Oldalképek
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

No. 1.]

CHRISTIAN JOURNAL,

AND

LITERARY REGISTER.

JANUARY, 1821.

THE Christian Journal will here after be issued under the particular di rection of the publishers, but it will have the occasional aid of the Bishop, and other clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the city of New-York. By this arrangement greater punctuality may be expected in the periods of its appearance, and its contents will form more of a miscellaneous cast, as it is intended to make selections from the best religious and other periodical publications of London and Edinburgh, which will render it both entertaining and useful to every class of readers. Its essential character however of a Christian Journal will be preserved; and the public documents of the Churchabridgements of, or extracts from, the General and State Conventions-proceedings of religious societies, &c. &c. will as heretofore be carefully inserted.

Since the establishment of this work, four other publications of a similar nature have appeared in different parts of the United States; and these have arisen in places where considerable support had been given to it. It was to be expected that Episcopalians in those places would prefer the one published within their own vicinity, and that consequently many of their subscriptions to the Christian Journal would be withdrawn. This has been the fact; and hence a new call on churchmen of this diocess becomes necessary; as it is on them that dependence must chiefly be placed for the continuance of the publication. The work itself is of VOL. V.

[VOL. V.

an interesting character to all who regard the extension and welfare of our Church; and, at the same time, it is hoped it will not in future be devoid of interest to the general reader. And while it shall continue to receive the countenance and support of the Bishops and great body of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, the expectation is cherished, that laymen of our own diocess in particular, will cheerfully lend their aid towards its support, and that others who have the ability, notwithstanding the call on them to support similar pubfications within their own immediate vicinity, will still continue their pa tronage to the Christian Journal. T. & J. SWORDS.

Feb. 1, 1821.

Life of Bishop Wilson.

[Several biographies have been published of this most excellent Bishop, who would have adorned the first ages of the Church. A brief notice of his life appears recently in an English publication; and the character of this pre late is so interesting, that we trust our readers will be gratified with the exhibition of it which the following memoir contains.]

THOMAS WILSON was born at Burton, in the county of Cheshire, of an ancient and respectable family, on the 20th December 1663. The rudiments of his education were acquired under Mr. Harpur, a learned schoolmaster in Chester; from whose tuition he was

1

1

transferred to Trinity College, Dublin, with an allowance of twenty pounds a year. His first design was to study medicine; but by the advice of his friend, Archdeacon Heweston, he gave an ultimate preference to divinity. His industry, while at college, was remarkable, and he remained at the University till the year 1686, .when he was ordained deacon, by the Bishop of Kildare; and soon after obtained the curacy of New Church, in the parish of Winwick, in Lancashire, of which Dr. Sherlock, his maternal uncle, was rector. His stipend, as curate, was only £30 a year, but upon this he was so "passing rich" that he contrived to set apart one tenth of it for charitable purposes. In 1689, he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Chester; and, in a short time appointed domestic chaplain to William, Earl of Derby, and tutor to his son James, Lord Strange. The Mastership of the Almshouse at Latham, united to his other offices, increased his income to fifty pounds, one sixth of which was annually dedicated to the poor.

Lord Derby's respect for his new chaplain, was not a little increased by his refusal of the valuable living of Baddesworth, "as inconsistent with the resolves of his conscience against nonresidence." But a still more decided and unusual step, which Mr. Wilson ventured to take, confirmed his patron's high opinion of his fearless integrity. The habits of profusion in this nobleman's family, had long engaged the serious notice of the chaplain, and he determined to remonstrate with Lord Derby, and thus endeavour to relieve his embarrassments by calling him to an investigation of them. This delicate task he performed partly by conversation and partly by letter; and, much to the credit of his patron, it was executed not only without offence, but with a success which led to an economical reform, and a satisfactory arrangement of his affairs. We know not upon which party this singular transaction reflects the highest honour.

Nor was he less dextrous in the formation of his pupil's mind.

