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which he did in September, 1830. He then removed to Nottingham, for the advantage of being near several branches of his family who resided in that town. But, though he had retired from stated ministerial services, he loved his Master's work too well not to be always ready to assist his brethren when the state of his health would allow him to do so. And by a remarkable providence he was led to visit Matlock Bath, and preach, what proved to be his last sermon, to his beloved and affectionate flock at that place, on the morning of the Lord's day, March 11th. His text was Ps. xciv. 14: "The Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance;" from whence he took occasion to declare his firm belief in one of his favourite doctrines,-viz. The final perseverance of the saints. On the 13th, he returned home in a very weak state, and lingered till April 2nd; when, having finished his course, having served God, and served his generation according to the will of God, he fell asleep, and saw corrup→ tion; and he now waits the hour when his corruptible shall put on incorruption, and his mortal shall put on immortality: and thus death shall be swallowed up of life. On the following Lord's day his death was improved by his old and highly esteemed friend, the Rev. Richard Alliott, senior, in a very impressive and appropriate sermon from Acts xiii. 36; and, by another beloved brother, the Rev. Robert Weaver, of Mansfield, from 1 Cor. xv. 55. A similar token of respect was paid to his memory by the Rev. Robert Littler, his successor at Matlock Bath.

Although Mr. Wilson did not enjoy the advantages of an academical education, yet, possessing respectable natural talents, improved by diligent reading, reflection, and experience, together with

those Christian and ministerial qualifications which are from above, he was an able, acceptable, and useful minister of Jesus Christ. His aim was not popular applause, but real usefulness. To convert sinners, to edify saints, and thus to promote the glory of God and the salvation of men-these were the highest objects of his ambition; and, by the divine blessing upon. his labours, they were not in vain, as many will be found to testify at the last great day. His views of divine truth were in accordance with the Assembly's Catechism, and the writings of Dr. Owen, and other divines of the same school, with whose works he was thoroughly conversant. His discourses were doctrinal, experimental, and practical. Decidedly attached to the doctrines of grace, he was yet very adverse to any statement of them which might have even the appearance of an Antinomian tendency. In the private walks of life he was upright, pious, and devotional. Having the greatest delight in the services of the sanctuary, divine ordinances were the element in which he seemed to live; and it was ever his earnest desire to avoid that which is evil, and to do that which is good; and thus to manifest his sincere attachment to the gospel of Christ by bringing forth the fruits of faith and holiness.

Mr. Wilson was twice married; first to Miss Lamport, of Ringwood, in Hampshire, with whom he lived happily more than thirty years; and, having been deprived of her by death in the year 1810, he again entered the marriage state, in 1814, with Eleanor Tatlock, formerly of Sandwich, in Kent, who survives to lament his loss. By the former connexion he had seven children, five of whom he had the heavy affliction of following to their graves when they had arrived at adult age, and

several of them leaving large families. But they had all given evidence of being interested in that covenant which is well ordered in all things, and sure; and are, therefore, "not lost, but gone before." He has left behind him twenty-three grandchildren and

one great-grandchild. May they all be enabled to follow him so far as he followed Christ; that the whole family may at last meet in that land of light and glory where sorrow and separation shall be unknown.

STRIKING PROVIDENCES,
To the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine.

THOUGH a pious mind will trace the hand of God in every event, yet there are dispensations in providence so peculiarly striking as to impress the most careless with the agency of the Deity. Some events to which this character is very applicable occurred lately at no great distance from me, and the lessons which they teach are highly important. Two of them are of a very solemn description, and one of a more cheering cast; but all of them are the doings of Him who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. The first refers to the sudden death of a very estimable minister in the vigour of life. The Rev. Mr. Jameson, minister in the Relief Chapel at Bekshill, near Hamilton, went a few Sabbaths ago to the pulpit in his ordinary health, and had nearly finished his usual exposition of a portion of the Holy Scriptures, when he felt himself unwell, and requested the congregation to sing a few lines of a psalm, hoping that the indisposition might pass away; but the lines were scarcely read ere he became much worse, and was removed speechless to the vestry; and, though medical aid was immediately obtained, he very soon gave up the ghost. He was a man of respectable talents, earnest and active in his ministry, and very kind and pleasing in his dispositions and manners. What gives additional solemnity to the sad scene is this remarkable fact, that, eleven years ago, his father-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Brown, of the Relief Chapel, Falkirk, who had come to assist him in the dispensation of the Lord's Supper, died instantaneously while passing from the church to his dwelling. This striking event took place about the middle of the service of the day, and it was with feelings of the highest excitement that Mr. J. closed it; and to him it has been allotted to present now to others

