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CAPTAIN WILSON 
 
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MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPTAIN 
 
 JAMES WILSON, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF HIS ENTERPRISES AND SUFFER. 
 INGS IN INDIA, HIS CONVERSION TO 
 CHRISTIANITY, HIS MISSIONARY VOY- 
 AGE TO THE SOUTH SE/^ ; 
 
 AND HIS 
 
 PEACEFUL AND TRIUMPH^^T^CEAiol^ , , 
 
 BY JOHN GRIFFIN. 
 
 •++■+++*■+*■•++•++■+*■+*•+++' 
 
 THIRD EDITION. ' 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 ' PRINTED BY BENJAMIN BENSLEY, 
 
 24, Nelson-square ; 
 
 FOR T. HAMILTON, 33, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1819. 
 

TO MRS. WILSON, THE WIDOW; 
 TO THE FAMILY OF THE DECEASED; 
 
 TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 AND TO THE MISSIONARIES IN CONNECTION WITH IT, 
 
 ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS; 
 
 THESE MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPTAIN JAMES WILSON, 
 
 An early and prominent Member of a Society which has 
 
 proved the Parent and Friend of numerous other 
 
 noble and benevolent Institutions, both . 
 
 Foreign and Domestic ; 
 
 AND WHICH IN UNION, 
 
 Constitute the Religious Character of the Age, form a new era 
 
 of the Church, the brightest sign of the present times, 
 
 and a Day-Star to the Heathen World i 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 
 BY THEIR SINCERE FRIEND 
 AND BROTHER IN THE MISSIONARY CAUSE," 1 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 84:1461 
 

 
 ^ 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 From the early Youth of the Captain to his settling 
 at Horndean, in Hampshire. 
 
 HPHE representation of truth through 
 "■" the medium of historic fact and bi- 
 ographical incident, has always proved 
 more interesting to a very numerous class 
 of readers, than when it is presented in an 
 abstract and didactic form. Biography 
 exhibits principles in operation, and 
 shows the doctrine and its evidence in 
 one view. The reading of it gives scope 
 for the exercise of nearly all the powers 
 of the soul at the same time. The 
 imagination presents to the mind the 
 object, place, and occurrence, as though 
 before the eye ; the understanding asso- 
 ciates ideas, examines and traces causes 
 
 B 
 
2 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 and effects, and draws its conclusions, 
 while the passions are excited, in a de- 
 gree proportioned to the interesting na- 
 ture of the narrative. If its subjects be 
 moral or religious, the conscience also is 
 employed, and gives a point and per- 
 sonal application to truth, highly bene- 
 ficial to the reader. Thus biography 
 while it affords entertainment is suited to 
 impart instruction and improve the heart. 
 It is from the interest the human mind 
 feels in historic representation, that dra- 
 matic writing obtains such an extensive 
 and almost universal popularity. The 
 religious as well as the fashionable world, 
 has its dramas ; and fact and fiction are 
 so blended in some books, as to render 
 it necessary to guard our young people 
 against supposing that all is fiction. It 
 is- neither my province nor my intention 
 to decide on the propriety or impropriety 
 of this mode of writing; but I may 
 express my fears, lest there should be 
 such a degree of it, as may introduce a 
 levity of character into the most serious 
 part of society, and by the number of 
 such books, facilitate the transition from 
 the love of religious to that of fashionable 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 3 
 
 novels. By giving too much employ- 
 ment to the fancy faith is embarrassed-, 
 and the understanding is weakened. Per- 
 haps the best way to prevent a redun- 
 dancy of this kind of composition, is to 
 present the religious world with authen- 
 tic narratives of real life ; to exhibit facts 
 as they occur, without the aid of an 
 imaginary scenery to increase the inte- 
 rest of the representation. 
 
 If it should be thought that these re- 
 marks seem like an apology for writing 
 the following Memoirs, I would say, it 
 is not ncf* denied ; but they afford like- 
 wise an opportunity to assure the reader 
 that fiction is in no instance called to aid 
 or embellish the interesting narrative 
 which is here presented of the life of 
 captain James Wilson. 
 
 Dr. Haweis thought the captain's life 
 so eventful and instructive, that he has 
 appended a well-written, though brief 
 account, of the early part of it, to his 
 three volumes of Church History. This 
 account has since been printed by some 
 booksellers in a detached but mutilated 
 form, and very extensively circulated 
 through the country. The avidity with 
 b 2 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 which that tract was read, and the lively 
 interest many have taken in the captain's 
 life, have induced his friends to think, 
 that a more enlarged and correct ac- 
 count of his conversion from deism to 
 Christianity, and from a state of unrege- 
 neracy to a state of vital godliness, is 
 highly desirable. 
 
 I have given the part of his life pre- 
 vious to his conversion, with some correc- 
 tions and additions, which subsequent 
 conversations with the captain suggested, 
 nearly in the language of his much 
 esteemed friend. The doctor entitles 
 his account, " Memoirs of the leadings 
 of Divine Providence, in the call of cap- 
 tain James Wilson, to the work of con- 
 ducting the South Sea Mission. " 
 
 As the work of God in general, and 
 the Missionary Society in particular, are 
 so highly indebted to the noble and dis- 
 interested services of captain James 
 Wilson, I wish to record his name 
 among the worthies who in spreading 
 the gospel among the heathen deserve 
 to be held in special remembrance. The 
 singular wisdom and prudence with: 
 which he discharged his trust, and the 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 5 
 
 uncommon success which crowned his 
 labours through the whole of his long 
 and perilous voyage, are a fresh mani- 
 festation of the care and keeping of that 
 gracious Lord who had so often before, 
 and in such a wonderful manner, led 
 him by a way which he knew not ; pre- 
 served him amidst deaths oft, and dan- 
 gers so peculiar : and after bearing with 
 him in his rebellion and insensibility, 
 having chosen him from the beginning 
 for himself, prepared him by a series of pre- 
 ceding providences for that work which 
 he was so peculiarly qualified to fulfil. 
 
 Captain James Wilson was the youngest 
 son of nineteen children. His father 
 Tvas commander of a ship in the New- 
 castle trade, and brought him up from 
 his earliest years in the sea service. 
 During the last war he served in Ame- 
 rica, and was present at the battles of 
 Bunker's Hill and Long Island. 
 
 On his return from America he ob- 
 tained a birth as mate of an East India- 
 man, being, though young, an able 
 navigator. After arriving in safety at 
 Bengal, he quitted his ship, and deter- 
 mined to abide in that country. There 
 
O MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 he became engaged in the country 
 service, and in one of these voyages 
 Mr. Cabel, the marine paymaster, sailing 
 with him from Madras to Calcutta, was 
 so much pleased with his conduct, as to 
 commence the most cordial friendship 
 with him ; and soon after their arrival in 
 Bengal sent him in a small vessel to the 
 Nicobar Islands, with dispatches for the 
 ships returning from the east, to advise 
 them of the arrival of the French squa- 
 dron, under Suffrein, on the coast, and 
 to put them on their guard. The ship he 
 commanded was ill-found, and in the 
 voyage her stern-post grew so loose as to 
 admit so much water, that with difficulty 
 she was prevented from foundering. He 
 was therefore obliged to rim for Madras, 
 and off Pulicat discovered the French 
 fleet going down the coast ; he expected 
 them to chase, and pressed with all sail 
 for the shore, where a dangerous shoal 
 probably prevented pursuit and capture ; 
 but the ship was so leaky, he was obliged 
 to ran her on the beach to save their 
 lives. He proceeded thence to Madras, 
 just at the critical moment when the 
 settlement was in the greatest distress. 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 7 
 
 Sir Eyre Coote had marched to the 
 south, and was so surrounded by Hyder 
 Ally's army, that no supplies could reach 
 him by land ; and the French squadron 
 anchoring at Pondicherry had cut off all 
 supplies by sea ; so that the British 
 troops were reduced to great difficulties, 
 and in danger of famine, their stores 
 being nearly exhausted. 
 
 Several Pia ships had been loaded with 
 rice at Madras ; but as the French fleet 
 lay directly in the way, they dared not 
 attempt the passage to Cuddalore, near 
 which sir Eyre Coote was encamped. 
 The governor of Madras, Mr. Smith, had 
 heard of Mr. Wilson, and though a 
 young man sent for him, and en- 
 quired if he would attempt to carry down 
 the ships with the supplies for the camp, 
 stating the danger and hazard of the run, 
 and offering him four hundred pagodas 
 for the service, and more if he should be 
 detained beyond a fortnight. The cap- 
 tain undertook to attempt the passage, 
 and immediately made preparations for 
 his departure. The vessel in which he 
 embarked was about five hundred tons 
 burden, with three others under his com- 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 mand, all navigated by black men, him- 
 self being the only European, except an 
 officer, who went down as passenger to 
 the army. He pushed on as far as Sa- 
 dras, about sixteen leagues, where he 
 took refuge under the Dutch flag, and 
 dispatched two hircarrahs to sir Eyre 
 Coote, to inform him of his approach, 
 and to expect his orders ; but the roads 
 were all so obstructed by Hyder s horse, 
 that, [to avoid the marauding army, the 
 hircarrahs were obliged to take a great 
 circuit ; and as they ventured to travel 
 only by night, [they were eleven days 
 before they returned. They brought 
 from the general the most urgent orders 
 to proceed, at all hazards, and without 
 a moment's delay; adding, that if the 
 captain brought only one vessel, and lost 
 the rest, it would be of the most essen- 
 tial service. He accordingly immediately 
 weighed anchor, proceeding at such a 
 distance from Pondicherry as to see from 
 the mast-head the French flag, and if 
 possible, to pass the fleet in the night 
 undiscovered. The French fleet that 
 very evening weighed anchor, occasioned 
 by a singular circumstance, which was 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 9 
 
 afterwards known. Suffrein had sent his 
 water casks on shore to be filled, and 
 they lay on the beach. Sir Eyre Coote 
 had detached a corps of grenadiers and 
 light infantry, who entered Pondicherry, 
 which was open on the land side since 
 the fortifications had been demolished ; 
 they found and staved all the casks, de- 
 stroying them entirely ; and this induced 
 Suffrein to run down to Point de Gall to 
 repair the loss, just at the moment when 
 captain Wilson was passing in the offing. 
 As Suffrein s ships sailed so much better 
 than his, they were off Cuddalore in the 
 morning, and captainWilson arrived in the 
 afternoon ; thus providentially escaping, 
 and bringing in the whole of the cargoes 
 entrusted to his care, and so much wanted 
 by the army. They had then been reduced 
 to their last forty-five bags of paddy/and 
 not a grain of rice to be procured. This 
 supply rescued them from the impending 
 famine, or the necessity of cutting their 
 way through the enemy ; and under God 
 was the means, as all acknowledged, of 
 the preservation of the army and of the 
 Carnatic. Captain Wilson had some 
 stores of his own, which were greedily 
 
 B5 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 seized and devoured as soon as landed. 
 
 The next day he was invited to dine with 
 
 the general and his staff, was placed at 
 
 sir Eyre Coote's right hand, and received 
 
 the most cordial acknowledgments for 
 
 his services. He informed the company 
 
 of the seizure of his stores; they bid him 
 
 prepare an account of them, and gave 
 
 him a pagoda for every bottle of -wine, 
 
 and for the rest in proportion, so that 
 
 this successful trip produced him about 
 
 a thousand pounds, and a testimony of 
 
 sir Eyre Coote's high satisfaction in the 
 
 services which he had performed. 
 
 Returning to Bengal, he continued to 
 be employed in carrying down supplies ; 
 but as these voyages include nothing in- 
 teresting, I shall only note his unfortu- 
 nate capture by the French, when he was 
 going with a very valuable cargo of mili- 
 tary stores for sir Edward Hughes, whose 
 ammunition had been exhausted in the 
 well known conflict with Suffrein. He 
 was carried into Cuddalore, which had 
 been taken by the French, and there he 
 found the crew of the Hannibal in the 
 same captivity. He was permitted with 
 other officers to be at large on his pa- 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 11 
 
 role, and hoped shortly to be ex- 
 changed. 
 
 Hyder had at that time overrun and 
 wasted great part of the Carnatic ; and 
 in conjunction with the French, after 
 taking Cuddalore, hoped to expel the 
 English from all that territory. He had 
 lately defeated colonel Baily's detach- 
 ment, and made them prisoners, and used 
 every effort to get as many of the English 
 as possible into his power, in order either 
 to tempt them into his service, or to 
 gratify his brutality by exposing them to 
 a lingering death. He had bribed Suf- 
 frein with three hundred thousand rupees 
 to surrender up to him all his prisoners 
 at Cuddalore ; and the order being com- 
 'municated to the commander of the fort, 
 nothing could exceed the indignation 
 and grief which he and his officers testi- 
 fied at such an infamous bargain. How- 
 ever as he dared not disobey the orders 
 of his superior, he informed the gentle- 
 men on parole of the transaction, and 
 his necessity of delivering them up the 
 next day to the escort appointed t6 carry 
 them to Seringapatam. 
 
 Captain Wilson no sooner received the 
 
12 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 intelligence than he determined that very 
 night, if possible, to attempt his escape 
 from a captivity which appeared to him 
 worse than death. He had observed, as 
 he walked the ramparts, the possibility 
 of dropping down into the river; and 
 though he neither knew the height of the 
 wall, nor the width of the rivers which 
 were to be crossed, before he could reach 
 a neutral settlement, he determined to 
 seize the moment of delay, and risk the 
 consequences, whatever danger or dif- 
 ficulty might be in the way/ 
 
 He communicated his resolution to a 
 brother officer and a Bengalese boy, his 
 servant, who both resolved to accompany 
 him in his flight. It was concerted be- 
 tween them to meet on the ramparts just 
 before the guard was set, as it grew 
 dark, and silently drop down from the 
 battlement. Before the hour appointed 
 his companion's heart failed him. About 
 seven o'clock he, with his boy Toby, 
 softly ascended the rampart unperceived, 
 and the captain leaping down, uncertain 
 of the depth, pitched on his feet; but 
 the shock of so great a descent, about 
 forty feet, made his chin strike against 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 13 
 
 his knees, and tumbled him headlong 
 into the river, which ran at the foot of 
 the wall, and he dreaded lest the noise of 
 the dash into the water would discover 
 him. He recovered himself, however, 
 as soon as possible, and returning to the 
 foot of the wall, where there was a dry 
 bank, bid the boy drop down, and caught 
 him safe in his arms. 
 
