice. Not once does the word " debt " appear, either directly or indirectly, in letters or journal. In money matters ie was always very careful; and though open-handed at all times, the details of his expenditure were accurately noted. His expenses enlarged with his income, but were rarely allowed to exceed it. The college records show that his " battles " averaged about eight shillings a week. His only apparently painful act of self-denial was in the matter of books; and he turns away with regret from a fine copy of " Calvin's Works," because it was "too dear." He made ample amends for this special self-denial in after- life. 1798—1801. COLLEGE LIFE. 41 His tenderness of conscience continued : " I am very miserable," he writes to his mother in March, " because my con- science is full of guilt. I have done two things wrong to-day, which are not easily retrieved, and both have arisen from hardness of heart and a sinful fear of man. In the first, I failed of speaking faithfully to a fellow-collegian who is, I fear, deceiving himself; in the second, I have not introduced spiritual dis- course in a party where I sat for above an hour at tea. You don't know how heavy these sins lie upon my mind ; so that I feel now as unhappy and dis- tressed as possible. May the Lord forgive the " iniquity of my sin." " Last Sunday week did not pass unnoticed. The recollection of the Lord's mercy did, I hope, in some degree affect my mind, and lead me to renew the dedication of that body and soul to the Lord, which I trust he has " bought with a price." In his journal, on the 28th of April, he writes: " I have just come from the blessed sacrament. I have found it good fqr my soul. I have had some views of the gi-ace and glory of Christ. Before the sacrament we had a most choice sermon from dear Mr. Crouch (Romans viii. 9). My friend Marsh has been with me. I have found his conversation very profitaT)le. 'V^'e generally meet every night, spending a little time in conversa- tion, reading, and prayer." The Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Smallwell, was ill at this time, and his duties were partially discharged by Dr. Cleaver, Bishop of Chester and Principal of Brazenose. All undergraduates were admitted to his confirmations on presenting a certificate from their college tutors. Daniel "Wilson availed himself of this privilege, as the fol- lowing entries in his journal prove : "June 6, 1799. " To^norrow, if I live, I am to be confirmed. Oh ! may I find it, by the Lord's presence, good for my soul." "JuheS, 1799. " Yesterday I was confirmed by the Bishop of Chester ; and, I trust, found the Lord's presence with me. There were about twenty-five others." On the 1st July he left Oxford for the long vacation, which was spent partly at home, and partly with his uncle in Milk Street. He thus describes his employments : " My time, which I can depend upon, is from nine o'clock till two : and of this I spend the first hour in Hebrew, the second in Greek, and the third in Latin. After dinner, if I have time, I read French and then English." On the 17th of October he returned to Oxford, and set himself seriously to work at Herodotus and Livy, the Hebrew Bible, Hut- 6 42 THE LIFE OF DANIEL WILSON. Chap. IV. ton's Mathematics, and Rollin's Ancient History. He now also began to talk Latin familiarly with his friends Bull and Cawood. On November 9th he writes to his mother : " I have more on my hands now by ten times than I ever had when I was in business. " It is our mercy, as well as our privilege, that in our journey to the heav- enly Canaan, we have but one thing to trouble ourselves about as to spiritual things, viz., to live near to God; and one as to outward things, viz., to keep in the path of duty. Whilst we are going on humbly, leaving the direc- tion in the hands of God, nothing can be eventually unsuccessful ; and should the most adverse circumstances be, for a time, permitted to crowd around us, while we live near to God, neither our peace nor our safety can be disturbed." A few extracts may be given from his journal at the beginning of the year 1800. "jAiniAEYlf, 1800. I " I would now desire to raise my Ebenezer, and say, ' Hitherto the Lord hath helped me.' I have been kept from sin. Oh ! what do I owe to the Lord for his grace ! I would desire to lay the whole glory at his feet, and sav, ' Not unto me, not unto me ! ' The means of my preservation has been, the Lord keeping up in my heart a consciousness of my own