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 recompense. And for myself, though I want hers, 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 has wrought in me, in purposes of amendment, and in an earnest 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!

But though I find my passions, under this affliction, much subdued, my heart tender and capable of receiving good impressions, my soul full of holy purposes, my breast warmed with charity and a tender love for the whole creation of God; yet I know that the heart is deceitful above all things; and therefore lest these good effects should soon be forgotten, let me set down a few memorandums of what now passes within my breast.

Let me often remember, that when I saw that death had closed my dearest consort's eyes, and that there was no more to be done for her eternal welfare, how many sad thoughts possessed my heart.

then with an angry sorrow reflected,-How many opportunities have I lost of doing my duty and promoting her happiness, (for sure there are degrees of bliss), which, had I conscientiously performed, would now have been matter of solid comfort to me! For though, by the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, which is not confined to our imperfect endeavours and assistance, my dear wife is, I doubt not, in peace; having, according to the allowances made by a merciful God to human frailty, led a pious, unblameable, useful life, yet I cannot but condemn myself

for having neglected many things which would have been exceeding comfortable to her when alive, and to me now she is dead; which the gracious God forgive me!

She needs not my sorrow now, nor my assistance; but since I am still in the body, and still subject to failings, let this consideration make me wiser for the time to come, for this will sooner or later be my own case; I must come to die; and all my duties of my calling and of christianity, that I am convinced I have left undone, will then be matter of sad reflection; I shall then wish, but in vain, that the time were to be spent again that I have lost; but time will be no more; only sorrow will be my portion.

I will therefore, by God's grace, do that duty in its season which He has appointed me; and whatever my hand findeth to do I will do it with all my might, for the night cometh when no man can work; and if that night take me unawares, under what terrible concern shall I be then, under what doom shall I be afterwards!

Grant, O God, that, having these thoughts much in my heart, I may not despise the day of grace, but that I may, whenever my Lord comes, be ready to give up my account with joy.

It is with me now as it was with the sons of Jacob, when they were in affliction: We are verily guilty concerning our brother. The many and great offences of my life appear before me in all their circumstances truly terrible: and though by the good grace of God (for which I am truly thankful), and through the merits of Jesus Christ, who is our advocate and the propitiation for the sins of all true penitents, I have confessed and forsaken those sins, yet the remembrance of them is truly grievous

unto me.

O that I may, from this consideration, stedfastly resolve to leave no sin unrepented of till the days of sorrow and

sickness come upon me; that I may not for the time to come do anything which may be an occasion of sad affliction to me at the hour of death. But in the hour of death and in the day of judgment let this be my support and comfort, that I have repented of all the errors of my life, and that I have brought forth fruits meet for repentance. Grant this, for Jesus Christ his sake, O gracious God. Amen.

Thomas, the only remaining child of bishop Wilson, who lived to a good old age, and survived his father, was born in 1703. He received his early education from his father, was afterwards sent to a school in Yorkshire, and entered college as a commoner of Christ-Church, Oxford, in the year 1721. His father's reputation disposed many persons of distinction to look kindly upon him. In 1738, he was presented by the lord chancellor to the living of St. Stephen, Walbrook, and was afterwards made chaplain and sub-almoner to king George the second, and prebendary of Westminster. A tablet in the chancel of St. Stephen's church records that he died on the 15th of April 1784, aged 80 years.

Bishop Wilson wrote a letter to his son, on his promotion to the stall in Westminster Abbey, from which the following is an extract.

"I am both surprised and pleased with the unexpected favours conferred upon you, both by the king and the bishop of Salisbury. I hope in God you will answer the great ends of his providence in raising you such friends, and in putting into your hands suchunlooked-for talents, in order to improve them to his glory and your own salvation. For my own part, I have ever received such favours with fear, lest I should be

tempted to dishonour God by his own gifts; and it shall be my daily prayer for you, that you may never do so. This was the case of the wisest and greatest of men, whose history and fall was part of this day's service of the church. [1 Kings, x, xi.]

"Enclosed you have a letter to his majesty. Perhaps you may not approve of the style his, instead of your majesty, but I know it to be more becoming, and will be better accepted by a foreigner, and therefore it shall so

pass.

"I have also written to the bishop of Salisbury, to whom my most grateful service and thanks [are due]. According to my notion of writing to his majesty, I ought not to have subscribed my name; but I have done it lest you should have thought otherwise."

The letter to the king, here referred to, is as follows;—

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May it please the king's most sacred majesty! to receive the most grateful acknowledgments of the antient bishop of Man, for his majesty's great condescension, and late royal favour, to the son of a bishop, whose obscure diocese and remote situation might justly have forbade him all expectations of so high a nature from a royal hand. May both the father and the son ever act worthy of so distinguished a favour! And may the King of kings bless his majesty with all the graces and virtues which are necessary for his high station, and for his eternal happiness, enable his majesty to overcome all the difficulties he shall meet with abroad,*—and bring him back to his kingdoms here in peace and safety, and finally to an everlasting kingdom hereafter,-which has been and shall be the sincere and constant prayer of his majesty's most grateful, dutiful, and faithful subject and servant, THO. SODOR AND MAN."

"Isle of Man, May 3, 1743."

* The king was then at Hanover.

In proceeding to repeat the few particulars which have been transmitted to us, relative to the even tenour of bishop Wilson's daily life, we cannot but express our regret that the simple manners and devotional habits witnessed in his household are so seldom seen in our own days. Before the family entered upon the various occupations of the day, that is at six o'clock every summer morning, and at seven in the winter, the whole household including the workmen and domestic servants, assembled in the chapel, and prayer was offered up by himself, or by one of the students who were residing with him preparatory to holy orders. In the evening they met again for supplication and thanksgiving.

The bishop was deeply impressed with the necessity and usefulness of family worship. "Have you set up an altar in your house?" was a question which he was wont to put to those who were just beginning to keep house. And publicly he took opportunities of recommending family religion as a wholesome preservative against degeneracy and profligacy; asking, "How should we expect that all sorts of vices should not abound in families where God is not owned nor his graces asked for ?" And he declared his belief, that if those who could not read would but assemble their children and servants and offer up the Lord's Prayer, " it would plant the fear of God in their hearts; and they would be afraid of doing many things which they commit without any concern."

The day then passed in works of piety and usefulness, till the hour of dinner arrived, at which time he was as remarkable for exercising hospitality towards his clergy and others, as he was at all times for his liberality towards indigent persons. His table was abundantly but plainly furnished; it might be described in the very words of George Herbert : "His fare is plain and common,