vice: That thou hast been my refuge in tribulation, and my de fence in all adversities; delivering me from dangers, infamy, and troubles. For all thy known or unobserved deliverances, I praise thy good providence; and for the guard thy holy angels keep over me. When I went astray, thou didst reduce me; when I was sad, thou didst comfort me; when I offended thee, thou didst forbear and gently correct me, and didst long expect my repentance; and when, for the grievousness of my sins, I was ready to despair, thou didst keep me from utter ruin; thou hast delivered me from the snares and assaults of the devil; thou hast not only preserved my soul, but my body, from destruction, when sicknesses and infirmities took hold of me."

"As there is no hour of my life that I do not enjoy thy favours, and taste of thy goodness, so (if my frailty would permit) I would spend no part of my life without remembering them. Praise the Lord, then, O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name... Glory be to Thee, O Lord, my Creator. Glory be to Thee, O Jesus, my Redeemer. Glory be to the Holy Ghost, my Sanctifier, my Guide and Comforter. All love, all glory, be to the high and undivided Trinity, whose works are inseparable, and whose dominion endureth world without end. Amen."

The Bishop's conduct towards his clergy was highly exemplary. He regularly held an annual convocation, at which he addressed them affectionately and earnestly on their pastoral duties, and on the most effectual way of discharging them. Convocations in the Isle of Man are not like those in England, which require the king's authority to warrant them; but are diocesan synods or visitations, either annual, appointed by statute, or occasional, when the Bishop calls together all, or as many

of the clergy as he thinks proper, to communicate with them, or to advise with them, about any matter of moment which concerns the church. Several of Bishop Wilson's Charges, delivered at these convocations, have been published since his death. They treat principally of the prevailing sins of the period at which they were delivered, the due exercise of church discipline, the measures to be adopted for the advancement of religion, the best means of instructing the rising generation, and of diffusing scriptural knowledge and practice among all classes of the community. The following passages may serve as a specimen of his useful exhortations on these occasions.

"Bishop's Court, June 19, 1715. "My Brethren,

"The last time we met in convocation, I recommended to you the necessity of bringing all our people to family devotions, if ever we expect to see a reformation of manners or serious religion amongst us. It concerns me to know how far your care and pains have been used to introduce this godly practice.

"And let me observe to you, that as the Bishop visits his diocese at least once a year in person, so every clergyman should at least so often visit every family and soul of his parish, capable of receiving his instruction, that we may all of us be able to give a comfortable account of our labours to our great Master. You will soon see the great use of keeping such an account in writing, of your parishes, as I do of my whole diocese.

"I take upon me to say, that a clergyman who does this conscientiously will have more comfort from this work, when he comes to die, than from any other part of his labours. Besides this, you will have before your eyes the state of your parishioners, who are poor, and will want your own help and charity, or are fit to be recommended to others. You will see,

at one view, who neglect to send their children to school, their servants to be catechised and fitted for confirmation; you will be able to answer the church's design in the first rubric before the Communion Service which I have so often recommended to your consideration: besides a great many good ends, which will be served by such a book of Parochialia, kept as it should be."

Speaking of the great utility and necessity of catechising and familiar instruction, the Bishop remarks in another of his Pastoral Charges: "The most unlearned know by nature the things contained in the law, as soon as they hear it read; but these are the things which they want to be particularly and often instructed in, and made sensible of; that is, the extreme danger a sinner is in, while he is under the displeasure of a holy and just God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell; how a sinner, made sensible and awakened with the danger he is in, may be restored to God's favour; of the blessing and comfort of a Redeemer; what that blessed Redeemer has done and suffered, to restore us to the favour of God; what means of grace he has appointed as absolutely necessary to preserve us in the favour of God, and in the state of salvation.

"Christians too often want to be set right, and very particularly to be instructed in the nature of repentance, of that repentance to which God has promised mercy and pardon, and of that faith which is saving, and accompanied with good works, and an holy and Christian life.

"These are foundation principles, and such as every pastor of souls is obliged to explain as he hopes ever to do good by his other labours and sermons. We say to explain, not only in set discourses out of the pulpit, but in a plain, familiar manner, out of the desk,

where questions may be asked, and things explained, so as both old and young may be edified. Preaching will always be our duty; but it is of little use to those who understand not the meaning of the words we make use of in our sermons, as, God knows, too many must be supposed not to do, for want of their being instructed in their younger years. Many people labour under a very sad mistake, that people cannot be very ignorant of their duty in a Christian country; and yet we see too many can make a shift amongst us to continue in the ways of sin and damnation, notwithstanding the sermons they hear every Lord's day."

Bishop Wilson entered the marriage state in the year 1698, and by his exemplary conduct in it, added a new attestation to the truth and influence of his Christian principles. The object of his choice was a Miss Patten, of Warrington, who seems to have been in every respect worthy of such a husband. He himself describes her, as possessing great modesty and meekness of spirit, exhibiting remarkable dutifulness to her parents, and the most affectionate attachment to himself, performing all the offices of a kind and pious mother, governing her house with mildness and prudence, and evidencing great humility of deportment, and a peculiar spirit of Christian charity towards the indigent and distressed. By this excellent woman he had two sons and two daughters, all of whom died at an early age; except Thomas, the youngest, who survived his father, and became a Prebendary of Westminster, and Rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. The Bishop's diligent attention to his public duties did not render him negligent of his domestic concerns. He was anxiously attentive to every conjugal and parental obligation, and was unwearied and eminently