 All that part of the Tanjore country is 
 low, and intersected with a number of 
 rivers branching off from the great Cole- 
 roon: these must all be necessarily 
 crossed. He enquired therefore of the 
 boy if he could swim, but found he could 
 not. This was very embarrassing ; but 
 he resolved, if possible, not to leave him 
 behind, and therefore took him on his 
 back, being an excellent swimmer, and 
 carried him over. They pushed towards 
 Porto Nuovo, about four leagues and a 
 half from Cuddalore. They had passed 
 three arms of the river, and advanced at 
 as great a pace as they possibly could to 
 make use of the night, since their hope 
 of safety depended chiefly on the distance 
 they could reach before the morning 
 light. Not far from Porto Nuovo a sea- 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 poy centry challenged, Who goes there ? 
 on which they shrunk back and concealed 
 themselves, turning down to the river 
 side. The river in that place was very 
 wide, and being near the sea, the tide 
 ran in with great rapidity. He took 
 however the boy on his back, as he had 
 done before, and bid him be sure to hold 
 only by his hands, and cast his legs be- 
 hind him ; but, when they came into the 
 breakers the boy was frightened, and 
 clung around the captain with his legs 
 so fast as almost to sink him. With dif- 
 ficulty he struggled with the waves, and 
 turning back to the shore, found they 
 must inevitably perish together if they 
 thus attempted to proceed. Therefore, 
 setting the boy safe on land, he bid him 
 go back to Dr. Mein, who would take 
 care of him, but the poor lad has never 
 since been heard of, though" 1 *he most 
 diligent enquiries were ma ^ ; tfter him. 
 As delay was death to him, he plunged 
 again into the stream, and buffeting the 
 waves, pushed for the opposite shore, 
 but he found the tide running upwards so 
 strong, that in spite of all his efforts he 
 was carried along with the current, and 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 15 
 
 constrained at a considerable distance to 
 return to the same side of the river. Provi- 
 dentially at the place where he landed, he 
 discovered by the moon-light, dry on the 
 beach, a canoe, which he immediately 
 seized, and was drawing it down to the 
 river, when two black men rushed upon 
 him, and demanded whither he was go- 
 ing with that boat. He seized the out- 
 rigger of the canoe as his only weapon 
 of defence against the paddles which 
 they had secured, and told them he had 
 lost his way, had urgent business to 
 Tranquebar, and thither he must and 
 would go ; and launching with all his 
 remaining strength the canoe into the 
 river, the good-natured Indians laid 
 down their paddles on the shafts, and 
 whilst he stood in the stern, rowed him 
 to the opposite shore. He returned them 
 many thar^s, having nothing else to give 
 them, and Tj Japing on the beach, imme- 
 diately pushed forward with all his might. 
 He found he had as great a distance to 
 pass to the Coleroon as he had already 
 travelled, and therefore continued his 
 course with full speed, the moon shining 
 bright ; and before break of day reached 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 this largest arm of the river, of which 
 those which he had crossed were branches. 
 Exhausted with the fatigue he had un- 
 dergone, and dismayed with the width of 
 this mighty stream, he stood for a mo- 
 ment hesitating on the brink; but the 
 approach of morning, and the danger 
 behind him being so urgent, he stretched 
 out his arms to the flood, and pressed 
 for the shore. How long he was in 
 crossing he could not ascertain, for 
 somewhat near the centre of the river 
 he came in contact with a mast of a ship, 
 or a great tree, floating with the stream ; 
 on this he reclined his hands and his head, 
 in which perilous position he thought he 
 must have slept by the way, from some 
 confused remembrance as of a person 
 awaking from a state of insensibility, 
 which he supposed had lasted half an 
 hour at least. However, with the light 
 of the morning he had reached the land, 
 and flattered himself that all his dangers 
 were past and his liberty secured ; when, 
 after passing a jungle which led to the 
 sea side, he ascended a sand-bank to look 
 around him ; there, to his terror and 
 surprise, he perceived a party of Hyders 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 17 
 
 horse scouring the coast, and being dis- 
 covered by them they galloped up to 
 him ; in a moment seized him and strip- 
 ped him naked, unable to fly or resist, 
 and tying his hands behind his back, 
 fastened a rope to them, and thus drove 
 him before them to the head quarters, 
 several miles distant, under a burning 
 sun, and covered with blisters* He sup- 
 poses he must have gone that night and 
 day more than forty miles, besides all the 
 rivers he had crossed. But to what 
 efforts will not the hope of life and li- 
 berty prompt ? What sufferings and dan- 
 gers will not men brave to secure them ? 
 Yet these were but the beginning of his 
 sorrows. 
 
 The officer at the head quarters was a 
 Mahometan, one of Hyder's chieftains. 
 He interrogated the poor prisoner sharply, 
 who he was, whence he came, and whi- 
 ther going ? Mr. Wilson gave him an 
 ingenuous account of his escape from 
 Cuddalore, and the reasons for it, with 
 all the circumstances attending his flight. 
 The Moorman with wrath looked at him, 
 and said Jute bat — " that is a lie," as no 
 man ever yet passed the Coleroon by 
 
18 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 swimming ; for if he had but dipped the 
 tip of his fingers in it, the alligators 
 would have seized him. The captain 
 assured him the truth was so, and gave 
 him such indubitable evidence of the 
 fact, that he could no longer doubt the 
 relations; when, lifting up both his hands, 
 he cried out, Gouda kaAdami! " this is 
 God's man." So Caiaphas prophesied. 
 He was indeed God's man. The Lord 
 had marked him for his own, though as 
 yet he knew him not. 
 
 He was immediately marched back, 
 naked and blistered all over, to the 
 former house of his prison, and in ag- 
 gravated punishment for his flight Hyder 
 refused him permission to join his fellow 
 officers, his former companions, and 
 thrust him into a dungeon among the 
 meanest captives. Chained to a common 
 soldier, he was next day led out, almost i 
 famished, and nearly naked, to march 
 on foot to Seringapatam, in that burning 
 climate, about 500 miles distant. The 
 officers beheld his forlorn condition with 
 great concern, unable to procure him 
 any redress ; but they endeavoured to 
 alleviate his misery by supplying him 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 19 
 
 with immediate necessaries. One gave 
 him a shirt, another a waistcoat, an- 
 other stockings and shoes, so that he 
 was once more covered and equipped for 
 his toilsome journey. But the brutes, 
 his conductors, had no sooner marched 
 him off to the first halting place, than 
 they again stripped him to the skin, and 
 left him only a sorry rag to wrap round 
 his middle. 
 
 In this wretched state, chained to an- 
 other fellow sufferer, under a vertical 
 sun, with a scanty provision of rice only, 
 he had to travel naked and barefoot, five 
 hundred miles, insulted by the brutes 
 who goaded him on all the day, and at 
 night thrust him into a damp unwhole- 
 some prison, crowded with other miser- 
 able objects. 
 
 On their way they were brought into 
 Kyder's presence, and strongly urged to 
 enlist in his service, and profess his re- 
 ligion, and thus obtain their liberty : to 
 induce them to which, these horrible 
 severities were inflicted on them, and to 
 escape these, at any rate, some of the 
 poor creatures consented. But the cap- 
 tain rejected these offers with disdain; 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 and, though a stranger to a nobler prin- 
 ciple, and destitute of all religion, so 
 great a sense of honour impressed him, 
 that he resolved to prefer death, with all 
 its horrors, to desertion and Mahomed- 
 ism. In various villages through which 
 they passed, in their long march, he was 
 placed under cover, and exhibited to the 
 country people as an object of curiosity, 
 many of them never having seen a white 
 man before. There he was forced to 
 present himself in all possible positions, 
 and to display all the antics of which he 
 was capable, that his conductors might 
 obtain money from these poor villagers, 
 at the expense of their captive. 
 
 In consequence of the dreadful nature 
 of this march, exposed by day to the 
 heat, and cooped up in a damp prison by 
 night, without clothes, and almost with- 
 out food, covered with sores, and the irons 
 entering into his flesh, he was,an addition to 
 all the rest of his sufferings, attacked with 
 the flux ; and how he arrived at Seringapa- 
 tam alive, so weakened with disease, is 
 wonderful. Yet greater miseries awaited 
 him there ; naked, diseased, and half starv- 
 ed, he was thrust into a noisome prison, 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 21 
 
 destitute of food and medicine, with one 
 hundred and fifty-three fellow sufferers, 
 chiefly Highlanders of colonel Macleod's 
 regiment, men of remarkable size and 
 vigour. The very irons which colonel 
 Baily had worn, weighing thirty-two 
 pounds, were fastened on him ; and this 
 peculiar rigour he was informed was the 
 punishment for his daring to attempt an 
 escape, as well as for his resolute rejec- 
 tion of all the tempting offers made him. 
 The other officers were at large ; and 
 among them was general sir David Baird, 
 so lately the avenger of their wrongs, 
 when he stormed this very city. Poor 
 Wilson was imprisoned with the com- 
 mon soldiers, and chained to one of them 
 night and day. 
 
 It is hardly possible to express the 
 scenes of unvaried misery that for two 
 and twenty months he suffered in this 
 horrible place. The prison was a square, 
 round the walls of which was a kind of 
 barrack for the guard. In the middle 
 was a covered place open on all sides, 
 exposed to the wind and rain. There, 
 without any bed but the earth, or cover-' 
 ing but the rags wrapped around him, he 
 
22 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 was chained to a fellow sufferer, and 
 often so cold, that they have dug a hole 
 in the earth, and buried themselves in it, 
 as some defence from the chilling blasts 
 of the night. Their whole allowance 
 was only a pound of rice a day per man, 
 and one rupee for forty days, or one piece 
 a day, less than a penny, to provide salt 
 and firing to cook their rice. It will 
 hardly be believed, that it was among 
 their eager employments to collect the 
 white ants which pestered them in the 
 prison, and fry them, to procure a spoon- 
 ful or two of their buttery substance. A 
 state of raging hunger was never ap- 
 peased by an allowance scarcely able to 
 maintain life ; and the rice, so fall of 
 stones, that he could not chew, but must 
 swallow it ; and often (he said) he was 
 afraid to trust his own fingers in his 
 mouth lest he should be tempted to bite 
 them. Their rice was brought in a large 
 bowl, containing the portion of a given 
 number ; but that none might take more 
 than his share, they provided themselves 
 with a small piece of wood rudely formed 
 into a spoon, which no one was suffered 
 to use but in his turn ; and such was the 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 23 
 
 keenness of hunger and his eagerness 
 to obtain the food, that his jaws often 
 snapped the spoon by an involuntary 
 motion, as though forced together by a 
 spring. 
 
 The noble and athletic Highlanders 
 were, among the first victims. The flux 
 and dropsy daily diminished their num- 
 bers. Often was the dead corpse un- 
 chained from his arm in the morning, 
 that another living sufferer might take its 
 place, and fall by the same disease ! 
 How his constitution could endure such 
 suffering is astonishing. Yet he had re- 
 covered from the flux which he carried 
 into the prison, and for a year maintained 
 a state of health beyond his fellows. At 
 last, worn down with misery, cold, hun- 
 ger, and nakedness, he was attacked with 
 the usual symptoms of the disorder 
 which had carried off so many others. 
 His body was enormously distended, his 
 thighs were as big as his waist was be- 
 fore, and his face was exceedingly bloated. 
 Death seemed to have seized him for his 
 prey, but his heart was still insensible as 
 the nether millstone. God was not in all his 
 thoughts, and his conscience cauterized 
 
24 MEMOIRS ,OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 as if made stupid by his sufferings ; he 
 was dying as the beast which perisheth. 
 No humiliation, no prayer, no sense of 
 sin, no recourse to a pardoning God, 
 no care about an eternal world, he lay 
 occupied only with the desire of life, and 
 hope of recovery. How he survived 
 such accumulated misery, exhausted with 
 famine and disease, the unwholesome 
 vapours of a prison thickening around 
 him, and the iron entering into his flesh, 
 is next to a miracle: but the davs of 
 man are numbered. He is immortal even 
 in the regions of the shadow of death, 
 till his appointed time shall come. 
 
 Reduced now to the extremity of weak- 
 ness, his chains too strait to be endured, 
 and threatening mortification, he seemed 
 to have reached the moment of his 
 dissolution ! The soldier to whom he had 
 been last chained, had served him with 
 great affection, whilst others who had 
 been linked together often quarrelled, 
 and rendered mad by their sufferings, 
 blasphemed and aggravated each others' 
 miseries. Seeing him thus, to appear- 
 ance, near his end, and thinking it might 
 alleviate his pain, his servant entreated 
 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 25 
 
 he might spend for oil the daily price, 
 about three farthings paid them, and 
 anoint his legs, but the captain objected, 
 as he should have nothing to buy firing 
 and salt, with which to cook the next 
 day's provisions. Sam shook his head, 
 and said, " Master, before that I fear 
 you will be dead, and never want it." 
 But who can tell what a day will bring 
 forth ? He had exchanged his allow- 
 ance of rice that day for a small species 
 of gram, called ratche pier, which he 
 eagerly devoured, and being very thirsty 
 he drank the liquor in which it was 
 boiled, and this produced such an amaz- 
 ing effect, that in the course of a few hours 
 his legs and thighs, and body, from be- 
 ing ready to burst, were reduced to a 
 skeleton ; and, though greatly weakened, 
 he was completely relieved^ and after- 
 wards recommended the trial with great 
 success to many of his fellow prisoners. 
 Remedies are always near when God 
 designs they should be so, and always 
 efficacious when Omnipotence applies 
 them! His irons were now replaced 
 by others less heavy; and being mere 
 skin and bones, they would slip over 
 c 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 his knees,, and leave his legs at li- 
 berty. 
 
 The ravages of death had now thinned 
 their ranks, and few remained the living 
 monuments of Hyder Ally's cruelty and 
 malignity ; nor would these probably have 
 conflicted with their miseries many more 
 months or days, but the victories of sir 
 Eyre Coote happily humbled this mon- 
 ster, and compelled him reluctantly to 
 submit, as one of the conditions of peace, 
 to the release of all \ the British captives. 
 With these glad tidings, after they had 
 spent twenty-two months on the verge 
 of the grave, Mr. Law, son of the Bishop 
 of Carlisle, arrived at Seringapatam, and 
 to him | the prison doors flew open ; 
 but what a [scene presented -bbifeelff 
 Emaciated, naked, covered with ulcers, 
 more than - half starved, only thirty- 
 two remained out of one hundred 
 and fifty-three brave men, to tell the 
 dismal tale of the sufferings of their pri- 
 son house. 
 
 Their humane and compassionate de- 
 liverer immediately provided them with 
 clothes, dressings for their wounds, and 
 food for their hunger : but now their mer- 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 27 
 
 cies threatened to be more fatal to them 
 than even tfesa their miseries. Their 
 ravenous appetite could not be restrain- 
 ed; and though cautioned and warned 
 against any excess, they devoured the 
 meat provided for them with such keen 
 avidity, that their stomachs, long unac- 
 customed to animal food, were incapable 
 of digestion. Captain Wilson was one of 
 the number who could not bridle his 
 cravings . A large piece of beef was as- 
 signed to him, the greater part of which 
 he devoured with a voracious appetite, 
 and the other part he placed under his 
 pillow, with an intention to eat it the first 
 moment he should awake ; but the sad 
 effects immediately followed. He was 
 seized that night with a violent fever, 
 became delirious, and for a fortnight his 
 life was despaired of. In his prison, under 
 sufferings, more than human nature 
 seemed capable of enduring, he had 
 struggled through, and for the most part 
 enjoyed a state of health and strength ; 
 but now, in the moment of liberty, joy, 
 and abundance, he received a stroke 
 more severe than any he had before un- 
 dergone. How little can we determine 
 
 C 2 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of the good or evil before us under the 
 sun! He was a more wretched being 
 surrounded by kind friends and every 
 humane attention, than he had been when 
 destitute, famished, covered with sores, 
 and lying naked on the floor of a dun- 
 geon. But he who is the Lord of life and 
 glory had determined that he should not 
 thus perish. When all human help had 
 failed, the great physician who has the 
 balm to heal the desperate, rebuked the 
 fever, restored his understanding, and 
 raised him up once more from the dust 
 of death ; the eternal Source of mercy 
 would not cut him off in the impenitence 
 and hardness of his heart; he had 
 grace in store for him, and work pre- 
 pared when the set time should come, 
 and such work as was the farthest from 
 every idea he had yet entertained. He 
 was for this continued the living to praise 
 him, but at that time mercies had no 
 more effect than miseries. His heart 
 was yet hardened, and he knew not the 
 hand that healed him. The day of sal- 
 vation was not yet arrived, nor the pe- 
 riod of his chastisement closed. He 
 returned to life and health with all the 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 29 
 
 same corrupt propensities, the same un- 
 renewed heart, the same forgetfulness of 
 God and contempt of his word and com- 
 mandments. No sufferings, not those 
 of hell itself, says Dr. Haweis, can pro- 
 duce a salutary change ; a sinner would 
 come out of those flames the same as he 
 entered them, unless the Spirit of love 
 and power changed the heart of stone 
 into a heart of flesh, and melted the 
 obdurate into godly sorrow, working 
 repentance unto salvation never to be 
 repented of. 
 