weakness, and so preserv- ing me from trusting in my own power and might. Thus have I been kept from day to day. But I feel a dread of committing sin. ' Hold thou me up and I shall be safe." ' " January 26, 1800. " How fast the days and weeks creep on ! Three weeks have passed since I last wrote, and they seem but a moment. I have much reason for thankfulness, for the Lord's goodness to me. Oh that I may still have a constant convic- tion of my own weakness, and a simple reliance upon the power and greatness of Christ ! I do hope that I have a true repentance for sin, and that I really long for deliverance from it. But what can I say ? Religion is what I have yet to learn. O Lord ! to Thee would I look. Decide the doubt. I trust I am truly sincere. I hope I do truly wish and pray for deliverance from sin. I believe that there is nothing impossible with Thee ! " " March 16. " O my soul ! thou art this day going to approach the Lord's table. Exam- ine thyself whether thou art in the faith. Lord, be pleased to shine in me, then I shall examine myself aright. "I have long been a professor of religion ; long called Christ, ' Lord, Lord!' But the question is, whether I have true grace in my heart, or am only a hypo- crite : whether I am really united unto Christ by a saving faith, or whether still unacquainted with Him : whether I have been ' born again ' by the Holy Ghost, or whether I am still a child of darkness : whether my general conduct, my tempers, my words, my actions, prove that I have a portion of divine life in my soul, or not. 1798—1801. COLLEGE LIFE. 43 " O Lord! I find in Thy word that Thou art such a Saviour as I need, that Tliy atoning blood cleanses from all sin, and that Thy Holy Spirit renews the nriost depraved heart and the most confirmed habits of iniquity. Thou art able and ■willing to receive the poor trembling, returning sinner. I would come, O Lord! in this character — a sinner, whose only hope is in Thy salva- tion. I would desire to renounce the service of every sin, and pray for grace to overcome every corruption. " Be pleased to prepare me for the sacred ministry of Thy Gospel. Lord, if I should be ever called to preach, may I preach nothing but Christ ! Lord ! make me a faithful, diligent, and (if it be Thy will) a successful minister." As he was thus pressing onwards, a pleasant vista opened before him, at the end of which he caught a glimpse of one of life's resting- places, — a happy home. The glimpse was momentary, and the prospect distant ; yet it was really of the Lord. His uncle was now the owner of large estates at Worton, in Ox- fordshire ; and the distance from Oxford not being great, access was easy and frequent. Mr. William Wilson's eldest daughter was a deserved favorite with Mr. and Mrs. Crouch, and an occasional in- mate of their house ; and thus intercourse with his "Cousin Ann" had sunshine to ripen it into affection. It was after one of these occasional visits that the following letter was written. Its careful penmanship, its gentle imagery, the words it speaks, and the words it leaves unspoken, all give evidence of a more than common interest on the part of the writer ; whilst the store set by the letter, and its preservation even to this hour, con- veys the impression that the note struck at Oxford, found a respon- sive chord at Worton. " Oxford, May 9, 1800. " I thought of you when I was walking round Magdalen walk the other evening, and could not help imagining how pleasant and agreeable every- thing around you must be. I do not know when we have had "so pleasant and delightful a spring. Considering how alarming the present dearness of pro- visions is, we are called upon to be thankful for the prospects of abundance, which this fine weather is, I hope, an earnest of. Though they are not our best blessings, yet the bounties of Providence are not, I think, to be overlooked. I hope we know, my dear cousin, how to be grateful for every mercy. Are we not also encouraged to see in the beauties of nature representations of the mysteries of grace ? We cannot help remembering who is said to be the sun of righteousness ; what is intended by the dew which descends upon Israel, and by the river whose streams make glad the city of God. We may call to mind likewise those plants which are planted in the house of the Lord, and flourish in the courts of our God; that tree under whose shadow we sit with great delight; and those /ruife of the Spirit which are joy and peace. " Well mi