in so narrow a compass so great a variety of excellent ideas on almost every text.

in

His

At last, worn out with years, when the time drew nigh that he should bid adieu to life, he displayed the spirit of a good minister of Jesus Christ. serenity of mind, and hope of a blessed immortality were beheld by his friends with delight. "Thanks be to God," said he, "I have no doubt; no difficulty my mind as to my eternal state; if I had, I could not bear what I now feel. I know in whom I have believed; here my faith rests. The peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, which I have long preached, are now the support of my soul: I live upon them every day, and thence I derive never failing comfort.”— "How gracious is my God to me: how often has he made good to me that promise, as thy day so shall thy strength he.'-I am not afraid of death: I am afraid lest I should err on the other side in being too desirous of it." He entered into rest on the twentysecond of November, 1761, in the eighty-first year of his age.

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SAMUEL WILTON, D. D.

His father was a man of business, in circumstances of great respectability in London; and his mother was a descendant of Timothy Cruso: he was born in 1744. During his earliest years he was placed under the care of a maiden aunt, whose pious instructions, united with those of his parents, were the means of producing those deep impressions of religion which he ever afterwards displayed. For acquiring a classical

* Her name was Elizabeth Wilton, who, in conjunction with

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education he enjoyed the advantages of the grammar school of Christchurch hospital, in the vicinity of which was his father's house. He began his academical studies for the ministry under Dr. Jennings, and completed them under Dr. Savage and Dr. Rees. Samuel Wilton had the true spirit of a student: the ardour of his mind urged him on to a constant pursuit of knowledge, and produced an eager and persevering desire of improvement. To the benefit derived from reading he united the advantages of conversation with fellow students whom he invited for that purpose to his house, and with ministers who frequently visited there as his father's friends.

He entered on the office of the ministry at Tooting, in Surry, as successor to the celebrated Dr. Henry Miles, F. R. S. and was ordained in 1766. The congregation, which was very small, soon began to increase both in numbers and in piety; nor will this appear strange if we consider the means which he employed, means which are seldom employed without success. To the ordinary services of the Lord's-day, which he performed with affection and fervour, he added an evening-lecture in the week, and thus arrested impressions which were ready to depart, and revived the ardour which the preceding Sabbath had created, and which before another would have died away. He catechised the children, visited the flock, conversed with the poor, and was peculiarly attentive to the afflicted. He exerted himself also Mrs. Rachel King, sister of Dr. King, minister at Hare-court, for many years kept a boarding school of young ladies, at Hackney. For the eminent services they rendered to the cause of religion, in their important and honourable employment, as well as for their personal piety they deserve to be mentioned in a history of dissenters with the highest respect.

to establish, in connection with his brethren, evening lectures in the neighbouring towns and villages, that the knowledge of the Gospel might be more extensively spread abroad. His heart was in his work, and his fervent mind could not rest satisfied unless he did all for the cause of religion, which it was in his power to do.

In the application to parliament in 1772, for relief from subscription, he took a very active part. Ardent to enthusiasm for civil and especially religious liberty, he was appointed one of the members of the committee for conducting the business. Some of the London ministers having opposed the measure, he addressed to them an apology for renewing the application; and in 1774 he published a " Review of some of the Articles of the Church of England, to which a Subscription is required of Protestant Dissenting Ministers:" both were received by those of his side of the question with more than common approbation.

On the death of Dr. Langford, he was chosen his successor. The congregation at the Weighhouse was then small; but under Dr. Wilton it gradually increased. It pleased, however, the Head of the church soon to call him away from his labours. His last sermon was preached in an evening lecture at Hackney, the twenty-ninth of March, 1778, from Psalm cxix. 125. He was on the following Lord's-day to have delivered a funeral discourse, and spent in preparing for the service a great part of the Saturday night. On retiring to rest, he found himself attacked by a violent fever, which being neglected at first, in a few days put an end to his valuable life. Though surprised, as it were, by a mortal disease in the midst of his days, he expressed no regret at his sudden departure; but

welcomed death with firmness, or rather with cheerfulness and joy. On the day in which he died, he said to a friend who came from the city to visit him,

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you now see me in the near view of death, and I rejoice in the prospect. It has been my delight to preach the Gospel of Christ, and to promote his glory. I am not afraid to die, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." He then added, “ you will go to prayer with me: let us offer a few more petitions to God before we enter the world of praise, from which I am at no great distance." To another friend he lamented his imperfections, but at the same time expressed his confidence in God: "I have had my doubts, but my hope is well founded. I have had such manifestations of the love of God, that I do not and cannot doubt.” Such was the frame of his soul when the delirium of the fever returned, which speedily wasted his remaining strength, and at midnight of the third of April, 1778, he expired.

Dr. Wilton was a man of more than common powers, of solid judgment, a lively imagination, and a strength of memory equalled by few. He possessed a wonderful ease in composition, as well as fluency of expression. In his preaching there was a remarkable savour and fervency, and in prayer an eminent degree of devotion, copiousness, and variety. But his style was not simple, he spoke too fast, had a monotonous delivery, looked down on his Bible as if he had been reading his notes, and was very long in his services: these were a considerable bar to his popularity. What a pity that a man who laboured so hard to acquire knowledge, should have been at so

little pains with his composition and delivery, in order to render it agreeable to his audience. It is not to be considered as a harmless imperfection, but a fault of considerable magnitude: it was one of the sins of the dissenters in the age in which Dr. Wilton lived.

But while these faults are noticed, let it be remembered that he was a superior man and an excellent minister of Christ. A fire was constantly burning in his breast, the fire of zeal for his Master's cause; he exerted himself to the utmost, and he had this additional excellence, that he made others exert themselves too. There is a class of worthy men in the church of Christ who wish to do good; but they need a person of energy to set them on, and to keep them in motion from year to year. Dr. Wilton possessed this valuable talent, and he did not hide it in a napkin. His death at so early a period is justly to be deplored as a loss to the cause of religion. He left a widow and four children; may his sons inherit his spirit, and imitate his example.

THOMAS STRANGE.

His father was a humble pious farmer at Evenley, in Northamptonshire, who, though he died when his son was only six years of age, perceived in him such a spirit of seriousness and study, as made him desirous that he should be devoted to the Christian ministry. By a step-father of the same character and employment, Thomas Strange was some time afterwards called to agricultural labour: with the prophet Elisha he followed his father's oxen in the plough, and with

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