a sight like that which he himself had witnessed with such sorrow and awe. There is something calculated to affect us very deeply when a minister thus finishes his course in the sanctuarywhen, from standing before man, he is called to stand before God-when, in exhorting others to work out their salvation, he closes his holy task-and when he leaves in his last appearance a memento of mortality more rousing than any that ever proceeded from his lips. The ministers of the gospel need such double admonition, for, with eternity so often in our mouths, it is too little on our hearts in its due efficacy. And while the members of the church to which the vision of mortality has been doubled are strongly called on to have their loins girt about and their lamps burning, and to act like men that wait for their Lord, all around should take warning, and flee from the wrath to come. A new disease has come into the land, in which the process of mortality is frightfully accelerated; the pale horse is quickening his pace, and multitudes have felt, in the season of their vigour and of their brightest earthly hope, that there was but a step betwixt them and death. How blessed are they to whom every Sabbath comes with the spirituality of heaven, and on the whole of whose life is shed the seriousness of the last hour!

The second incident is of a pleasing cast, and beautifully illustrates the care of providence. A minister in my neighbourhood, very infirm in his health, and who, though feeble and palsied in his limbs, still preaches the gospel to his people every Lord's day, was lately placed in very trying circumstances. His congregation is very small, poor as to this world, and burdened with the debt of their chapel. Demands were made on

them which they were unable to discharge, and nothing seemed before them but that their chapel should be shut, and the lamp which God had lighted up in a dark corner extinguished; and no prospect appeared to human view to open to their pastor but an old age of helplessness and destitution. He was greatly distressed, but still he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. While faith and devotion were thus struggling with cares and fears, he received a letter from a pious and benevolent lady in a far distant part of the country, intimating her intention to give him ten pounds yearly during his life, and to make some provision for his two little boys. The way in which his piety and distress became known to her was striking. She had been reading a meditation of his in a small work which he had published under the title of the "Scripture Monitor," and God had blessed it in a remarkable degree for her consolation. She felt a great desire to know something of the author; and with great difficulty, owing to the distance and to the obscurity of his place of residence, obtained some information as to his character and circumstances, and wrote him as I have stated. How sweet would be her satisfaction in being thus able to soothe the heart of such a holy man; and how different her feelings now, as well as in the day when the Lord shall say to her, "Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me," from those of the wealthy who have lavished their bounties on the ministers of their amusements. Kindness to the pious shall be returned sevenfold into the bosom of those that show it, by Him to whose service they are devoted, and in whose name they trust.

The reader may easily conceive the delight of the good man at receiving kindness so unlooked for, so suitable, and in a form so grateful to his feelings. Often have his thanksgivings ascended to the Father of Mercies, who remembered him in his low estate, and prayers for his grace and peace to her who with such delicacy and liberality ministered to his necessity. And let the poor servants of Christ of every name thank God and take courage; "your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure." It is not secured to you by the award of civil authority, or by usages whose antiquity is much more frequently appealed to than their justice, but by the promise of the God whose you are, and whom you serve.