 The captain often mentioned a remark- 
 able instance of ingratitude, which used 
 while he was in India to sting him to the 
 heart. A gentlemen of very large pro- 
 perty fell overboard in Bengal river, 
 under such circumstances as that he 
 must inevitably have been drowned, had 
 not Mr. Wilson, then a very young man, 
 plunged into the stream, and rescued 
 him from the jaws of death. Although 
 he must have known that Mr. Wilson had 
 saved his life at the imminent risk of his 
 own, not only from the almost unparel- 
 leled rapidity of the current, but from 
 the number of sharks and alligators in 
 
30 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 in the river,, and though there were va- 
 rious methods by which he could have 
 essentially served this young man for his 
 prompt and generous conduct, yet he 
 never expressed his gratitude by any one 
 act of generosity towards his deliverer. 
 Captain Wilson knew well how to mo- 
 ralize on this base ingratitude, as being 
 a crime not only against him but against 
 society, as it tended by its influence to 
 check the benevolent heroism by which 
 life is often saved. Yet he never, till 
 after he knew and felt the power of the 
 gospel, reflected on the vile ingratitude 
 of his own heart, towards Him who had 
 so often and so remarkably delivered him 
 by his kind providences when on the brink 
 of death. 
 
 Being now restored, and capable of 
 accompanying his countrymen, he de- 
 scended the Gauts, and proceeded on to 
 Madras. Lord Macartney had forwarded 
 a supply of clothes to meet them, but 
 there not being a sufficiency for all, 
 some had one thing and some another ; 
 to captain Wilson's share a very large 
 military hat fell, which, with a banian 
 and pantaloons, with many a breach in 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 31 
 
 them, made his meagre figure very much 
 resemble a maniac. Impatient to revisit 
 his friends, he walked on from the last 
 halting place, and the centries hardly 
 would let him pass. He hastened to a 
 friend whose name was Ellis, enquired 
 of the servants for their master and mis- 
 tress. The footman stared at him, and 
 said they were not at home, and were 
 shutting the door against him, when he 
 pressed in, rushed by them, and threw 
 himself down on a sofa. The servants 
 were Mahometans, who hold the insane 
 in much reverence, and such they sup- 
 posed him ; and without any violence 
 used to remove him, Captain Wilson was 
 permitted quietly to repose himself, and 
 being tired he fell into the most profound 
 sleep, in which state his friends on their 
 return found him, and hardly recognized 
 him, he was so altered. They left 
 him thus sound asleep till the evening, 
 when the lustres were lighted, and se- 
 veral friends assembled, curious to hear 
 the story of his miserable captivity. 
 When he awoke, and saw the glare of 
 light and the persons around him, he 
 could scarcely recover his recollection, 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 and for a moment seemed as if he had 
 dropped into some enchanted abode. The 
 welcome and kind treatment of his 
 friends, who supplied all his wants, soon 
 restored him to his former life and spirits, 
 and he began to think of new service, as 
 he had yet obtained but a scanty provi- 
 sion, which his long captivity had not 
 much encreased, though he received the 
 arrears of his pay. He accordingly ship- 
 ped himself as first mate of the Intelli- 
 gence, captain Pennington, for Bencoolen 
 and Batavia. In his passage they were 
 surrounded with water spouts, one of 
 which was very near, and they fired to 
 disperse it. The roaring was tremendous, 
 and presently a torrent poured on the 
 ship, which brought down with it many 
 fish and sea-weeds, yet the water was 
 perfectly fresh, a phenomenon singularly 
 curious. 
 
 During this voyage the white ants and 
 cock-roaches, with other insects, multi- 
 plied in the most prodigious manner, so 
 that it was resolved to run the ship 
 down from Bencoolen to Puley Bay, 
 and lay her completely under water to 
 get rid of the vermin. After a fortnight 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 33 
 
 they pumped her dry, and the quantity 
 destroyed of these creatures, with centi- 
 pedes, three or four inches long, was 
 incredible. Bencoolen was a most un- 
 healthy place but Puley Bay is the region 
 of the shadow of death; thence none 
 escape without the putrid fever. Perhaps 
 the wetness of the ship added not a little 
 to the cause of mortality. Before they 
 left the bay every man of the crew who 
 was an European, except captain Wilson, 
 died. Captain Pennington came down 
 well on Christmas day, and only dined 
 on board, and returned the same night ; 
 the very next day he sickened and died. 
 A recruit of black men was sent from 
 Bencoolen to navigate t the vessel. The 
 very day they sailed out of the harbour, 
 captain Wilson, who had hitherto re- 
 sisisted the intemperature of the climate, 
 and then commanded the vessel, was 
 attacked with a fever. One Swede yet 
 remained. He had always accounted for 
 the death of his companions, and imputed 
 it to their imprudence. He had confi- 
 dence he should escape. He was then at 
 the helm going out of the harbour. The 
 captain, though ill, kept the deck, ob- 
 
 C 5 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 served the ship very badly steered, and 
 called out. The Swede quitted the helm, 
 and sat down on the hen-coops. The 
 captain himself ran to the wheel to rec- 
 tify the course, storming at the man who 
 had left the helm. He made no reply ; 
 but how great was his surprise when on 
 going up to him he found him a corpse. 
 The ship however visited Batavia, and 
 arrived in Bengal ; and though his health 
 continued to suffer, the captain made a 
 very profitable voyage. 
 
 During a year and a half he had re- 
 peated and dangerous relapses, and more 
 than once approached the gates of death. 
 He continued however to improve his 
 fortune, and became himself a sharer in 
 the vessel as well as commander. 
 
 It is worthy of remark how much the 
 most important circumstances of captain 
 Wilson's life turned upon apparently tri- 
 vial occurrences. The last events attend- 
 ing his mercantile engagements were 
 such as show the controul of Providence 
 over us and our affairs, by a hand which 
 we cannot see. The captain was lying 
 at anchor in port, with his vessel freighted 
 and ready for sea, where he and many 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 35 
 
 others had been for some time wind- 
 bound. Being on shore spending the 
 evening with a number of the merchants 
 and captains of the vessels in the harbour, 
 he met with something which greatly- 
 displeased him ; he silently withdrew 
 from the company, and instead of sleep- 
 ing on shore as others did, and as he 
 intended to have done, he called a boat, 
 and went to his ship, designing to sleep on 
 board, but soon after he was there, about 
 midnight, the wind shifted nearly to the 
 opposite point of the compass. He imme- 
 diately weighed anchor and sailed out of 
 the harbour, and had the advantage of a 
 fair wind, and sufficient time to get down 
 the river and get a good offing. Before 
 the other ships could get out of the river 
 the wind resumed its position, and forced 
 them back to their former anchorage, 
 and though directly foul to those in port, 
 was tolerably fair for Wilson. When he 
 reached the port to which he was de- 
 stined, the markets were much in want 
 of the articles with which his ship was 
 freighted, and there being no merchant to 
 share the market with him, he obtained 
 his own price for the greater part of his 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 goods. For the same reason the articles 
 with which he freighted his vessel back 
 were cheap. With them he returned to 
 the port whence he first sailed, after 
 a month's absence, and found the ves- 
 sels wind-bound as before. Here also he 
 obtained a ready and advantageous sale 
 for his goods ; some congratulated, whilst 
 others envied him, but all united in say- 
 ing that Wilson was a fortunate man. 
 By the double advantages of this favour- 
 able voyage, with what he had gained 
 before, he obtained a sufficient sum to 
 induce him to retire from business, and 
 from the toils and dangers of the sea, he 
 resolved therefore to return to England, 
 sit down content with what he had, and 
 endeavour to recover his health and en- 
 joy himself. 
 
 With this view he embarked as pas- 
 senger in the same ship in which that 
 good man Mr. Thomas, one of the Bap- 
 tist missionaries, was returning from 
 Bengal to England. With him he had 
 frequent disputes about religion, and be- 
 ing as infidel in principle as careless in 
 conduct, he could not but grieve this 
 minister who observed one day to the 
 
HIS EARLY YOUTH. 37 
 
 chief mate, that he should have much more 
 hope of converting the Lascars to Chris- 
 tianity than captain Wilson ; so deeply 
 mysterious are the ways of Providence ! 
 The things impossible to man are pos- 
 sible with God ; but the time was not 
 yet. 
 
 Being safe arrived at Portsmouth he 
 looked around him for an agreeable 
 abode ; and having soon discovered such 
 ah one at Horndean, in Hampshire, he 
 purchased it, and determined to set down 
 contented with the very moderate for- 
 tune which he had brought from India, 
 and amuse himself with gardening and 
 the sports of the country. Being unmar- 
 ried, he considered of a proper person to 
 have the conduct of his house and family. 
 He had a sensible and agreeable niece, 
 whom he particularly desired to take this 
 care upon her ; she was a truly religious 
 woman, and when pressed by him to 
 come and live with him, she informed 
 him of her sentiments, and her wish to 
 attend the worship of God at the congre- 
 gation of Port sea, to which she belonged. 
 He very carelessly observed, that to him 
 this would be no objection, he should 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 not disturb her about her religion ; and 
 provided she did trouble him with it, he 
 should leave her to herself. 
 
 About two years he continued to live 
 at Horndean, in the same careless un- 
 concern about eternal things, yet de- 
 cent in his conduct and perfectly sober, 
 amused with his garden, the sports, and 
 company around him, but an utter stran- 
 ger to the principles of the gospel, and 
 unacquainted with the power of them. 
 
39 
 
 PART II. 
 
 From his conversion to Christianity to his be- 
 coming the Captain of the Missionary ship, 
 Duff. 
 
 The methods of Providence are inscruta- 
 ble, but while they are directed by 
 wisdom, they are characterized by be- 
 nevolence. It was a merciful event for 
 Captain Wilson that the mind of his 
 niece had been enlightened and imbued 
 with the spirit of truth previous to his 
 return from India. This was to her a 
 situation of many comforts, but as Horn- 
 dean was ten miles from the place of 
 worship she used to attend, and where 
 she had received her first serious impres- 
 sions, she felt it a great disadvantage to 
 be deprived of the public ordinances of 
 God's house, and this made her appear 
 to him as though not happy. He was 
 also associated with the fashionable per- 
 sons in the neighbourhood, whose con- 
 versation and habits were not congenial 
 to her state of mind : he perceived this, 
 and though he never made it the source 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of uneasiness to her, yet it rather marred 
 his pleasures, and excited his surprise, 
 that what he then considered as innocent 
 amusements and gaities could afford her 
 no pleasure. Her predilections, love of 
 religious books, anxiety for divine wor- 
 ship, and evident solicitude for his spiri- 
 tual welfare, had a preparatory influence 
 on his mind ; he pitied her weakness, as 
 he considered it, but admired her inte- 
 grity ; he perceived that she had her feli- 
 cities, though they were not from his 
 paradise. 
 
 The operations of Providence, like 
 those of nature, are often most interest- 
 ing in their minutest parts, though not 
 most observable. We see the hand of 
 Deity in a thunder storm — but are un- 
 mindful of his influence in the dew of the 
 morning. But what is true of the natu- 
 ralist is equally true of the judicious mo- 
 ralist and divine ; the parts least noticed 
 by the common eye are those which most 
 excite his investigation and astonishment. 
 The most momentous events of our lives 
 often originate from those we consider 
 the most trivial and accidental. This 
 sentiment is represented to us by Pro- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 41 
 
 vidence counting the hairs of our head, 
 and directing the falling of the sparrow 
 to the earth. 
 
 Captain Sims, a gentleman who had, 
 for some years, retired from the active 
 duties of his profession upon a respect- 
 able competency, resided near to Captain 
 Wilson. The habits of good neighbour^ 
 hood soon brought them into a friendly 
 acquaintance. Captain Sims had for 
 many years, for he was then in an ad- 
 vanced period of life, professed a zealous 
 attachment to the principles of vital reli- 
 gion, and regularly attended divine wor- 
 ship on the Sabbath at Orange Street 
 chapel, Portsea. He had frequently in- 
 troduced the subject of religion to his 
 friend Captain Wilson ; but he was better 
 acquainted with the interior of religion 
 than qualified to defend its outworks. 
 The Indian captain proudly defied the ar- 
 tillery of his heavy denunciations against 
 unbelievers, and smiled at his entreating 
 him to abandon the standard under which 
 he had so long fought, and to join affinity 
 and allegiance with him. Captain Sims 
 had realized the truth of that scripture, 
 "he that believeth hath the witness in 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 himself;" and having this in a good de- 
 gree, he had employed his mind about 
 the general evidence of a divine reve- 
 lation too little to -meet the sceptical 
 reasonings of his infidel neighbour. He 
 cited scripture to prove that the captain's 
 principles were wrong, and the other re- 
 quired evidence that the scriptures were 
 right; and when he replied, Because they 
 are the word of God, he smiled at his 
 medium of proof, and felt himself at rest 
 in the centre, while his friend was mov- 
 ing in a circle of argument. This may 
 serve to show that though it may not be 
 equally necessary for all christians to be 
 deeply skilled in the defence of Christi- 
 anity against the deists, it is very neces- 
 sary for all connected with the learned, 
 polite, and military professions, among 
 which classes the reading and thinking 
 deists are to be found, to be well ac- 
 quainted with the evidences in favour of 
 a divine revelation, and to be tolerably 
 skilled in the methods of argument. Our 
 language abounds with excellent trea- 
 tises on this subject, which may be re- 
 commended with great propriety, yet, as 
 in military science, though the books of 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 43 
 