successful in his endeavours that his household should be an example to his clergy and the flock. He had the great calamity of losing his amiable and pious consort about six years after their marriage. Alarming symptoms of indisposition having begun to appear, her affectionate partner had accompanied her to Warrington, hoping that her native air might be of service to her shattered frame. It pleased God to prolong the painful scene for six months, during which the venerable man was unremitting in his offices of piety and affection, supporting her drooping spirits, soothing her distress, and pouring the balm of religious consolation into her heart. She expired on the 7th of March, 1705. His biographer thus describes his deportment on that afflicting occasion. "When he looked for the last time on that countenance which had so often beamed with joy at his approach, and felt the last pulsation of a heart which glowed with affection towards him till it ceased to beat, no murmuring word escaped his lips; but after the example of his Lord and Master in the season of his agony, be looked up to heaven and uttered that memorable prayer, Thy will be done." The merciful and gracious Saviour to whom he looked for support in this trying visitation did not withhold his consolations, as we find evidenced in the devout acknowledgments of the Divine Goodness which flowed from his pen on that occasion. I cannot resist quoting a few lines from his prayers and meditations after the afflicting event. After speaking of her virtues, he says in his prayer: "I bless thy holy Name for these, and all other fruits of thy Holy Spirit: but above all, I most heartily thank the Lord for her piety to him during her health, and for his mercies to her in the time of sickness; for her hearty repentance, stedfast faith in the promises of the Gospel, unfeigned charity,

her humble submission to God's good pleasure, and patient suffering what his hand had laid upon her; for all the spiritual comforts the gracious God did vouchsafe her." The following are among his reflections on the same occasion.

"How good is God, when by his very displeasure we are gainers! He is pleased to exercise me with the loss of my dear wife-an excellent woman, in the very bloom of her years, in the very midst of our satisfactions; and yet, upon a just account, I have no reason to com. plain, or fret against God, since I have a comfortable assurance, through the merits of Christ, that she is at rest and secure under the custody of the blessed angels, until the great day of recompence: and for myself, though I want her's, yet I do not want the comfort of God's Holy Spirit, whose influence I feel in the cheerful submission of my will to the will of God, in the sorrow for my offences which this affliction hath wrought in me, in purposes of amendment, and in an earuest desire of living so circumspectly in this world, that in the next we may meet in joy, in the bosom of Jesus, when we shall never part, never sorrow more. Even so, blessed Jesus, so let it be."

Bishop Wilson came forth from the furnace of affliction with renewed zeal and vigour. He applied himself more earnestly than ever to the important duties of his office; he was more fervent in prayer, more frequent in preaching, and more abundant in charity. He shewed that he entertained the most sublime conceptions of the virtues and qualifications which become a Christian bishop. He had indeed imbibed the spirit of the purest ages of Christianity; having acquainted himself intimately with the writings of the most distinguished pastors of the primitive church, and formed his own character after the model of its holiest prelates.

took them to reside in his family, that they might be continually under his inspection, and have the benefit of his daily instructions. He recommended to their perusal the best writers in divinity, conversed with them on the subject of per'sonal religion, and both by precept and example, laboured earnestly to render them "able ministers of the New Testament."

Bishop Wilson's repeated admo. nitions and instructions to his clergy, on the duties of their responsible vocation, were not without effect. Several of those to whom they were addressed, implicitly followed the plans recommended by him, and were exemplary in their conduct as Christians and ministers. The ascendency which the Bishop possessed over his clergy, was very great; but it arose, not so much from his rank and station in the church, as from his superior piety, and the interest which be obtained in their affections. Their attachment to him was a mixture of love and veneration. They regarded him as their father and friend; and even some, whose conduct constrained him to exercise a degree of necessary severity towards them, were so fully persuaded of the purity of his motives and the kindness of his intentions, that they felt no sensation of resentment, but through life retained unbounded respect for his memory, and ever spoke of him with the highest gratitude and esteem.

(To be continued.)

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

IN contrasting the manner in which the doctrines of the Gospel are exhibited in Scripture, with that in which they appear in human systems of divinity, I have sometimes found myself reminded of a couversation which I once heard, between a young man who had speculated in the science of chemistry, and a physician who had spent a long

and useful life in gaining a practical as well as theoretical acquaintance with the healing art. My young friend, whose health had been dilapidated by severe study, was strongly recommended by his medical adviser to pass a few weeks at a celebrated place of public resort, in order to drink the mineral waters which abounded in that Bethesda. The young man, indisposed by the indolence and lassitude arising from his malady for undergoing the bustle and fatigue of a journey, wished to know why he could not have the same medicinal beverage without leaving home. The waters in question, he contended, had been often analyzed, and might be prepared as accurately by his own apothecary, as in the laboratory of nature. Sir," said the physician, "there are many

other points to be taken into your consideration, besides the mere analysis and composition of those medicinal waters. The exercise necessary for your daily attendance at the spring, would be of great service to your health, even if the waters were not intrinsically better than those which have been prepared from my prescription. But such is by no means the fact, for there are certain subtle gases, and perhaps other chemical properties in the native spring, which cannot be easily detected, and much less accurately imitated. Chemistry has not been able to discover any difference between the air in the closest cells of a prison and some which was brought sealed up from one of the purest regions of the world: yet the one was wellknown to be highly deleterious, and the other eminently conducive to health. Chemistry can detect but a very trifling difference between a fragment of charcoal and a diamond; yet no efforts have been so successful as to convert the former into the latter. I am not convinced, therefore, that our best imitations of those mineral waters are quite correct; and even were a draught