The principal defects in this young nobleman's character, were an impetu

osity of temper and want of consideration. Mr. Wilson studiously endeavoured to correct these defects. To impress his lessons on this subject more effectually, he had recourse to an extraordinary experiment. One day, as Lord Strange was going to subscribe a paper which he had not read, his tutor dropped some burning sealing-wax on his finger, which, from the exquisite pain it occasioned, excited a feeling of strong indignation, but this feeling quickly subsided when he was informed of the friendly design of the action, and considered that it was done to remind him while he lived, never to sign a paper which he had not first attentively read.

His labours unhappily were not allowed to manifest their fruit. Lord Strange died abroad, at an early period of his life.

The Bishoprick of Sodor and Man being vacant, in 1693, was offered by Lord Derby, in whom the preferment lay, to Mr. Wilson, who, afraid of the responsibility attached to so high a situation, refused it for more than four years. King William at length, on the representation of Archbishop Sharp, insisted that it should be filled up, and Lord Derby peremptorily declining to receive any farther denial, Mr. Wilson was consecrated at the Savoy Church, on the 16th January, 1697. On his arrival in the island, he found that both the spiritual and temporal state of his diocess required close attention. The palace was dilapidated, and in rebuild-ing it, and putting the demesne in order, he expended £1,400, a large sum in those days, especially when we remember that the revenues of the See scarcely exceeded £300 a year.

In the following year he married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Patten, Esq. of Warrington. By this lady, who is described as an amiable woman, he had two sons and two daughters; one of whom only, Thomas, afterwards prebendary of Westminster, and rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, survived his father. In 1705, the Bishop lost his wife, to whom he appears to have been sincerely attached.

The Bishop's charities were now conducted on an extensive scale. He had

a poor's drawer for alms, and a poor's chest for corn and meal in his barn, constantly kept full to the brim. Nor were these bounties given as encouragements to idleness-the palace-court became a general mart for the webs, yarn, and worsted, of the manufactories which he had established in the neighbourhood; and all who would work found a ready purchaser for their produce. A proper discrimination regulated the relief which he afforded; and, though impositions sometimes occurred, they were by no means frequent. The medical knowledge which he had acquired while at college, opened another source of usefulness, and he acted in great measure as physician to his diocess. Agriculture occupied much of his attention; and his benevolent labours in the education of the parochial poor are still gratefully remembered, not only in the Isle of Man, but also in the place of his nativity.

As a preacher, he was constant and earnest, and during his fifty-eight years of incumbency, he never failed (unless when prevented by sickness) to perform some part of the Sunday's duty. He was a regular observer of family worship.

It is related, that on one occasion, when he had a large company at his house, consisting of foreigners and persons of different religious persuasions, the servant entered the parlour at the hallowed hour, with the usual intimation. His Lordship, having apologized to the company for leaving them, telling them that he was going to pray with his people, immediately retired, but no sooner had he reached the chapel, than every one of his guests followed, as if constrained by an involuntary impulse, and an irresistible attraction.

At his own expense he printed and circulated a translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew into Manks; a language which he took considerable pains to acquire. He published also a useful Manual, in Manks and English, entitled "The Principles and Duties of Christianity." By the assistance of Dr. Bray's excellent fund, he succeeded in establishing parochial libraries throughout the island. His conduct to his clergy was distinguished by an affecti

onate and paternal deportment, which, even when he was compelled to " reprove, rebuke, or exhort," bore with it the genuine marks of apostolical cha rity.

In the pious exercise of these duties, Bishop Wilson was interrupted by an unfortunate contest between the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions of the island. We cannot enter into any detail of these transactions, which pos sess no interest in themselves, unless as connected with the Bishop, and which are sufficiently involved in legal obscurity to be troublesome to the reader without repaying him for his trouble. The Governor of the island, Captain Horne, appears to have been a man of arbitrary and tyrannical disposition; with whom, however, strange to say, Lord Derby sided; probably from no unusual jealousy of Church authority. In the course of the dispute, this officer, under a pretence that the Bishop had transgressed his powers, illegally sentenced him to pay a fine of fifty pounds; and, in consequence of his resistance, committed him, on the 29th of June, 1722, to Castle Rushen prison, with a strict charge to the jailor to treat him with every mark of contumely, and to admit no person to see or converse with him. His confinement lasted two months, when a decision of the King in Council reversed all the proceedings of the civil officers, and effectually vindicated the character of the Bishop. The populace, who with difficulty had been restrained from tumult by his exhortations during his imprisonment, openly manifested their feelings on his release, and conducted him in triumph on a long march to his palace. The dampness of the cell in which he had been confined, deprived him, however, of the free use of his right hand; and he carried to the grave the marks of Captain Horne's injustice.