 principles and technical arrangements 
 are absolutely necessary, it will greatly 
 depend upon the skill of the engineer to 
 combine and to apply his principles to 
 the immediate circumstances of the case, 
 in order to insure the success of an en- 
 terprise ; — -so the christian disputant will 
 often find greater advantage by knowing 
 well how to place his arguments in proof 
 of Christianity, in the light most obvious 
 to the person with whom he is convers- 
 ing, than by leaving the subject to the 
 force of written arguments. Books can- 
 not answer questions as they arise, nor 
 shape the replies according to the innu- 
 merable variations of the subject in dis- 
 pute. Captain Sims, conscious of his in- 
 capacity to defend the outworks of Chris- 
 tianity against the spirited attacks of the 
 Indian captain, retired to the citadel, and 
 referred the contest to more skilful com- 
 batants. " The Christian Officers' Pa- 
 noply" now entitled " The Christian 
 Officers complete Armour," a dialogue 
 between a captain and a major on the 
 evidences of revelation, written by that 
 excellent man, the late general Burn, 
 was recommended to captain Wilson by 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 his friend. The captain looked at the 
 title, but finding it related to the defence 
 of Christianity, after keeping it some 
 weeks returned it, not having read a sin- 
 gle page. His friend asked him what 
 he thought of the book ; his jocose reply 
 gave him to understand that he thought 
 the major had the best of the argument ; 
 meaning that the deist personated by the 
 major had the advantage of the christian, 
 represented by the captain. This so 
 completely foiled captain Sims that he 
 admitted of a parley, and gave up the 
 contest. The fact was, captain Wilson 
 had no desire for investigation, and pre- 
 ferred to have his mind kept in a state of 
 easy indifference rather than to be agi- 
 tated by the important and rousing sub- 
 jects of revelation. He had obtained an 
 easy competency, was about the age of 
 thirty-six, possessed a cheerful mind, and 
 a constitution unsubdued by an eastern 
 climate. He was accustomed to com- 
 pany, and what worldly men call the 
 cheerful habits of a man of fashion. His 
 design was formed in India of returning 
 to his native country, according to the 
 common phraseology, and as he ex- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 45 
 
 pressed it, to enjoy himself; it was there- 
 fore too soon for him to have his mind 
 disturbed by considerations about the 
 moral government of the divine Being, 
 a state of future retribution, and the me- 
 thod of acceptance with God. His mind 
 was elated by recent prosperity, con- 
 trasted with a former train of most un- 
 paralleled misfortunes and inexpressible 
 sufferings. His heart was not softened 
 by personal affliction, nor broken by ad- 
 versity ; like the rich man in sacred his- 
 tory he said to his soul, " Eat, drink, and 
 be merry, for thou hast goods laid up for 
 many years." His mind was made cal- 
 lous by some years residence in India, 
 that school of deism, that temple of vice, 
 where Asiatic idolatry and European infi- 
 delity unite their baleful influence to ob- 
 literate a sense of the government of God 
 from the human mind, and to transform 
 the man into a systematic rebel against 
 his Maker. His mind was also deeply 
 entrenched in his self-complacent admi- 
 ration of his own goodness; he consi- 
 dered that he had so conducted himself 
 in Indostan as to merit the congratula- 
 tions of his own mind, and to secure the 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 righteous approbation of the Deity. He 
 had behaved toward some connexions he 
 had formed in India in such a manner as 
 induced him to glory in his own righte- 
 ousness, and when compared with many 
 of his countrymen in that part of the 
 world he considered that he ought to be 
 celebrated as a man of exalted virtue ra- 
 ther than to be regarded as a sinner. — 
 Besides all this he was under the influ- 
 ence of another, often fatal, mistake, as 
 it is a serious preventive to reflection and 
 conviction ; his many near escapes from 
 death, the rapid success attending his 
 mercantile engagements after being 
 stripped of all he possessed, and the con- 
 scious integrity and goodness of his own 
 heart, led him proudly to imagine that he 
 was a high favourite of the Deity. He 
 had not sufficiently considered that many 
 of the greatest and most cruel tyrants of 
 the earth have often been wonderfully 
 preserved amidst the most perilous cir- 
 cumstances, and extensively prosperous 
 in the most unjust and oppressive enter- 
 prises, and therefore his mode of reason- 
 ing was very inconclusive. Such, how- 
 ever, was his state of mind that it would 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 47 
 
 be difficult to conceive of one more un- 
 likely to be engaged by the subjects of 
 revelation. There were numerous and 
 mighty objections in his heart against 
 receiving a book as a revelation from 
 God., the design of which was to teach 
 him that his heart was deeply depraved 
 — that he had been a rebel through life 
 against his Maker, — that he had incurred 
 his sore displeasure, and must expect 
 happiness in a future world solely from 
 the unmerited mercy of him he had of- 
 fended. He soon discovered these sen- 
 timents from what he heard from his 
 niece and his friend the captain. He 
 perceived that if Christianity were from 
 G od, his plan of life was altogether wrong, 
 his estimate of himself erroneous, and his 
 hopes of future felicity fallacious. He 
 saw that he must abandon the romantic 
 scheme of happiness which he had pro- 
 posed to himself, must renounce the fond 
 opinions he had entertained of his supe- 
 rior goodness, and must change his 
 worldly maxims and the connections he 
 had formed for those which appeared to 
 him unsatisfying and disgusting. Some 
 transient convictions, like the flashes of 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 lightning which cross the way of the be- 
 nighted traveller, would strike his con- 
 science at intervals; but whatever his 
 judgment might occasionally suggest in 
 favour of a serious investigation of the 
 subject, his heart rose with indignant op- 
 position to a sentiment that was at com- 
 plete variance with the system of his 
 whole life. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that though God 
 has often disappointed the benevolent 
 wishes of his people in aiming to do good 
 by some special method, he has caused 
 the same object to be accomplished in 
 some other way, and frequently by means 
 which most clearly evince the super- 
 intending hand of Providence; perhaps 
 for this reason that the instrument might 
 not take the glory due to the efficient 
 cause. 
 
 Captain Sims invited the young minis- 
 ter who officiated at the place of worship 
 he was accustomed to attend, to spend a 
 few days with him in the country, and 
 captain Wilson had invited a female friend 
 of his niece from Portsea to spend a day 
 with him, and by a coincidence of events 
 totally out of the sphere of any designed 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 49 
 
 arrangements, the minister's friend, cap- 
 tain Sims, was engaged to dine with cap- 
 tain Wilson on the day when his minister 
 visited him. On this casual circumstance 
 turned the conversion of captain Wilson 
 to God, and the commencement of the 
 most endeared friendship between him 
 and the minister, which lasted for twenty 
 years, and continued till death. 
 
 While at the table captain Sims intro- 
 duced the subject of the evidences of the 
 divine authenticity of the scriptures to 
 captain Wilson, to which he pleasantly 
 replied, " you know, captain, I havefoiled 
 yovi on that subject;" but captain Sims as 
 pleasantly returned, " if I was not equal 
 to the contest my minister is, and I refer 
 the cause to him." The minister fearing 
 that the Indian captain would suspect 
 that he was present by some secret ma- 
 nagement of his friend, and that the way 
 in which the subject was introduced 
 would confirm it, and excite a prejudice 
 in his mind, interfered rather seriously 
 by saying to captain Wilson, " Sir, I am 
 obliged by your polite attention to me 
 and it is not my wish to obtrude my sen- 
 timents upon the attention of any gentle- 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 man : I admit the subject is of the greatest 
 importance, and I am ready according to 
 my abilities to defend it ; yet I think it 
 too serious to comport with the pleasant 
 conversation of a dinner table." The 
 captain smiled at the gravity of the young 
 minister, and jocosely rejoined, " It will 
 be no obtrusion of the subject upon me, 
 I assure you, sir, I am glad of the op- 
 portunity to converse on it, for I have 
 never met with a clergyman yet, and I 
 have conversed with several, that I could 
 not foil in a quarter of an hour." The 
 minister now appealed to the company 
 if that were not a challenge that every 
 man of honour under the colour of his 
 cloth was bound to meet ; and turning to 
 captain Wilson said, " Sir, it will afford 
 me great pleasure to enter into this inte- 
 resting subject with you, but I must beg 
 a truce till we can honourably relax in 
 our attention to the ladies at the table." 
 This pleasantness of conversation inte- 
 rested the captain, disarmed his preju- 
 dices, and drew him into the debate. It 
 was then proposed by captain Sims that 
 he should accompany the other friends at 
 the table to his garden and pleasure 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 51 
 
 grounds, and leave the minister and cap- 
 tain to an uninterrupted argument. 
 
 When the company had retired, captain 
 Wilson proposed that the minister and he 
 should resort to a shady bower in his gar- 
 den, in one of the finest evenings that 
 the month of July affords, and coolly de- 
 bate whether the scriptures are a revela- 
 tion from God. The minister cheerfully 
 acceded, and when they had taken their 
 seats, with great seriousness entered into 
 the conversation, having but a little be- 
 fore gone through a course of reading 
 on the evidences of Christianity. The 
 benign influence of a declining sun, ren-* 
 dered salubrious and cheering by the soft 
 breezes which gently played amidst the 
 pliant leaves of the bower, and wafted 
 around them the delightful odours of an 
 extensive flower garden, and a richly va- 
 riegated green-house, served to calm the 
 spirits and to elevate the thoughts to the 
 God of providence and universal good- 
 ness, and offered to the minister's mind 
 a beautiful emblem of that ineffable sere- 
 nity and pleasure enjoyed by the regene- 
 rated spirit, while regaling itself beneath 
 the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, 
 d 2 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 and the soul-reviving motions of the 
 Spirit of God. In this frame of mind, 
 with many fervent ejaculations to the 
 Spirit of light and influence, he prayed 
 unto his God, and then said to the cap- 
 tain, " Will you, sir, propose your own 
 mode of argument ? If you will be oppo- 
 nent I will be respondent ; or if you will 
 be respondent I will be opponent, but 
 let us be serious ; the subject is of the 
 greatest importance to us both, for if the 
 scriptures do not contain a revelation 
 from God, there are no other writings in 
 the world that do." He at once admitted 
 that none of the writings of the Maho- 
 metans, the Hindoos, or the Chinese, 
 would bear a comparison of claim to di- 
 vine revelation with those 'contained in 
 the Old and New Testament. If then, 
 said the minister, they do not contain a 
 revelation there is none, and man is left 
 to the dictates of his own judgment, for 
 one man s reason can be no absolute rule 
 for another man s reason ; and intelligent 
 beings are left without a standard of judg- 
 ment or rule of moral science or reli- 
 gious hope. He acknowledged the sub- 
 ject was serious, and that he meant to 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 53 
 
 treat it as such, but declined a logical 
 mode of reasoning ; and said, if you can 
 remove the principle objections to the 
 scriptures being the word of God, I will 
 acknowledge them and endeavour to 
 conform my principles and conduct to 
 them. These preliminary remarks pro- 
 duced an apparent seriousness, and a 
 gentlemanlike mode of conversation dur- 
 ing near three hours very friendly inter- 
 course. 
 
 This conversation was recited by the 
 minister to several of his friends, and 
 communicated by letter to others of 
 them, soon after it occurred, so that the 
 relation which is here given of it is not 
 only substantially true, but as verbally 
 accurate as the memory was capable of 
 retaining it, and as was suited, to meet 
 the public eye. 
 
 It was stated by the minister that it was 
 unphilosophical and contrary to the ac- 
 knowledged methods of sound reasoning, 
 to object to the truth of a proposition, be- 
 cause that truth contained some principles 
 difficult to be comprehended. It is not the 
 same as to say I will not believe a proposi- 
 tion without sufficient evidence of its truth ; 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON, 
 
 but it is saying I will not believe the truth 
 of the proposition however strong and 
 numerous the evidences to confirm it, 
 unless the nature of the truth contained 
 in it is as obvious to my understanding 
 as the strength of the evidences by which 
 this truth is established. Such a preju- 
 dice would be a mighty barrier to the 
 obtaining of knowledge in almost every 
 science. There are innumerable prin- 
 ciples in natural history, chemistry, and 
 even in the mathematics, the truth or 
 reality of which is proved by such incon- 
 testible evidences, that no one who is 
 acquainted with them can for a moment 
 refuse his assent to the truth which these 
 evidences establish, though the truth it- 
 self contains inexplicable first principles. 
 Voltaire's " Ignorant Philosopher ' was 
 cited as a proof ; a treatise in which the 
 philosopher traces a variety of positions 
 Ihrough their various evidences, as far 
 as they will carry the mind, but which 
 leave it in some first principle not within 
 the sphere of our present strength of in- 
 tellect, when he, as to every position, be- 
 comes " The ignorant philosopher." It 
 was also urged that such a mode of ob- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 55 
 
 jecting would apply with equal force 
 against deism as against Christianity, for 
 it might as strongly be urged against 
 many positions in natural as in revealed 
 religion. By this mode of reasoning the 
 existence of moral evil, of the providence 
 of God, and even of spirit as distinct from 
 matter, and consequently a future state 
 of being, maybe denied, for each of these 
 truths have vast difficulties connected 
 with them, and yet many deists admit 
 the evidences by which these truths are 
 established. It is therefore unreasona- 
 ble to object to enter into the evidences on 
 which the truth of revelation is founded, 
 because that truth is^admitted to have dif- 
 ficulties connected with it. The captain 
 was asked how he would reply to an 
 atheist who should object to some of the 
 first principles of his system of natural 
 religion on the same ground ; his smile 
 indicated that he felt himself pressed in 
 the argument, and he said, I, would not 
 refuse to go into an investigation of the 
 evidences in favour of revelation, but I 
 think that if the principal objections I 
 feel against admitting the scriptures to 
 be the word of God were removed, the 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 evidences when presented in detail would 
 be received with the greater impartiality. 
 The minister perceived that though the 
 captain's reason was in favour of the mode 
 of argument proposed, his feelings did 
 not appear to be controuled by his judg- 
 ment, and that his feelings were those of 
 habit and of long continuance, but his 
 reason was only the flash of conviction 
 elicited by argument, he therefore 
 thought it best to meet his wishes and 
 attempt to weaken his prejudices by re- 
 moving his objections. .This is an object 
 worthy of consideration in all personal 
 debates upon moral and religious sub- 
 jects, for the feelings of most men are 
 more reluctant to follow the dictates of 
 the understanding than the understand- 
 ing is to follow the dictates of truth. 
 
 The captain said the objections were 
 so many and so great in his mind, that it 
 appeared next to impossible that any evi- 
 dences could satisfactorily prove to him 
 that the scriptures were from God. He 
 was requested to state the objections ; 
 and after some conversation the principal 
 ones were reduced to the following— 
 That the scriptures give an unlovely re- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 57 
 
 presentation of the divine character, con- 
 trary to what appears from his conduct ; 
 that instead of removing the difficulties 
 attending natural religion, they increased 
 them, by requiring us to believe myste- 
 ries or truths not within the sphere of 
 our understandings ; that what is assum- 
 ed as a revelation from God to the world, 
 and as a sovereign remedy for all its in- 
 tellectual errors and moral evils, had not 
 after so many thousand years, reached 
 one-tenth part of the inhabitants of the 
 globe ; that the magnitude of creation 
 renders it altogether improbable that the 
 Supreme Being has conducted himself 
 towards the inhabitants of this compara- 
 tively insignificant spot of the universe, 
 in the manner the scriptures represent 
 him to have done ; and that Judaism and 
 Christianity instead of being a benefit had 
 been an injury to the world. These, said 
 the captain, are the principal difficulties 
 in my mind ; could these be removed the 
 minor ones would in detail have but 
 little influence though connected with 
 these, and in the aggregate they are very 
 weighty. + 
 
 These objections in various forms have 
 d5 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 often been made, and as often answere d 
 in a most satisfactory manner, said the 
 minister, but though it can hardly be ex- 
 pected that they can be fully discussed 
 in the time of our conversation, I will put 
 a few considerations before you, my dear 
 captain, that may weaken their force, if 
 not fully remove them. 
 