He can send you relief from quarters to which you never could have looked, and to an extent for which you scarcely dared to hope. He can, from a heart which he touches, and by a hand which he guides, bring the supports of nature to you and your household. He can send meal to the barrel, and oil to the cruse-open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys-make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

The last event which I shall notice is the very affecting death of two young ladies, sisters, who were drowned a few days ago in the river Allan, near Dumblane. One of them had gone into the water to bathe, and in a place of whose depth she had not been aware. Her sister, who was sitting on the bank, seeing her struggles and her danger, rushed in to rescue her, and perished in the generous effort. Their bodies were not found till some hours after, and they were interred in one grave. This afflicting event made a very deep impression on all around; and I refer to it not merely to point out the lessons of caution which it presents to the young, who are too often rash and heedless, and to warn them not to boast of to-morrow, since they know not what a day may bring forth, but to excite them to all the exertions of a pious solicitude for the eternal salvation of their relatives. There is not a brother or a sister's heart which does not throb at the idea of the generous effort of this young lady ; but let me remind them that unconverted relatives are in a state of peril far more awful, and which more strongly demands their utmost efforts to save them. Are any of them fascinated by companions who will entice them to sin, forming habits which will place them in the bondage of corruption, listening to doctrines which will cause them to err from the words of knowledge, or living in utter unconcern about their eternal destiny, and shall you not warn them with all earnestness, and strive with all your might to lead them to the spirit and the practice of piety? Some may have a brother or a sister labouring under very gloomy apprehensions of the wrath of God; and if the shriek of a drowning sister would rouse you to the most daring efforts of mercy, shall you be regardless of the piteous cry of the contrite heart, "What must I do to be saved ?" It is in the efforts of pious solicitude that affection glows with its holiest spirit, works in its

noblest duties, and earns its best rewards. And how encouraging is the thought that in such efforts we have no personal loss or injury to fear; nay, so opposite is their result, that every method which we employ to bring about their salvation will, by the blessing of God, tend to the

furtherance of our own. The tears that soften their hearts shall lighten your own; and the prayers which plead for mercy to them shall be answered in blessings to your own souls. AN OBSERVER.

SERIOUS REFLECTIONS, SUGGESTED BY THE RE-APPEARANCE OF THE CHOLERA MORBUS.

THE varied dispensations of Providence either towards a nation, a family, or an individual-whether they be accompanied by scenes of a doleful or distressing nature, whether relating to adversity or prosperity-ought to be regarded in the light wherewith they are sent, and improved by every true Christian professor especially.

The calamity to which we now refer, alas! is not confined to a few individuals, neither to a family nor a nation; but has committed its ravages in almost every part of the earth. Shall such a disease, then, be traced to mere natural and incidental causes,- -a malady which, in ours and foreign lands together, hath swept off millions? No! One would rather trace it to its prime and original cause, to the fountain and first mover of all causes, and view it as a judgment from the Almighty for the sins of which we, as a nation, are guilty.

"Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?" The improvement that may and ought to be made is of a twofold nature. It may be considered as a warning to the unconverted, and also as a trial of the believer's faith.

It may be considered as a fearful warning to sinners: "When thy judgments are abroad in the earth, then the people will learn righteousness." When Pharaoh, after the entreaty of Moses, continued to keep the Israelites in Egyptian bondage, the Lord, in his wrath, sent a succession of plagues, which were gradually increased in severity, to show them the power of his anger; and we know not but what he will continue and increase this disease, and send upon us grievous burdensheavy, indeed, to be borne on purpose to bring us to the observance and obedience of his law. The depression of trade and commerce-the groaning of the nation under the expenses of a late warand now the visit of a pestilence,-one of a fearful description-one baffling all me

dical skill and science, may be deemed a rod and a scourge in the hand of the Almighty.