The King, as a reparation of the grievances which the Bishop had suffered, offered him the See of Exeter, then vacant, and promised to defray the expenses of the lawsuit out of his own private purse. Bishop Wilson, from attachment to the diocess of Man, declined the first of these proofs of royal favour. The second was never put in

execution, owing to his majesty's death. A liberal subscription of private friends, however, enabled the Bishop in part to satisfy the costs, and the rest were de frayed by himself and his son. "When the lawyers' bills were paid," says this last, "little remained to either of us."

pa

The return of the Bishop to his ace was marked by his customary benevolent exercise of episcopal functions. In the year 1735, the Bishop visited England, for the last time; when he was introduced to George the II. and Queen Caroline. His appearance, his manners, and his conversation, impressed even majesty with awe and respect. He was at this time every way venerable; venerable in his aspect, venerable for his age, and still more venerable for his piety. His gray hairs, which were so conspicuously "found in the way of righteousness," were "a crown of glory" to his head. The courteousness of his deportment, and the simplicity of his manners, rendered him an interesting object at the court of his Sovereign. He was treated with marked kindness and esteem, both by the King and Queen. This interview must have been peculiarly gratifying to the accomplished and pious Caroline, who was capable of appreciating genuine piety and real worth. She was exceedingly desirous to prevail on him to take up his residence in England; but his attachment to his diocess continued inviolable. No entreaties or persuasions could induce him to forsake it. A Court had few attractions for him. The smiles of the world could not elate him, nor its frowns depress him. He had formed a correct estimate of those objects which dazzle and delude the giddy multitude; he knew their emptiness, and despised them all. One day, as he was approaching the Queen, to pay his respects to her, she turned round to several Bishops who were then at levee, and said, "See here, my lords, is a Bishop who does not come for a translation!" "No, and please your majesty, (said the venerable man), I will not leave my wife in my old age because she is poor."

The Earl of Derby dying without issue, in the year 1739, the lordship of Man devolved to the Duke of Athol,

who claimed the impropriations as an inseparable appendage to his estate. These impropriations had been purchased from a former Earl of Derby, by Bishop Barrow, in Charles the IId's. time, for the support of the clergy; but the deed of conveyance being lost, they were again at the mercy of the original proprietor. The Duke of Athol generously permitted the clergy to retain the use of the impropriations upon their giving him bonds of indemnification. This tenure, however, was too insecure to satisfy the Bishop, and by his unwearied activity, the necessary papers were at length discovered, and duly exemplified under the great seal.

A scarcity which occurred in 1740, from excessive drought, afforded the Bishop a new opportunity of exercising practical charity. To add to the distress of the unhappy Manks people, government prohibited the exportation of corn from England, and an epidemic disorder, attended with great mortality, was raging through the island. The Bishop bought all the grain he could purchase, at exorbitant prices, and immediately resold it to the distressed inhabitants at very low rates. He next imported two cargoes of wheat from Holland, and, at length, with much difficulty, obtained an order in Council, which took off the embargo for a certain time and extent. During the whole of this dreadful period he gave his personal attendance to the sick; and, careless of all hazard to himself, effectually contributed by his medical knowledge to stop the infection. Without his assistance, indeed, it is more than probable that the joint scourges of plague and famine would have depopulated the island.

Dr. Pocock, on his return from the East, paid a visit to the Isle of Man, and, to announce his arrival, sent the Bishop his Travels, handsomely bound in morocco. His lordship received him with an affectionate welcome, at the same time telling him that he

[blocks in formation]
« ElőzőTovább »