 In the first objection you say the scrip- 
 tures give an unlovely representation of 
 the Deity ; but let it be remembered 
 that a character that would be very ex- 
 cellent in the esteem of one man, would 
 be unlovely in the esteem of another ; a 
 disobedient son, an indolent servant, and 
 a criminal subject, would be very likely 
 to think that one was subject to an un- 
 kind father, the other to a hard master, 
 and the third to a severe judge, though 
 in the estimation of virtuous children, 
 servants, and subjects, they might each 
 have an excellent character. It is af- 
 firmed by christians, that God has given 
 us his own character, and that his crea- 
 tures are in a state of rebellion against 
 him ; no wonder then if they dislike the 
 description he has given of himself. You, 
 sir, also admit the existence of moral 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 59 
 
 evil, now are you sure that the character 
 you deem a lovely one is not a partial 
 view of it, and if properly understood, 
 would it not want what is essential to 
 every perfect character, consistency with 
 itself ? 
 
 It is possible, replied the captain, but 
 it appears to me to be a self-evident pro- 
 position, that goodness and munificence 
 form the principal characteristics of the 
 Deity, and that he loves his creatures as 
 a good father does all his children, with 
 an equal affection. — It is very natural for 
 you, my good captain, said the minister, 
 with such a comfortable residence, plea- 
 sant gardens, friends, and attentive ser- 
 vants, to think that munificence is the 
 character of the Deity ; but would it be 
 as easy in your application of the term 
 munificence, to persuade some of the 
 slaves in Africa, and in the mines of Peru, 
 that such is his character ? You are not 
 I perceive of the class of deists who ad- 
 mit the existence of the natural attributes 
 of Deity, such as wisdom and power, but 
 deny his moral perfections, for you say 
 his principal feature is that of goodness, 
 but how does this agree with his con- 
 
60 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON, 
 
 duct ? Had not the facts been indisput- 
 able would your system have suffered 
 you to believe that in a world of his ra- 
 tional creatures he would have permitted 
 a few to enslave the mass/ and make a 
 trade of millions of them from genera- 
 tion to generation for their own benefit, 
 and that a million of his creatures, be- 
 cause separated by some mountain or 
 river, should exert the whole force of 
 their mental and physical energies to de- 
 stroy each other. I question if you will 
 not perceive upon a closer inspection 
 that facts are at variance with your prin- 
 ciple ; for though it is true that God is 
 good, yet he is just and holy also, and is 
 a sovereign in the dispensations of his 
 will ; parts of the divine character which 
 the scriptures associate with his good- 
 ness in order to give a complete whole, 
 and form the character of the moral go- 
 vernor of the world. 
 
 But said the captain I cannot reconcile 
 with my ideas of his charhcter the account 
 the scriptures give of the commands of 
 God to the Israelites, with respect to the 
 nations around them, especially their de- 
 struction of the Canaanites. These are 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 61 
 
 matters of fact, replied the minister, and 
 as such are parts of the divine govern- 
 ment in whatever view we contemplate 
 them, and must be accounted for upon 
 your principles as well as mine, and so 
 must the African slave trade. But the 
 difficulty of accounting for these things is 
 greater on your system than mine, for 
 the scriptures present us with a view of 
 the supreme Ruler of the universe, dealing 
 with a world of rebels in justice to make 
 sin appear exceeding sinful, and in mercy 
 to make his goodness appear exceeding 
 rich, but both according to the sovereign 
 dispensation of his own will. — But surely, 
 rejoined the captain, it must be incon- 
 sistent with the character of God for him 
 to refuse the worship of one of his crea- 
 tures, and accept that of another because 
 of a different mode of expressing it, as in 
 the case of Cain and Abel; upon your 
 system Abel seems to he emblematic of 
 the christian, and Cain of all the world 
 beside. What father having a number 
 of children who should go into an exten- 
 sive flower garden (pointing to that be- 
 fore him,) and each wishing to please the 
 father by presenting, according to their 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 own taste, the most beautiful nosegay, 
 would not look at the design instead of 
 the comparative worth of the flowers, and 
 manifest his pleasure to them all. 
 
 Your beautiful comparison said the 
 minister is rather I conceive a begging 
 of the question my good captain; you 
 have presented to yourself and to me a 
 father who has left his children without 
 instruction as to what would please him. 
 But suppose the father you have pic- 
 tured should for the good of his family 
 maintain his own authority, and require 
 of them, as a proof of their affection and 
 obedience, that they should present to 
 him a nosegay composed of such flowers 
 only as he should describe. Suppose 
 also that some of them should take this 
 prescribed rule, and endeavour to corn- 
 form their nosegay as near to it as in 
 their power, but others of the family 
 should neglect this prescribed rule, pre- 
 sume on their own judgment, and pre- 
 sent such a nosegay as is contrary to his 
 will ; would not the father be just in re- 
 jecting the one and receiving the other ? 
 This as a christian is my case ; our Father 
 has appointed a rule for the sentiments 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 63 
 
 of the understanding, for the dispositions 
 of the heart, and the actions of life, and 
 it is to this rule every one to whom it has 
 been made known is bound studiously to 
 conform. 
 
 Here the captain seeming to show that 
 he felt the application of the subject, the 
 minister's heart glowed with benevo- 
 lence, and flushed with the hope of a 
 final triumph, he said in rather plaintive 
 accents, My dear sir, have you ever endea- 
 voured to bring your system to bear on 
 your own case ? Are goodness, benevo- 
 lence, and kindness, the principal fea- 
 tures of the divine character ? then the 
 scriptures are the word of God. Are you 
 absolutely certain of possessing a state of 
 future existence? If you should, will it 
 be to you a state mixed with pains and 
 pleasures like the present, or of all pain, 
 or all pleasure ? — Will it be for a certain 
 period, or for ever ? Are not these ques- 
 tions which every one would gladly have 
 so answered as to leave his mind at rest ? 
 May not your mind in old age, or under 
 heavy affliction, become more anxious 
 than it is now, and may it not be- 
 come so anxious that all the other gifts 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of Providence would be comparative 
 trifles to his giving you some way of be- 
 ing satisfied as to these interesting per- 
 sonal enquiries ? The minister waiting an 
 answer, he said, Surely. His friend re- 
 joined, Is there any way by which you 
 can come to a certainty on these sub- 
 jects? He replied, With my views there 
 is no method of obtaining an absolute 
 certainty. Then, replied his friend, Is 
 this a proof of the goodness of God to 
 leave you in a state of the most awful un- 
 certainty on subjects so closely connected 
 with your greatest happiness ? Is this a 
 mark of goodness to give you the dim 
 light of reason, which like that of the 
 glow-worm only serves to make the sur- 
 rounding darkness more visible, and to 
 refuse that light which he could give to 
 remove your darkness? To give you a 
 conscience capable of tormenting you 
 without the method of having it ap- 
 peased, or of knowing whether he will 
 pardon, and if some sins, how many, and 
 on what conditions — thus the subject will 
 not bear looking at, the further you go 
 the more the mind is perplexed. — What! 
 and is this the system that is founded 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 65 
 
 upon the goodness of God ? No, my dear 
 captain, it is revelation that exhibits his 
 goodness, here he meets the anxious mind. 
 Life and immortality are brought to light 
 by the gospel. Christ is the way, the truth, 
 and the life ; the meek will he guide in 
 judgment, and the meek will he teach his 
 way — Come, doctor, said the captain, you 
 are preaching now, not reasoning. 
 
 What will you say to my other objec- 
 tion ; the scriptures require me to be- 
 lieve mysteries? — I admit, replied the 
 minister, that the scriptures contain a 
 variety of truths which may be considered 
 as mysterious, but they are not more so 
 than a number of principles which are 
 commonly received by philosophers. The 
 term mystery sometimes implies a truth 
 which was once hidden but is now re- 
 vealed, but the . common acceptation of 
 the term, and the sense in which it is 
 frequently used in the scriptures imply a 
 principle or matter of fact made known 
 by revelation, but which contains some- 
 thing in its nature, mode of existence, or 
 degree, which lies beyond the sphere of 
 our comprehension, and therefore called 
 a mystery; not that the doctrine or the 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 matter of fact is hidden, for this would 
 be a solecism, but that there is some- 
 thing connected with it which is hidden. 
 There are innumerable truths you be- 
 lieve, not because you comprehend them, 
 but because the evidences of their exist- 
 ence are so numerous and so strong that 
 you cannot refuse your assent to them. 
 You believe in animal and vegetable vita- 
 lity, not because you understand what vita- 
 lity is, but from its reality being so obvious 
 to your senses that it is impossible to 
 deny it. You believe that matter was 
 formed out of nothing, not because you 
 have any power of conceiving how what 
 is can be formed out of what was not, 
 but because knowing that matter exists 
 you conclude that it must either have 
 been eternal or created; and the latter, 
 according to your philosophical senti- 
 ments, is of the two the most probable. 
 You believe the eternity and immensity of 
 the divine Being, but no finite mind can 
 comprehend what is infinite ; if therefore 
 the inspired volume contains a variety of 
 truths which lie beyond the sphere of our 
 limited capacity it is rather an evidence of 
 its divine authenticity than against it. 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 67 
 
 I do not believe, said the captain, what 
 is contrary to the nature of things if I 
 believe some truths which I do not fully 
 comprehend. Your Bible, according to 
 the opinion of the great majority of 
 christians, calls upon me to believe the 
 doctrine of the Trinity in unity, and this 
 is so contrary to reason that I have 
 hardly patience to attend to evidences 
 which attempt to prove such an absur- 
 dity as that three are one, and one is 
 three, and that the book which contains 
 such preposterous positions is the word 
 of God. — I have admitted, said the minis- 
 ter, that the scriptures contain some 
 truths which are not explained, and there- 
 fore it would be unwise to attempt to 
 explain what is inexplicable. But I think 
 you must admit that none can understand 
 the divine Being but himself, and that if 
 it could be proved that he had revealed 
 himself to his creatures, that they would 
 be under obligation to believe the descrip- 
 tion he had given of himself, though they 
 could not understand the mode of his 
 existence. Is it not therefore too as- 
 suming to make our judgment of the 
 divine Being a standard by which to try 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the evidences of a revelation from God to 
 man? for upon such a principle it would 
 be impossible for the divine Being to 
 make a revelation of himself to his crea- 
 tures, supposing that there is any thing 
 in the nature of his existence incompati- 
 ble with our modes of reasoning. Be- 
 sides, I question if you are quite correct 
 when you say that you believe nothing 
 that is contrary to the dictates of your own 
 understanding. Do you not, suffer me 
 to ask you, believe that God is every 
 where present in the most strict and phi- 
 losophical sense of the word? and yet do 
 $**you not as firmly believe that there 
 are innumerable worlds of matter in the 
 universe, and also innumerable spirits 
 who are distinct, intelligent, free agents ? 
 What power of reasoning is your mind 
 endued with by which it can reconcile to 
 itself these two opposite propositions ? 
 Can two beings, two substances, occupy 
 exactly the same space at the same time ? 
 If you believe the other two propositions 
 you must also believe that they can ; but 
 is not this contrary to your mode of rea- 
 soning, or as far as your perceptions go, 
 contrary to the nature of things ? — But, 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 69 
 
 said the captain, there is something in 
 the nature of spirit, and even of space, 
 that we do not understand. — True, my 
 good sir, said the minister ; why then 
 prescribe a modus of being to what you 
 do not understand, and make your rea- 
 soning a standard by which you are to 
 determine what is the nature of the di- 
 vine existence. 
 
 The doctrine of the unity of the Deity 
 is most clearly the doctrine of the scrip- 
 tures, but however it may appear to us 
 now to be a self-evident position, yet re- 
 member how many ages it had to strug- 
 gle with the reasonings of men before 
 it obtained extensive belief, and even 
 now how much it has to contend with in 
 order to obtain universal reception. It 
 was contrary to the reason of the ancients 
 seeing there were so many opposite prin- 
 ciples in the universe both moral and phy- 
 sical that there should be but one God. 
 The belief of the plurality of deities was 
 general through all nations; they had 
 therefore the force of universal opinion, 
 and the apparent unreasonableness of 
 supposing that the opposite principles of 
 good and evil in the universe could com- 
 
70 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 port with the idea of there being but one 
 God to oppose to the doctrine of Moses, 
 the prophets, and of Christ concerning 
 the unity of the Deity. I mention this to 
 show how dangerous it is to make our 
 ideas of the nature of the Divine exist- 
 ence a reason for refusing to examine the 
 claims of the scriptures to be a revelation 
 from God; for had men always acted 
 under the influence of this principle 
 might not the doctrine of the divine unity 
 have been still treated as an absurdity ? 
 After waiting for an answer the minister 
 said, What have you to reply to these 
 considerations? — My object was not to 
 make you a deist, returned the captain, 
 and therefore go on. — Your third objec- 
 tiou I think, said the minister, arises from 
 revelation not having yet been made uni- 
 versally known. — Yes, said the captain, 
 it appears most probable that had the 
 scriptures been a revelation from God 
 he would for the same reason that he 
 made it known to some have made it 
 known to all ; for it can neither be a rule 
 of duty, nor a remedy for misery, where 
 it is not made known, and so far can be 
 of no use. — It is not denied, my dear sir, 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 71 
 
 that the want of the universal diffusion of 
 revelation is a serious evil to the world ; 
 but may not the objection you now urge 
 have been one cause of preventing its 
 becoming universal ; if your argument is 
 valid it never can become so, for if all men 
 refuse to examine its claims to divine au- 
 thenticity till it is universally known, it is 
 morally impossible it should ever be re- 
 ceived by the whole world, for the objec- 
 tion would present an insuperable barrier 
 to its general reception. This is reason- 
 ing in a circle, and terminates in absur- 
 dity ; it is in fact to say it ought not to be 
 universally received till it is universally 
 received. Besides any revelation must 
 have claims to universal reception ante- 
 cedently to its being universally received. 
 Should news reach this country from the 
 East Indies for instance, authenticated by 
 the strongest evidence of its truth, and 
 yet should every one refuse to receive it 
 as truth till all had received it as such, js 
 it not obvious that in such a case no one 
 would receive it as truth ? 
 
 But perhaps your objection supposes 
 that if God gave a revelation of his will 
 to man, there is something in the nature 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of his character and of his moral govern- 
 ment which would justify us in concluding 
 that he would at the same time make the 
 discovery to all. This, to say nothing of 
 the impropriety of thus prescribing rules 
 to the sovereign of the universe, and of 
 its being unsupported by the analogy of 
 the divine government, is extremely in- 
 consistent in a deist, for he professes 
 that God has given a revelation of him- 
 self in his works, and yet there were not, 
 for many ages, as many deists at any one 
 time as would fill a large church, the 
 whole world being devoted to polytheism, 
 and even now the number of deists is very 
 small compared with the number of chris- 
 tians, and still smaller compared with the 
 number of pagans. You must therefore 
 admit either that God has written his cha- 
 racter so illegibly in his works, that it is 
 vastly difficult to read it, or that men 
 have been obstinately blind to it, so that 
 the discovery has produced no extensive 
 good. The objection ought therefore to 
 have no weight with you, sir, because the 
 same would apply with more than equal 
 force against your system from either an 
 atheist or a pagan. I see no alternative 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 73 
 
 for you upon your own argument, but 
 either to admit the principles of atheism 
 or paganism, or to go calmly into the 
 evidences of Christianity. You have got 
 to windward of me here, I confess, said 
 the captain, but go on. 
 
