No. 7.]

says,

Memoirs of the late Right Reverend THOMAS WILSON, D.D. Bishop of Sodor and Man. (Continued from p. 167, and concluded.) UPON a new edition of the book on the Sacrament, printed about 1740, "I have but few things to add or alter in my book of the Lord's Supper. Pray have a care how you reprint at your own cost; such books will go off but poorly, I fear. What I have to add, I hope, will go by the next. I am not elated with the let ters* you enclose me; if any good is like to be done, far be it from me to take the praise to myself; let it be ascribed to the good Spirit of God; and let me take the shame to myself for the many faults I plainly see in it, and for the negligence with which it is performed. May God forgive me these, and pardon the things I have been wanting in, and the good I might, and have not done in the way of my duty, in a long, long life, and in my proper calling; and I shall bless his

name for ever."

[VOL. III.

contrary appears; yet we ought to be very careful; and where their and our own souls are concerned, to be very cautious how we receive proselytes.

"His reasons for his conversion He must know very particularly what must be very strictly inquired into. it is to be a Christian, and the obligations he must lay himself under, as ever he hopes for salvation by Jesus Christ. He must be made sensible of the danger he exposes himself to, in being an hypocrite in so solemn a change, and the scandal he will give to Christianity, either by a change hereafter, or by leading an unchristian life, &c.

"This will take some time to be done as it ought to be; and therefore he ought to h patience; and he will have patience, if he be sincerely

desirous to become a Christian. You would, therefore, do well to put into his hands some plain exposition of the Church Catechism, to be by him well considered; after that foundation shall be laid, I will, with you, examine him upon the chief articles of Christianity.

"This is a busy time, with me at least, so I can add no more, but commend him and you to the blessing of God, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"THO. SODOR and Man."

This Jew convert was afterwards baptized by Mr. Moore, and lived in Douglass orderly and regular in his life, with a wife and several children, natives of the Isle.

In the year 1743, the Bishop wrote a letter to King George the Second, upon the promotion of his son to a prebend of Westminster, which was given to him by his majesty himself. The Bishop of Salisbury at the same time appointing him sub-almoner.

25

"May it please the King's most sa

cred Majesty,

"To receive the most grateful acknowledgments of the ancient Bishop of Man, for his majesty's great condescension, and late royal favour, to the son of a Bishop, whose obscure diocess and remote situation might justly have forbid him all expectations of so high a nature from a royal hand. May both the father and the son ever act worthy of so distinguishing 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.”

In a letter to his son, at the same time, he says,

"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 such unlooked-for talents, in order to improve them to his glory and to 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 prayers for you, that This was the case of the wisest and the greatest of men, whose history and fall was part of this day's service of the Church."+ About the year 1745, the Bishop had settled a plan for translating the

you may never do so.

New Testament into the Manks lan

guage. This had been originally

The King was in Hanover.

The tenth and eleventh chapter of the first book of Kings, showing the wisdom and fall of Solomon.

concerted between himself and Dr. Walker, when prisoners in CastleRushin.

The Bishop did not live to see a farther progress made in this great work, than the translation of the Gospels, and the printing of St. Matthew. This, however, was afterwards completed by his very worthy successor, Bishop Hildesley, and his Clergy, assisted by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge.

From 1746, the Bishop does not seem to have been concerned in any other matters of a public nature beyond the immediate duties of the bishopric, which he continued to execute to the latest period of his life.

The Charge which was delivered to his Clergy in Convocation, on the 11th of June, 1747, proves, that although the Bishop was eighty-four years of age, his senses were then perfect, and his care for his diocess undiminished; nay, he continued to deliver his Charges till the year before he died; but they appear (in his own hand writing) more like sketches of what he intended to say, than as Exhortations written in full; which, considering the infirmities naturally attending his great age, and the disorder in his hand, may be very well accounted for.

says,

The Bishop continued to ride on horseback till the year 1749. In a very long letter, dated the 11th of October in that year, he "I have at last got a horse, such as I could get, and now and then ride into the fields." In the former part of his life he had been an excellent horse

man, seldom getting into a carriage. Mr. Moore (in a letter to the Editor) "Prince Eugene did not sit on says, horseback better than the Bishop."

In June, 1751, he wrote a letter to the new Governor, who was lately arrived in the Island. This letter is equally legible, though not so finely

written as some of his letters in the

prime of life.