Is it not a fearful warning to sinners, an awful alarm to every unconverted character, when he looks around him and be holds his friends and relations becoming the trophies and victims of this fatal disease when

"Death stands ready at the door
To push our lives away,"-

when he reflects that in the midst of life he
is in death-when he reflects that in the
morning he may arise in the vigour of health
and strength, of which that period of time
is poetically descriptive, and ere the sun
shall have finished its diurnal course-ah!
perhaps, hath reached its meridian height,
his body shall become lifeless clay, the
tenement of which his departed spirit was
the tenant. He is roused from those slum-
bers which, perhaps, in a few hours are
to be resumed in the tomb.
"Cease ye
from man whose breath is in his nostrils,
for wherein is he to be accounted of."
These are solemn warnings indeed. What,
then, should be their tendency? Do they
not call for serious and strict examina-
tion; and that immediately? A voice is
heard crying, "Consider your ways!"
The brevity and uncertainty of life must
be admitted. To prove it go and gaze
upon the remains of one of your departed
friends if you please; and he, being dead,
will yet speak: "The voice said Cry; and
he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as
the flower of the field: the grass wither-
eth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit
of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the
people are grass." It is on this ground,
then, we must build the following re-
marks. Although time is short and un-
certain, death and eternity are sure. A
solemn and important question must then
arise in the heart of every reader :-How
stand I for eternity? Am I prepared for

The

the change? Reader! two abodes only are reserved for two opposite characters. We are told, in the language of the Saviour himself, that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. The wicked, we know, are all those who have lived in a state of ungodliness; rather worshipping the god of this world, giving to it all their time, affection, and talents-who have either scoffed at or disregarded the things of religion-who have counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and have refused the calls and invitations of the gospel, and thus have become the prey of their own heart's lusts. righteous are those who, although they may have at one time rejected Christ, and have preferred the idol of their own imaginations, have been enabled, by faith, to lay hold of a crucified Saviour, exhibited in his word-who have, out of his fulness, received grace for grace, free remission of all their sins have been washed in his blood, sanctified and built up by his most Holy Spirit, and clothed with the mantle of his divine love. To one of these two classes every man must belong. If, reader, the former be the true description of your character, the subject of death may well, indeed, to you be alarming; but, remember that under the pressure of your guilt there is mercy even for you, if you will accept of it-mercy even at the eleventh hour: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.""Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Go, prostrate yourself before his throne with deep humiliation, confessing your aggravated guilt. Wrestle with him, believing that he is both able and willing to save you-beseech him that he would give a new heart-that he would take the stony heart out of your flesh, and that he would give you a heart of flesh-that he would quicken you by his Spirit, and make you meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.

But this visitation must also be considered ás a trial of the believer's faith. Various are the ways in which God tries the confidence of his people toward him ; sometimes by misfortune, sometimes by affliction, sometimes by bereavement: but the end of all these is the trial of their faith. He does it for their probation, not their destruction; for their advantage, not their ruin. Their trust and confidence in God is now called into full vigour and exercise; also their belief in the power and promises of God, and in the fidelity

and constancy of his Son. They are, perhaps, cast down and in great heaviness through manifold temptations, but they shall never be cast off; for "they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." All their troubles are well ordered, and have one grand object; "that the trial of their faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, miglit be found in praise, in honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." The trial of one grace produces another; for the trial of your faith, says James, worketh patience, and patience leads to experience, which experience is followed by hope.

These seasons, especially, ought to be occupied in watchfulness and prayerprayer, that we may be enabled to hold fast our confidence even unto the endthat we may not dishonour him by being distrustful of his willingness and ability to save, but that we may be ever mindful of his promises, which are exceeding great and precious: "I will never leave, I will never forsake you." Again: "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine: when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee; for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." Is it reasonable to suppose that Christ, our pilot, will guide us in the calm, and forsake us in the storm? Is it reasonable to suppose that having accompanied us across the sea of life-he will forsake us whilst crossing the narrow stream of Jordan-that he will allow us to be shipwrecked at the mouth of the celestial haven? No:

"Not one object of his care,

Ever suffered shipwreck there." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."-"This God is our God for ever and ever, and he will be our guide even unto death."

Here, then, is a warning for the sinner, and a consolation for the saint. May the sinner be enabled to lay hold of Christ, the Rock of Ages-may he be enabled to fly unto him as a city of refuge, and

"With Christ in the vessel,
He may smile at the storm."

J. P.

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