 Had revelation been communicated to 
 all men intuitively in the first instance, 
 its universality could have been no rea- 
 son for their receiving it as such, for this 
 could not have been known to the indi- 
 vidual at the time, and had it been so it 
 must have been a conclusion resulting 
 from the deduction of argument, and 
 therefore not from intuitive knowledge ; 
 thus your objection involves a moral im- 
 possibility. Besides an attentive revela- 
 tion to all seems incompatible with our 
 state of moral agency. To answer the 
 end of a revelation it must not only be ad- 
 dressed to our intellects, but to our 
 hearts, and as such it puts the persons to 
 whom it comes into a new state of pro- 
 bation. That the scriptures are not yet 
 universally known is one evidence of the 
 truth of some of the great principles 
 which they contain, for they describe 
 men as in a state of rebellion against 
 
 E 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON, 
 
 their Maker, not liking to retain God in 
 their thoughts. It is not a matter of sur- 
 prise that men should make objections 
 against the divine origin of a book which 
 contains rules to which they have no wish 
 to be conformed, motives of action they 
 never feel, and denunciations of judg- 
 ments against sins to which they are 
 strongly attached both by inclination and 
 habit. Suppose a vast body of indivi- 
 duals had revolted from their allegiance 
 to a rightful sovereign and from obedi- 
 ence to the most just and equitable laws 
 formed for the good of the whole, and 
 suppose that a proclamation were sent 
 into the camp of these rebels, describing 
 the excellence of their prince, the purity 
 of his laws, the heinousness of their 
 crimes, the punishments which awaited 
 the incorrigible, and offering them par- 
 don solely on the ground of the mercy 
 of the sovereign, whose character, laws, 
 and service they hated, would it not be 
 natural to expect that such a procla- 
 mation would be treated with neglect — 
 that its reception would be opposed, 
 and its proffers despised. But suppose 
 that a few should repent of their con- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 75 
 
 duet, admire the character of him they 
 had offended, and the laws they had 
 broken, and should try to convince others 
 in the camp of their folly and crimes, 
 and persuade them to accept of mercy ; 
 what treatment might such expect while 
 the camp was well supplied with provi- 
 sions and in material difficulty ? Would 
 it not be a long time before they would 
 obtain universal attention, and the pro- 
 clamation universal reception? but would 
 this opposition and partial reception of 
 the proclamation be any argument either 
 against the excellency of its principles 
 or the authenticity of its origin? But 
 once more, suppose that after the sove- 
 reign had patiently borne with their pro- 
 vocation for a long time, and had used 
 various methods to bring them back to 
 their allegiance, they, instead of sub- 
 mitting to his authority, should infer from 
 his forbearance either that he was inat- 
 tentive to their conduct, or that he ap- 
 proved of it, and should therefore perse- 
 vere in their rebellion notwithstanding 
 all that his proclamation contained; 
 would it not be a part of his righteous 
 administration to accomplish that by his 1 
 
 E 2 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 power which had not been effected by his 
 clemency. But if, when they are brought 
 to judgment, some of them should set up 
 as a plea, that though they had heard of 
 the proclamation and might have read its 
 contents, yet as it was not universally 
 received by the camp they had refused 
 to enquire into its authenticity, or sub- 
 mit to its proposals; would not such a 
 plea rather aggravate their criminality 
 than extenuate it ? I was going to say, 
 my dear captain, I will leave you to make 
 the application, but it would not become 
 the profession I make, nor the office I 
 sustain, were I not in friendship to make 
 it myself; indeed I am persuaded you 
 will not be offended with me for doing 
 so, for it must appear to you as a species 
 of hypocrisy in me to profess to believe 
 the truth and importance of revelation, 
 and not be earnestly desirous that others 
 also should believe in its divine origin, 
 and participate in its benefits. Does it 
 not then become you, sir, seriously to 
 consider that however some may plead 
 before the tribunal of their Maker, that 
 they have never had an opportunity to 
 investigate the claims or the subjects of 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 77 
 
 the scriptures, you will not be able to 
 make this plea. Let me therefore en- 
 treat you patiently to examine their evi- 
 dences and study their contents. 
 
 Certainly, said the captain, I cannot 
 be offended with your good wishes for 
 me, however unnecessary I may think 
 them, for surely it becomes tlie character 
 you sustain zealously to defend and en- 
 force the principles you think of such 
 vast importance to the interests of men. 
 Indeed I have often been surprised to find 
 some of your character who profess to 
 believe the christian religion to be a 
 reality, act as though they thought it a 
 fable; while some persons that I know 
 believe it to be a fable act as though 
 they thought it a reality. I am sorry, 
 said the minister there are so many of 
 the first class, and so very few of the 
 second. But if you please I will pro- 
 ceed to your fourth objection, which is 
 drawn from the extent or magnitude of 
 creation. 
 
 It appears highly improbable, said the 
 captain, that the inhabitants of this com- 
 paratively insignificant spot of the works 
 of God should receive that kind of atten- 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 tion described in the scriptures, when the 
 globe we inhabit probably bears a less 
 proportion to the universe than an orange 
 bears to the solar system. When we see 
 that the water and the air are full of ani- 
 mation, and that vegetables and animals 
 are little worlds covered with inhabitants, 
 is it not natural to suppose that the 
 globes which float in the boundless ex- 
 tent of space around us are also inha- 
 bited ? And when we consider that our 
 sun is the centre of a system, with planets 
 like our earth, and some of them much 
 larger, revolving round it ; i& it not pro- 
 bable that the fixed stars are suns to 
 other systems ? Besides our glasses dis- 
 cover other suns far beyond the sphere 
 of our eyes; and hence could we take 
 our standing on the most remote star 
 that our best glasses discover in the east, 
 and then on another, the most remote in 
 the opposite direction in the west, it is 
 probable others would be discovered from 
 each of these as far beyond them as they 
 are beyond us, and then we might be no 
 nearer the bounds of creation than w;e 
 are on this earth. Now that a Being 
 possessed of such vast, (to us boundless 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 79 
 
 dominions,) should speak and act as 
 though all his other works were made for 
 the inhabitants of this little spot; and 
 that he who made and governs all should 
 unite himself with human nature, and die 
 to restore men to happiness, seems so 
 much beyond the bounds of probability 
 that I wonder how any man of a philoso- 
 phical mind can believe these things. 
 
 This objection has in my view of the 
 subject so many weak parts, said the 
 minister, that I know not on which to fix 
 my attention first. I must however cor- 
 rect one part of your objection before I 
 reply to the other, by observing that the 
 scriptures no where represent that all the 
 works of God were made for the benefit 
 of man, nor that any of them were made 
 exclusively for his advantage. I do not 
 deny some of your probabilities ; it may 
 be true that the stars are suns, and these 
 suns have planetary systems, and these 
 systems are all inhabited, but it may be 
 useful to remind you that these are only 
 probabilities, and not certainties. It is 
 from one train of probabilities that you 
 deduce another, so that the probabilities 
 urged against the truth of revelation are 
 
80 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON* 
 
 not deductions from known facts : this to 
 a philosopher, (that is to a man of close 
 reasoning,) must very much weaken 
 the objection. To probability then I 
 would oppose probability, and thus poise 
 your objections, or as I think turn the 
 scale against it. The probabilities in fa- 
 vour of revelation to be deduced from 
 the minuteness of the works of God, are 
 I think equal both in number and weight 
 to those which form the objection to 
 revelation, arising from the magnitude of 
 his works. When I perceive that he who 
 has adjusted the spheres even to a grain, 
 has regulated their motions to a second, 
 has also adjusted the minutest parts of 
 the animal structure, and has formed the 
 minutest adaptation of parts and princi- 
 ples to the accomplishment of some 
 design. — When I perceive the eye is 
 adapted to light, and the ear to the vibra- 
 tion of the air, the lungs for respiration, 
 the heart for pulsation, and the stomach 
 for digestion, in short the whole animal 
 economy adapted to the purposes of hu- 
 man life, and also that this adaptation is 
 carried to the smallest fly and insect, and 
 even to the microscopic animalcule; — 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 81 
 
 when I thus perceive the minute atten- 
 tion of the divine Being to the operations 
 of matter, the probability to me is, that 
 he is not less attentive to the operations 
 of mind ; when I perceive that all these 
 arrangements are connected with animal 
 or human happiness, the probability is 
 that he who has been so kindly attentive 
 to my body has not neglected the soul — 
 that he who has given light for the eye 
 has given truth for the understanding ; 
 and when I perceive that the scriptures 
 contain principles as suited to the com- 
 fort of my mind, as food is suited to the 
 sustenance of my body, the probability 
 is that these truths are from God, be- 
 cause I feel that there is as pleasing an 
 adaptation between these truths and my 
 state and condition of mind as between 
 food and hunger, light and the power of 
 vision. 
 
 But to me the magnitude of his works 
 suggests some probabilities in favour of 
 revelation as well as the minuteness of 
 them. We can only know the divine 
 Being by his conduct. I can conceive 
 of his power only by what he has done ; 
 and when I perceive the greatness of that 
 
82 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 power by the number and magnitude of 
 his works, the probability is, that He who 
 has seen fit to display his power in creat- 
 ing such boundless works, and such as- 
 tonishing wisdom in the management of 
 them, would for the same reasons mag- 
 nify his condescension, goodness and 
 mercy, by some method corresponding 
 with that by which he has displayed his 
 wisdom and power ; and where is this so 
 fully to be seen as in those scriptures 
 which say, " God so loved the world 
 that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in him should not 
 perish but have everlasting life ?" Now 
 my dear captain, I will go with you as 
 far as my mind can reach in contemplat- 
 ing the magnitude of creation, because 
 I have before me an event which fills 
 me with as much astonishment at his 
 loving kindness and tender mercy, as all 
 his works fill me with astonishment at 
 his power. Philosophy presents a mag- 
 nificent display of the greatness of God, 
 but the scriptures give us also a grand 
 display of his goodness. In this view 
 therefore probability is in favour of re- 
 velation. 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 83 
 
 There is another view in which the 
 magnitude of creation suggests some 
 probabilities in favour of Christianity. 
 In proportion as we think of the extent 
 of the works of the divine Being, so we 
 view the greatness of their author, and 
 in proportion to the greatness of the 
 Being offended is the enormity of the 
 offence. You believe in the existence 
 of moral evil, and does not your reason 
 suggest that to offend such an Almighty 
 being places 'you in most fearful circum- 
 stances ; for what might be expected of 
 such a Being but that he would vindi- 
 cate his injured justice, and if you con- 
 template the greatness of his power in 
 the magnitude of his works are not these 
 calculated to fill the mind with terror 
 for fear of his judgments ? Your objec- 
 tion against the truth of the scriptures, 
 arising from the greatness of God, might 
 in different circumstances of the mind be 
 turned against yourself as a two-edged 
 sword ; for were it deeply impressed 
 with the magnitude of sin and terrified 
 with fearful apprehensions of divine dis- 
 pleasure when under some heavy afflic- 
 tion, and in the prospect of death, your 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 train of probability would suggest that 
 he is too great a Being to listen to your 
 prayers or notice the sufferings of such 
 an insignificant creature as man, and 
 thus without a revelation you might be 
 left in perplexity and shut up in despair. 
 In your estimate of the magnitude of 
 creation, you seem to lose sight of the 
 superior excellence of intelligence to 
 that of matter. The sun and the whole 
 system of worlds around it have no con- 
 sciousness of their own existence, they 
 know not the Being that formed them, 
 nor for what end they were created. 
 The inhabitants therefore of this earth, 
 considered as intelligent creatures, are 
 of more importance in the scale of being 
 than all the innumerable worlds of mat- 
 ter God has made. Nothing about which 
 we are conversant has its ultimate end in 
 itself, every thing terminates in some- 
 thing beyond it; yet every thing in 
 nature and every operation of matter, 
 appears either directly or remotely to 
 centre in the good of man. Is it proba- 
 ble then that infinite wisdom has left 
 man in this world of uncertainty with- 
 out a guide, that he has left him without 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 85 
 
 the means of obtaining any tolerable 
 certainty about a future state and the 
 favour and pardon of his Creator ? When 
 we observe an extensive range of scaf- 
 folding, is it in the order of probability 
 that he who has erected it means to 
 neglect the building? or when we see a 
 person has erected a large mansion that 
 he means to neglect his family ? or would 
 not such a fact lead us to suppose that 
 he had done every thing necessary to 
 shew his concern for their present and 
 future happiness ? Is not probability there- 
 fore arising from the works of God, in 
 favour of the scriptures being a revela- 
 tion from him, since they assure us of 
 the reality of a future state, and inform 
 us how we may escape his anger and 
 participate his favour. But before I quit 
 this objection it is necessary I should ob- 
 serve that though this train of reasoning 
 is in favour of revelation, yet the scrip- 
 tures do not rest their claim to a divine 
 origin upon probability. Your objec- 
 tion opposes probability to fact, and we 
 who defend revelation oppose facts to 
 your probabilities ; and I hope you will 
 give the great facts on which the magni- 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 ficent and beautiful fabric of Christianity 
 is built, all that serious consideration 
 which the importance of the subject de- 
 mands. Well, said the captain, your 
 reasoning puts the subject in a more 
 favourable light; but how do you ac- 
 count for it then that the principles of 
 the scriptures have done so little good 
 in the world and have been the cause 
 of so much superstition, tyranny and 
 bloodshed ? 
 
 You appear, said the minister, to take 
 these things for granted as though they 
 were self-evident positions, but I must 
 beg leave to deny the statement. Chris- 
 tianity has done vast good in the world, 
 and has not, properly considered, been 
 the cause of superstition, tyranny, or 
 cruelty. It is certainly much to be la- 
 mented that men for ambitious purposes, 
 under a mask of religion, have invented 
 superstitious observances to divert the 
 attention of men from their just rights, 
 and have persecuted myriads with un- 
 relenting severity for daring to think for 
 themselves ; but I think you will admit 
 that this was done from political mo- 
 tives; and nothing can be a stronger 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 87 
 
 proof that these things cannot be fairly 
 attributed to the principles of Christi- 
 anity than the Catholics having prohi- 
 bited the people from reading the scrip- 
 tures. Who does not perceive that had 
 Christianity justified their conduct they 
 would most readily have circulated the 
 sacred book in defence of themselves? 
 To the New Testament, to the conduct 
 of Christ and his apostles, and of the 
 primitive Christians we appeal for proof 
 of the mild and holy nature of Christi- 
 anity, and boldly challenge the world to 
 an impartial investigation whether the 
 vile practices of the European, falsely 
 called Christian states, can be fairly at- 
 tributed to the principles or examples 
 recorded in the New Testament. Can 
 any thing be more opposite to their 
 conduct than the language of Christ? 
 " My kingdom is not of this world, else 
 would my servants fight. He that taketh 
 the sword shall perish by the sword. 
 Bless them that curse you, do good to 
 them that despitefully use you and per- 
 secute you, bless and curse not. I say 
 unto you, love your enemies. If you 
 forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 will your heavenly Father forgive you." 
 It is evident to every one that since the 
 scriptures have been more freely circu- 
 lated and more generally read, the state 
 of society in Europe and the world is 
 gradually increasing in amelioration. 
 The captain said, smiling, you certainly 
 have a happy knack of getting rid of a 
 difficulty. When I object to the mys- 
 tery of your principles you refer to your 
 practice ; and when I refer to the bad 
 practice of the votaries of Christianity, 
 you refer to your principles. Notwith- 
 standing your pleasantry, my good cap- 
 tain, said his friend, I am persuaded 
 however indignant you feel, and not 
 more so than I do at the conduct of 
 those who have disgraced the Christian 
 name by their unjust and cruel conduct, 
 you do not believe it is fairly to be at- 
 tributed to the principles of Christianity. 
 This however is only the negative part 
 of the subject, but there are, I think, 
 strong positive evidences that the gos- 
 pel has proved an extensive blessing to 
 the world. In order to see this truth in 
 a strong light, we should contemplate 
 the ancient state of the world where re- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 89 
 
 velation had not reached. We should 
 consider the inefficiency of all the events 
 of Providence — the various and chang- 
 ing systems of philosophy — the numer- 
 ous codes of civil and criminal laws, and 
 the almost infinite modes and principles of 
 religion, to effect any material ameliora- 
 tion of the state of man. We should also 
 compare those parts of the world now 
 where Christianity has not been received, 
 with those where it has been suffered to 
 have its unrestrained and native influence. 
 Would our time admit, I hope I could 
 prove to you from the various evidences 
 of historic facts that Christianity has been 
 the cause of abolishing the practice of 
 human sacrifices. There can be no rea- 
 sonable doubt but that numbers of human 
 beings were sacrificed every year, both 
 in Britain and in various parts of the 
 continent of Europe, as the effect of 
 their false religion ; but Christianity has 
 long since trodden down their cruel 
 altars and thrown away their bloody 
 knife. It has restored women to their 
 proper station in society, and has thus 
 tended to render one half of the inha- 
 bitants happy, and by them to soften 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the manners and promote the hap- 
 piness of the other half. The sacred 
 institution of marriage has been sanc- 
 tioned and guarded by the christian 
 principles; divorce rendered difficult and 
 unattainable but for the high crime of 
 adultery : females and children are thus 
 protected, and the great and depopulat- 
 ing vices kept in check by the laws 
 and manners diffused from the christian 
 code. 
 