"Honoured Governor,

"I hope my great age, and the infirmities that attend it, will be some excuse for my forgetting so long to

inquire after your health, and settling in your government. I promise to make some amends for that fault by my daily prayers, that God may bless you, and make you an happy instrument of good to this people, and comfort and satisfaction to yourself, this being the duty of, honoured Sir, your affectionate friend and humble servant, "THO. SODOR AND MAN.

"June 21, 1751.”

he distributed, as well as his advice, gratis; but when some gentlemen of the faculty came to settle on the Island, he gave up to them that part of the practice which alone could conduce to their emolument-attendance on the rich; but the poor he kept always to himself.

He instructed young candidates for Orders, and maintained them in his house under his own immediate care; nor did he ordain them, until he found, a strict and careful examination, that they were perfectly quali fied.

-no one

Having the precepts of his divine Master constantly before him, with the Lives and Writings of the Apostles and primitive Christian Fathers; he from them laid down his plan of life, and steadily copied their example.

There is scarcely a part of human science that could be valuable or serviceable to his diocess which he did not understand. He was well acquainted with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. In the younger part of his life he had a poetical turn, but afterwards he laid aside such amusements, as thinking them inconsistent with his episcopal character.

He had studied and he practised physic with success. For some time after he settled there he was the only physician in the Island; keeping a shop of drugs for general use, which

* "I never rise nor lie down without re

commending you and my daughter to the mercy and goodness of God."

Letter to his son, Feb. 20, 1741-2. In a letter to his son, we meet with the following proof of his attention to the memory of a faithful servant: "I have set a handsome stone at the head of John Ryddiard's grave, with the following inscription: John Ryddiard died at Bishop'sCourt, April 27, 1738, aged 47; whose master hath here given this testimony of his integrity, that in more than twenty years' service he found no cause to charge him with eye-service, fraud, or injustice." Dated August 16, 1739.

He was an able mathematician; an excellent botanist; and, if we view him as a farmer, we find, that by a judicious and successful cultivation, from the ecclesiastical demesnes (which, before his coming to the Island, produced little or nothing) he in a few years fed and clothed the poor of his diocess. The whole was a sheepwalk, but by tillage and manure it bore excellent corn; and his coffin was made from one of the elm-trees that he planted soon after his coming to the Island, which was cut down and sawed into planks for that purpose a few years before his death."

He was so charitable, that it was not unaptly observed by a gentleman of the Island who knew him well, that "he kept beggars from every body's door but his own."

He always kept an open hospitable table, covered with the produce of his own demesnes, in a plentiful, not extravagant manner. As the friendly host or master of that table, he was the most entertaining and agreeable, as well as instructive of men; his manners, though always consistently adorned with Christian gravity, were natural sagacity, and distinguished ever gentle and polite; and from his erudition, he seemed to have the world in his possession. He was the divine, the scholar, and the gentleman.

In the year 1750, Dr. Pocock, after his return from his travels, went to see the Bishop of Man, and sent him his Works handsomely bound, to announce his arrival. The Bishop received him with a graceful welcome; but told him he ought not to address

the poor Bishop of Man with a present as to an Eastern Prince.

Cardinal Fleury wanted much to see him, and sent over on purpose to inquire after his health, his age, and the date of his consecration; as they were the two oldest Bishops, and he believed the poorest, in Europe; at the same time inviting him to France. The Bishop sent the Cardinal an, answer, which gave him so high an opinion of him, that he obtained an order that no French privateer should ravage the Isle of Man.

He often on a Sunday visited the different parishes of his diocess without giving them notice; and, after doing the duty of the day, returned to Bishop's-Court to dinner; and this, after he was eighty years of age, on horseback. This was a constant obligation on the Clergy and the people to be mindful of their duty. And four times in every year he made a general visitation, inquiring into the behaviour and conduct of all the parishoners, and exhorting them to the practice of religion and virtue. And at his annual Convocation, he delivered his Charges with a divine pathos, grace, and dignity of an inspired Apostle.

He was so great a friend to toleration, that the Papists who resided in the Island loved and esteemed him, and not unfrequently attended his sermons and his prayers. The dissenters too attended even the Communion Service. A fow Quakers who resided on the Island, visited, loved, and respected him.

He was so fond of his flock, and so attached to his diocess, that no tempta tion could seduce him from their service, no offers could remove him.