 Slavery, that awful proof that man is 
 a tyrant to man, that bane of human 
 happiness, that disgrace to civilized na- 
 tions, owes its abolition in Europe to 
 the mild and equitable laws of Christi- 
 anity. Even in the best days of Rome, 
 according to Gibbon, two thirds of the 
 population of the whole empire were 
 slaves to the other third. The cruel 
 manner in which they were treated is 
 written in lines of blood on the historic 
 page of almost every province. England 
 and every nation of the continent had 
 its market for slaves as well as for cattle 
 till the gospel diffused milder principles 
 into our laws and usages. It is to the 
 influence of Christianity that we owe the 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 91 
 
 advanced state of civilization in Europe 
 beyond the other part of the world, and 
 where it has had the most extensive and 
 unrestrained operation, there is the most 
 improved and happy state of society. 
 These, my dear sir, are known and pub- 
 lic facts, which you can account for 
 upon no other principles than those en- 
 forced from the christian code. Besides 
 the happiness which the gospel has af- 
 forded to myriads of families and to 
 millions of individuals, is such as no 
 other religion ever has afforded or can 
 afford. 
 
 I begin to infer from your silence, said 
 the minister, either that you grow tired 
 of the conversation or that you feel your 
 objections giving way. I will relieve 
 you from that suspicion, said the cap- 
 tain, for I assure you I never was more 
 interested in a conversation in my life, 
 and if our friends do not come to inter- 
 rupt us, I shall be happy after what you 
 have said in reply to my objections to 
 know how you prove that the scriptures 
 are a revelation from God; but before 
 you do that, there is one thing more I 
 should like to have your remarks 0*1, 
 
92 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 which has often occurred to me as being 
 very unaccountable ; if Christianity con- 
 tains a divine revelation how is it that 
 there is such a diversity of opinions 
 among those who believe it to be the 
 word of God ? there are as many oppo- 
 site sentiments as there are pages, and 
 almost as many sects as sentiments, and 
 how then am I to know what is right ? 
 
 Here, my dear sir, I would as before 
 apply what is called the argumentum ad 
 hominem, the objection will more fully 
 apply to your system as a Deist than to 
 mine ; you believe in natural religion 
 as it is called, but I question if you could 
 find a number sufficient to make a good 
 congregation of your own sentiments 
 among all the Deists living ; nay, I ques- 
 tion if you do not differ among your- 
 selves as much as we do from each 
 other; for though you may have a few 
 sentiments that are fixed, the far greater 
 part are as floating and mutable as the 
 clouds. Among all the Deists that have 
 ever written, there are not two that have 
 agreed upon even the outlines of the 
 system of natural religion. But I ima- 
 gine the real differences among chris- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 93 
 
 tians are fewer than you suppose. Some 
 of the opinions in which they differ are 
 about such comparative trifles that they 
 bear no proportion to the sentiments in 
 which they agree. Revelation though 
 it exhibits great and sublime truths, 
 does not afford supernatural powers of 
 intellect to preserve all who receive it 
 from the possibility of any error, but it 
 proposes them to the minds of men in the 
 state in which it finds them ; and when it 
 is considered what a diversity of degrees 
 there are in the strength of human rea- 
 son, what an undetected influence the 
 dispositions of the heart have over the 
 decisions of the understanding, and how 
 deep and extensive are the prejudices of 
 education, it is not a matter of surprise 
 that there should be differences of opi- 
 nion on subjects so various and numer- 
 ous as those contained in revelation. 
 Besides it should be remembered that 
 many who profess to believe Christianity 
 are not under the influence of its doc- 
 trines, and no wonder that their pride, 
 evil passions, and worldly spirit, should 
 induce such persons to explain them 
 away. You ask how shall I know among 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 such a diversity of sentiments what is 
 right ? I reply, the scriptures do not lay 
 you under obligation to be guided abso- 
 lutely by the opinions of any: you are 
 to exercise your own faculties and form 
 your own opinion from the scriptures 
 themselves, and they assure you the meek 
 or the humble will He teach in judg- 
 ment, and the meek will He guide in the 
 way. Learn of me, said Christ, for I am 
 meek and lowly, and you shall find rest 
 to your souls. If the heart be truly un- 
 der the influence of the great truths of 
 the gospel, the judgment will not be es- 
 sentially and finally wrong. I believe 
 that no one ever examined the scriptures 
 with a sincere desire to know the will of 
 God, with humility of spirit, willing to 
 receive whatever God has revealed, and 
 with perseverance in prayer to God to be 
 guided right, that has been finally wrong. 
 The scriptures say every thing calculated 
 to humble pride, but every thing suited to 
 encourage humility. Where men agree 
 about the spirit and temper of the gos- 
 pel, and feel its influence, they readily 
 agree to differ on subjects of minor im- 
 portance. 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 95 
 
 As we cannot expect our friends to 
 give us much more leisure I can but state 
 the leading particulars of the evidences 
 of revelation. The method I have pro^ 
 posed to myself in a recent course of 
 reading has been to consider, first, whe- 
 ther deism is sufficient to answer the 
 great purposes of religion. It is in- 
 effectual to bring the mind, the con- 
 science, and the heart, to a state of 
 rest and satisfaction. It is deficient in 
 strong and clear motives to produce a 
 holy life, and appears obviously unequal 
 to effect any extensive moral change in 
 the state of man. The principles, eon- 
 duct, and dying experience of the promi- 
 nent deists are, for the most part, un- 
 lovely and repulsive. They treat the 
 divine Being and all serious subjects with 
 an irreverence and levity highly unbe- 
 coming their importance ; and the man- 
 ner of their death has generally been such 
 as will bear no comparison with the death 
 of a vast cloud of Christian witnesses for 
 unfeigned resignation, manly fortitude, a 
 cheerful willingness to die, and a confi- 
 dent expectation of future felicity. Ice- 
 land's View of the Deistical Writers, and 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Halyburtons Inefficacy of Natural Reli- 
 gion, elucidate and confirm these and 
 various other considerations. 
 
 The next subject of investigation is the 
 necessity of a revelation from God. This 
 and the inefficacy of deism, it is admitted, 
 are only preliminaries to the subject of 
 enquiry, but they help the mind and pre- 
 dispose it to a more impartial investiga- 
 tion of the evidences. 
 
 The history of the heathen world suf- 
 ficiently proves the absolute necessity of 
 a revelation from God to make known 
 the attributes and will of the Deity, and 
 to teach the reality, and explain the na- 
 ture of the divine Government. Pagans 
 had no just views of Providence, and many 
 of the deists deny it ; the scriptures alone 
 give us a correct and consoling view of it. 
 Revelation is necessary to assure us of the 
 reality of a future state, and of the resur- 
 rection of the body. It is necessary to ex- 
 plain whether future existence will be a 
 state of blessedness or a state of punish- 
 ment ; if to some a state of blessedness, and 
 to others a state of suffering, then what con- 
 stitutes and causes the difference, or how 
 may men escape misery and enjoy hap- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 97 
 
 piness. It is necessary to teach us whe- 
 ther God will hear prayer, on what prin- 
 ciples, and to what effect* It is neces- 
 sary to give us a decisive standard of 
 right and wrong, to describe our duty to 
 God, to ourselves, to our relatives, and 
 to our neighbours. It is necessary to 
 satisfy the guilty and anxious mind whe- 
 ther God will pardon sins, what kind, 
 how many, and by what evidences we 
 may know he has pardoned our's. These 
 are inquiries essential to the happiness of 
 man, especially to the inquisitive mind, 
 even during health, but more peculiarly 
 so in the time of affliction, and of ap- 
 proaching dissolution. But who can get 
 even a probable solution to these in- 
 quiries without reference to the scrip- 
 tures ? The most judicious heathens saw 
 and confessed the necessity of some com- 
 munication from heaven to satisfy the 
 anxious inquiries of reflecting minds. 
 These are considerations, my dear cap- 
 tain, which should come home to every 
 man s bosom, for they may come home 
 when he may not have strength of mind 
 or body to entertain them. Dr. Leland's 
 two quarto volumes on the Advantages 
 p 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, 
 and the Rev. Edward Ryan's History of 
 the Effects of Religion on Mankind, will 
 afford you ample and instructive proofs 
 of this position. 
 
 I would also beg leave to recommend 
 the very careful perusal of Bishop Butlers 
 Analogy of Natural and Revealed Re- 
 ligion, a book to which I feel myself 
 more indebted than to any book I ever 
 read. 
 
 The direct evidences are derived from 
 the nature, the number, and the designs 
 of the facts recorded in the scriptures. If 
 the facts be true the doctrines cannot be 
 false ; for the principal doctrines rest on 
 the principal facts, since they were such 
 as none but Omnipotence could have 
 effected, and they were performed for 
 the purpose of confirming the doctrines 
 taught by Moses and the prophets* of the 
 Old Testament, and Christ and his apos- 
 tles of the New. The scripture history 
 is sufficiently corroborated by the writ- 
 ings of the ancients, and the customs and 
 manners of the Eastern nations. The cri- 
 tical observations of the most profound 
 linguists, the disquisitions of those best 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 99 
 
 acquainted with Oriental literature, the 
 modern geographical discoveries within 
 the sphere of sacred history, together 
 with the deepest researches into chro- 
 nology, and the most accurate astrono- 
 mical calculations, all unite to prove the 
 authenticity of the scripture facts. I con- 
 fess, said the captain, that since my re- 
 turn from India, on hearing my niece 
 refer to some parts of the Bible, I have 
 been forcibly struck with several things 
 which prove that the scriptures are an 
 Eastern book; among other things the 
 language of one of the Psalms, where 
 David says "Thou anointest my head with 
 oil, my cup runneth over," most likely 
 alludes to a custom which has continued to 
 this day. I once had this ceremony per- 
 formed on myself in the house of a great 
 and rich Indian in the presence of a large 
 company. The gentleman of the house 
 poured upon my hands and arms a de- 
 lightfully odoriferous perfume, put a gol- 
 den cup into my hand, and poured wine 
 into it till it ran over, assuring me at the 
 same time that it was a great pleasure to 
 him to receive me, and that I should find 
 a rich supply in his house. I think the 
 
 F 2 
 
100 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 poet expressed his sense of the divine 
 goodness by allusion to this custom. I 
 thank you, said his friend, for this beau- 
 tiful illustration of that fine passage in 
 the twenty-third psalm : I hope you will 
 pursue these observations. I doubt not 
 but various other allusions to Eastern 
 manners will occur to you by a careful 
 reading of the scriptures. — But to return 
 to the matters of fact as evidences of the 
 truth of revelation. 
 
 The rules laid down by Leslie, in his 
 short method with the deists and the 
 , Jews, are so plain and forcible that they 
 should never be forgotten. His object is 
 to give such rules as to the truth of mat- 
 ters of fact in general, that where they 
 all meet such matters of fact cannot be 
 false ; then to show that these rules do 
 meet in the matters of fact of Moses and 
 of Christ, and that they do not meet in 
 the matters of fact of Mahomet, of the 
 heathen deities, nor can possibly meet in 
 any imposture whatsoever. His first rule 
 is, that the matter of fact be such as that 
 men's outward senses, their eyes and ears, 
 may be judges of it — secondly, that it be 
 done publicly in the face of the world — 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 101 
 
 thirdly, that not only public monuments 
 be kept up in memory of it> but some 
 outward actions be performed — fourthly, 
 that such monuments and such actions 
 or observances be instituted and do com- 
 mence from the time that the matter of 
 fact was done. The two first rules make 
 it impossible for any such matter of fact 
 to be imposed upon men at the time 
 when such matters of fact were said to 
 be done, because every mans senses 
 would contradict the statement, and the 
 two last rules render it impossible that 
 the matter of fact should be invented and 
 imposed upon men ages after the fact 
 was said to be performed, because every 
 one must know that no such public monu- 
 ments had been seen, nor any observances 
 kept in memory of such events. His rules 
 are so admirably applied to the principal 
 facts of the Old and New Testament 
 that I entreat you carefully to peruse that 
 small but incomparable treatise. 
 