I have already mentioned, that Queen Anne would have given him an English Bishopric; King George the First made him the same offer; and in the year 1735, Queen Caroline was very desirous of keeping him in England; but though he was much bound to her Majesty's goodness, he would not be persuaded. One day, as he was coming to pay his duty to the Queen, when she had several Prelates with her, she turned round to her levee, and said, "See here, my Lords,

is a Bishop who does not come for a translation." "No, indeed, and please your Majesty," said our good Bishop, "I will not leave my wife in my old age because she is poor."

He never interfered in temporal or political concerns, unless when called upon at the request of the inhabitants to serve them on particular occasions. The whole conduct and every action of his life showed him to be no otherwise a man of this world, than as a Minister to do good to his fellow-creatures, while living in it; and the people of the Island were so thoroughly persuaded of his receiving a larger portion of God's blessing, that they seldom began harvest till he did; and if he passed along by the field, they would leave their work to ask his blessing, assured that that day would be prosperous. Nor was this opinion confined to the obscure corner of the world where he resided; in Warrington, nay, in London, there are those now living who can remember crowds of people flocking round him with the cry of "Bless me too, my Lord!"

The charities he bestowed himself, and the contributions he obtained of others, are proofs of his munificence and the benevolence of his disposition.

The Author of an Appeal to Common Reason and Candour, in behalf of a review of our Liturgy, published in the year 1750, having taken notice of the state of Christianity in the North of Scotland, and in some parts of Ireland, proceeds thus:→

"It will be unpardonable, after these, to mention the Isle of Man in any other expressions than those of gratitude and praise, delight and joy. Happy Island! May thy worthy Bishop live, and continue, with the assistance of his God, to make thee an example of religion and holiness to all Islands and Kingdoms of the world! May his works also live, and the good effects of them continue to a thousand generations! When he has been long dead, he will yet speak; and the happy influence of his works will remain in this world, whilst he is enjoying the glorious reward of them in another. May I live the life, and die

the death of that righteous man; and may my latter end and state of eternity be like his !"

Thus, by living a sober, righteous, and godly life, this excellent Divine attained to the ninety-third year of his age, and the fifty-eighth of his consecration, and gently expired on the 7th of March, 1755.

The immediate cause of his death was a cold caught by walking in his garden in very cold damp weather, after Evening Prayers; dying as he lived, praising God in Psalms, and detached sentences of the Te Deum.

The tenants about his demesnes were the persons appointed to bear the Bishop to his grave; and each had a mourning coat given to him for the occasion: but from the Palace to the Church, which is a distance of two miles, he was attended by all the in

habitants of the Island as mourners, except those whom necessity, age, or sickness, confined at home; and at every resting-place was a a contest among the crowd, to bear him on their shoulders; and happy were they who could pay this last sad office to their friend and benefactor.

His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Moore of Douglass,

He was interred at the east end of Kirk-Michael Church-yard, near to the Chancel, which being in a ruinous condition, was taken down and entirely rebuilt in the year 1776, at the sole expense of Dr. Thomas Wilson, the Bishop's son.

Over his grave is placed a square marble monument, surrounded with iron rails, through which may be read the following too modest inscription:

When turning to the stranger or their children, the grateful Manksmen will relate a tale of the wondrous goodness of their dear, their much loved, much lamented Bishop. Telling them, (and witnesses they were) whose hunger he had satisfied; to whose thirst he had given drink; what strangers he had relieved; whose nakedness he had clothed; whose sickness he had administered to; and what prisoners he had visited.-The widow, comforted by his bounty, with her lisping orphans shall declare the praises of their pious benefactor. And perhaps some faithful Minister of the Gospel may conclude the story, by saying, that he was a Bishop "blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good

men, sober, just, holy, temperate : holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught; and that he was able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”

FOR THE CHRISTIAN JOURNAL.

I HAVE often heard it said by many who were desirous of obtaining information on the subject of Episcopacy, that they should like to see a succession of Bishops from the Apostles, as thereby, in their opinion, the argument in favour of Episened, if not established. I have collected copal claims would be very much strength. from Echard, whose Ecclesiastical His tory is indisputable, four successions of the Episcopate, from the Apostles down to the latter end of the third, and the be ginning of the fourth century, when Christianity became triumphant in the empire under Constantine the Great.-These successions are those of Jerusalem, Antioch,