 The departure of the Israelites from 
 Egypt, the destroying of the first-born of 
 all the Egyptians, in memory of which 
 the passover was kept, and by the Jews 
 still continues to be kept — the dispersion 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of the Jews, and yet their continuing for 
 so many ages a distinct people — the 
 agreement of prophecies and historic 
 events respecting the cities of Babylon, 
 Nineveh, Tyre, and Jerusalem — the re- 
 surrection of Christ — the conversion of 
 St. Paul — the gift of tongues — the insti- 
 tutions of baptism and the Lord's Supper 
 — the martyrdom of the apostles — and 
 the irresistible success of the gospel in 
 opposition to the reasonings of the Gre- 
 cian philosophers, the malignant designs 
 of the Jews, and the systematic and per- 
 severing efforts of the Roman govern- 
 ment ; are such memorable and unparal- 
 leled facts and circumstances that it ap- 
 pears almost impossible for any man se- 
 riously to consider them in connection 
 with the truths they are designed to 
 establish, without feeling an awe upon 
 his spirit, and a secret conviction in his 
 mind that the scriptures are the word of 
 God. The dispersion of the Jews, and 
 their continuing for so many ages a dis- 
 tinct people, is certainly a very remark- 
 able fact, said the captain; but there is 
 another people as distinct as the Jews, 
 who have frequently excited my atten- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 103 
 
 tion ; they are the Ishmaelites ; nothing 
 can be a more accurate description of 
 them than is given : — " their hand shall 
 be against every man, and every man's 
 hand against them." I have often had 
 them in my service, and seen them in 
 various situations, but no change of place, 
 connection, or circumstances, in the least 
 alters their character, their hand is against 
 every man, and consequently every man's 
 hand is against them. This, said the 
 minister, is an ocular demonstration of 
 nearly three thousand years continuance 
 of the truth of scripture prophecies, and 
 I doubt not but if you were to go further 
 into the subject you would see increasing 
 reason to believe and wonder. If in ad- 
 dition to the books before mentioned you 
 were to read Newton on the Prophecies, 
 Campbell on Miracles, Lardner on the 
 Credibility of the Gospel History, West 
 on the Resurrection of Christ, Littleton 
 on the Conversion of St. Paul, and Paley's 
 Horae Paulinse, proving the genuineness 
 and authenticity of Paul's epistles ; it ap- 
 pears to me that your mind would receive 
 such a refulgency of evidence that you 
 would as readily admit the divine authen- 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 ticity of the scripture as you do that light 
 is the medium of vision, or that life is the 
 cause of sensibility.* 
 
 Our friends, I perceive, are coming, so 
 that we have no time to enter on the 
 consideration of the character and agree- 
 ment of the writers of the Bible, the 
 spirit of the New Testament, or the 
 design of the scriptures, m as tending to 
 prove them of divine origin; but be- 
 fore they reach us I must beg leave to 
 remind you, my dear sir, that of all the 
 subjects that can possibly engage our at- 
 tention this is the most important. If 
 you are right according to your senti- 
 ments, I cannot be, as to my final state, 
 materially wrong ; but if my sentiments 
 
 * Since the year 1793, from the increase of infi- 
 delity in this country, owing to the spread of the 
 French philosophy, and the circulation of Paine's 
 Age of Reason, there have been a number of books 
 written worthy the perusal of persons who have any 
 doubts on this subject. Such as bishop Watson's 
 Apology for Christianity in answer to Gibbon ; Wat- 
 son's Apology for the Bible in anwer to Paine ; the 
 Age of Infidelity by Mr. Williams 5 Fuller's Gospel 
 its own Witness ; that incomparable work Gregory's 
 Letters ; and Bogue^ on the Divine Authenticity of 
 the New Testament. 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 105 
 
 be right yours are essentially wrong ; and 
 pardon me, for I have no right to be 
 your judge any more than you have to 
 be mine, but my system necessarily leads 
 to this conclusion — If you reject the re- 
 medy God has provided, remember there 
 is no other, and you may be finally 
 wrong and finally miserable. I have tried 
 the pleasures of this world in search of 
 happiness, and find them vanity and vex- 
 ation of spirit, and I have tried the ways 
 of religion which are scriptural, and find 
 them to be ways of pleasantness and 
 paths of peace. I have also seen these 
 principles put to their test by persons in 
 the last hours of life ; when they have felt 
 an effable serenity of mind, a cheerful 
 devotion of spirit, and an unshaken con- 
 fidence of a glorious immortality: be not 
 surprised therefore, my dear captain, that 
 I feel a sincere and friendly concern that 
 you may believe unto eternal life, expe- 
 rience the happiness which I believe no- 
 thing beside can afford, and devote your 
 life to glorify Him who has so wonder- 
 fully preserved and prospered you. 
 
 Captain Sims and his friends now 
 entering the lawn, he said to captain 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Wilson, " Has he convinced you, cap- 
 tain ?" " I will not say much about that/' 
 replied Wilson, " but he has said some 
 things I shall never forget." The sub- 
 ject now dropped, and the evening was 
 spent in cheerful conversation, princi- 
 pally on religious subjects. 
 
 The next morning captain Wilson 
 waited on his friend captain Sims, and 
 informed him that he had not read the 
 book written by major Burn, but re- 
 quested the loan of it again, assuring 
 him that he would give it a serious pe- 
 rusal. He immediately returned and 
 read it with the avidity with which an 
 hungry man receives food. Every page 
 strengthened the convictions and deepen- 
 ed the impressions made the preceding 
 evening. He ever after spoke of that 
 book as a principal means in the hands 
 of the Spirit of confirming his mind in 
 the belief of the divine origin of Christi- 
 anity. As soon as he had finished read- 
 ing " The Christian Officers Panoply," 
 which he did in a few hours, he began to 
 read the scriptures, but this he did theo- 
 retically only, imagining that he might 
 believe in Christianity, and yet be a man 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 107 
 
 of pleasure, as he was acquainted with 
 many who professed to believe in reve- 
 lation, and yet were men of the world as 
 much as he thought prudence would jus- 
 tify in himself. 
 
 The captain continued for some days 
 reading the scriptures, and occasionally 
 conversing with his niece and the captain 
 of marines, but with frequent flights of 
 levity, intended as a shield from the sus- 
 picions of his being a convert to Christi- 
 anity. Under the pretext of obliging 
 Miss Wilson he proffered to drive her 
 down to her place of worship on the sab- 
 bath, she having been previously united 
 to a respectable Baptist church at Port- 
 sea, but with a secret resolution of hear- 
 ing the young minister with whom he 
 had passed the pleasant hours in conver- 
 sation. The minister was then a proba- 
 tioner for the pastoral office overthe con- 
 gregation assembling in Orange Street 
 chapel, and that the people might judge 
 of his talents, of his sentiments on the 
 doctrines of the gospel, and his views of 
 christian experience, he had chosen to 
 preach from the eighth chapter of the 
 Romans every sabbath day morning till he 
 
108 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 had explained the whole. The congre-r 
 gation was Calvinistic, and the minister 
 thought it right to give a full exhibition 
 of his sentiments that they might not 
 proceed to the election unacquainted with 
 his views on this difficult subject. On 
 the day the captain first entered the place 
 the text in course for the sermon that 
 morning was " And whom he did fore- 
 know, them he also did predestinate to 
 be conformed to the image of his Son." 
 The foreknowledge of God had been the 
 subject of a previous discourse, predesti- 
 nation therefore was the subject for that 
 morning. The minister was in a high 
 degree of perturbation when he saw the 
 captain enter the place of worship, think- 
 ing it was unfortunate that such a doc- 
 trine should be the first he should hear, as 
 he feared it might be misunderstood, and 
 thus rivet his prejudices against the truth 
 of Christianity. He felt a wish if it had 
 been any way possible to change the sub- 
 ject for some one (in his views) more likely 
 to interest the captain's mind and im- 
 press his conscience ; but this could not 
 be done. He knew the people were come 
 in expectation of this subject. Some 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 109 
 
 feared the young minister might darken 
 counsel by words without knowledge; 
 others feared the doctrine might be so re- 
 presented as to make God the minister of 
 /sin, and to extenuate the guilt of human 
 transgression ; while others were con- 
 cerned lest it should be explained away, 
 and the Divine will be made to rest on 
 the volition of fallen creatures constantly 
 changing but always wrong ; and instead 
 of his purposes directing and controling 
 all events, they should be represented as 
 always floating upon human contingen- 
 cies. Though the minister was agitated 
 with fears during the singing of the 
 hymns, his mind reflected on itself, Do 
 you believe the doctrine you are about to 
 explain and prove ? Do you not believe 
 that the Spirit of God knew the subject, 
 and who were to hear it ? If it be truth 
 can he not make this truth as well as any 
 other the means of that man's conversion 
 to God ? This reasoning calmed his ap- 
 prehensions, and after some fervent eja- 
 culations to the Spirit of truth he felt as 
 though the voice of God addressed him, 
 saying, " Arise, and preach the preaching 
 that I bid thee." 
 
110 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 The captain, as he often declared after- 
 wards, was highly delighted with what 
 he considered the simplicity of the wor- 
 ship, and the deep interest the congre- 
 gation appeared to take in it. 
 
 The introduction to the sermon was 
 formed with a design to produce seri- 
 ousness of mind in the discussion of a 
 subject which is of a serious and awful 
 kind, and which it is confessed has diffi- 
 culties in whatever view it is taken ; in 
 the second place, to excite candour to- 
 wards those who could not see the sub- 
 ject in the same light in which it ap- 
 peared to the preacher, (for the belief of 
 the doctrine neither constitutes a real 
 christian nor proves that he is one :) and 
 also to call for candour from those who 
 differ from the predestinarians ; (for how- 
 ever luminous the evidence of its being 
 a scripture truth may appear to them, 
 and however important and useful they 
 judge the belief of it to be, it is not con- 
 sidered by them in general as essential 
 to salvation that persons should believe 
 it in the sense they consider and repre- 
 sent it ;) and lastly it was intended to 
 excite prayer in the minds of the hearers, 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. Ill 
 
 that what was error might be perceived 
 and rejected, and what was truth might 
 be cordially received and humbly sub- 
 mitted to, whatever difficulties might 
 attend it. The introduction disarmed 
 the captain's prejudice and fixed his 
 attention. 
 
 The divisions of the sermon shewed 
 that it was the design of the minister, 
 firstly, to make some observations expla- 
 natory of the doctrine of predestination 
 — secondly, to advance some arguments 
 to confirm it — thirdly, to shew the uses 
 that should be made of it — and lastly, 
 to guard both those that receive and 
 those that reject the doctrine from abus- 
 ing it. 
 
 The outlines and general principles of 
 this sermon are stated here for the pur- 
 pose of shewing in what light this doc- 
 trine was first presented to the captain, 
 seeing it was often mentioned by him to 
 his relatives, his christian friends, and to 
 the missionaries, that it was the preach- 
 ing of the doctrine of predestination that 
 was the means of his conversion to God. 
 As the doctrine had been useful in the 
 hand of the Spirit to rouse his soul to a 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 sense of his danger, and to constrain 
 him to seek in earnest for divine mercy 
 and gracious influence, it was natural 
 for him to think that occasionally and 
 scripturally to preach it, is calculated to 
 awaken others. He used to reason thus; 
 if it be a truth it must have been re- 
 vealed ; if revealed it is fit men should 
 believe it ; if they must believe it the 
 doctrine should be preached. Besides, 
 certain minds require, he used to re- 
 mark, strong and powerful sentiments 
 to rouse their attention and awaken their 
 conscience. If men are taught that they 
 are in danger of being lost, but that the 
 remedy is in themselves, the represen- 
 tation is awfully deceptive — for the first 
 part of the sentence is much weaker 
 than the scriptures represent the sub- 
 ject, and the other part is altogether 
 untrue. The man who believes such a 
 representation is in danger of procrasti- 
 nating that to some future time, which 
 should employ all the powers of his soul 
 immediately. But if he believes — that 
 he is now lost, for " Christ came to seek 
 and to save that which is lost," — that 
 " he who has offended in one part is 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 113 
 
 guilty of all," — that " he who believeth 
 not is condemned already, the wrath 
 of God abideth on him" — and that in 
 consequence of man's moral depravity, 
 " no man can come to Christ except 
 the Father draw him ;" or in other 
 words, if the man believes that he is 
 ruined, and that it depends solely on 
 the grace and mercy of God whether he 
 shall be saved, he is most likely to be 
 alarmed and at once to fly to the refuge 
 set before him in the gospel. 
 
 In the explanatory observations it was 
 stated, 1. By predestination is intended, 
 that wise, holy, good, and sovereign ar- 
 ragement which God purposed in him- 
 self, and in which he predetermined 
 whatsoever should come to pass ; but 
 more especially it is the gracious deter- 
 mination of his will, to save those whom 
 he foreknew or approved by delivering 
 them from the condemnation of his law 
 through the justifying righteousness of 
 his Son; and by the influence of his 
 grace subduing and finally eradicating 
 sin, and restoring the lost image of God 
 in their souls. 
 
 2. Predestination does not suppose a 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 number of abstract decrees, but a con- 
 nected and harmonious arrangement of 
 purposes. It does not decree effects 
 without causes, ends without means, 
 volitions without motives ; so that no 
 one would be justified in reasoning, as 
 some thoughtless and ignorant persons 
 say the doctrine would justify us in 
 doing — " If God has predestinated us 
 to be saved we shall be so, whatever we 
 believe and however we act." Nothing 
 can be more absurd or inconsistent with 
 this doctrine than such reasoning, be- 
 cause the apostle declares, u Whom he 
 did foreknow, them he also did predes- 
 tinate to be conformed to the image of 
 his Son ;" none can be saved therefore, 
 who is not conformed to the image 'of 
 Christ, and he was " meek and lowly of 
 heart, holy, harmless, and separate from 
 sinners." He who has decreed the sal- 
 vation of a soul, has predetermined that 
 it shall believe, repent, be holy, and 
 finally be made perfect in love ; he has 
 appointed the reading of the scriptures, 
 the keeping the Sabbath, the hearing of 
 his word, and prayer, as means by which 
 these ends are to be effected, and he has 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 115 
 
 also promised the influence of his Spirit, 
 as the great cause by which all is to be 
 finally accomplished. 
 
 3. Predestination does not even inter- 
 fere with, much less destroy, the free 
 exercise of the human will. Men sin 
 voluntarily, and all acceptable religious 
 services must be the free exercise of the 
 will. Though grace influences the will, 
 it does not force but inclines it by the 
 motives of the gospel, meeting and 
 agreeing with the renewed dispositions 
 of the heart, and hence the motives be- 
 come operative on a pious or renewed 
 soul, which have no influence on a 
 wicked or unregenerated one. 
 
 It is said when Satan came to Christ 
 he found nothing in him. The motives 
 Satan had to present to him, met with 
 nothing corresponding with them in his 
 holy mind, and hence the motives pro- 
 duced no effect; so on the contrary, 
 when motives to holiness and the ser- 
 vice of God are presented to a bad man, 
 they find nothing in his heart corres- 
 ponding to them, and consequently they 
 have no influence. 
 
 Though a man's conversion to God> 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 therefore, be the result of predestination, 
 yet predestination has not effected the 
 freedom of his will; for he as freely 
 wills to be righteous and serve God now, 
 as he before freely willed to be wicked 
 and disobey him. Besides no one is in- 
 fluenced by the decreet of predestina- 
 tion as motives of hif conduct, seeing 
 no one can be acquainted with them as 
 they are the secrets of the divine will. 
 
 4. Predestination affords no ground 
 for presumption or for putting things 
 out of that order which infinite wisdom 
 has assigned. The revealed will of God 
 is the rule of faith and conduct and not 
 his secret will. The doctrine no more 
 justifies a person in attempting to break 
 the constituted order of things in moral 
 and religious subjects than in natural 
 ones. He who has rendered air essen- 
 tially necessary to respiration, and food 
 for human sustenance, and both essen- 
 tial to the maintenance of animal life, 
 has rendered faith, repentance, and obe- 
 dience, essential to salvation, not as con- 
 ditions in the sense some present them, 
 but as constituent parts of salvation, as 
 the others are constituent parts of hu- 
 
MIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 117 
 
 man life. It would be as much in vain 
 to expect salvation without these con- 
 stituent parts, as for men to expect the 
 continuance of life without air and food. 
 5. Predestination properly understood 
 presents no inducements to indolence on 
 the one hand or despair on the other, but 
 the contrary. Because I learn from the 
 nature of things that it is pre-ordained 
 that air should refresh me, I go into it ; 
 that water should quench my thirst, I 
 drink it ; and that fire should warm me, I 
 approach it. Because God has pre-deter- 
 mined that faith should be connected 
 with salvation I endeavour- to believe, 
 and because prayer is to be followed by 
 answers we offer them. The doctrine 
 can be no just cause even of discourage- 
 ment much less of despair, because no 
 one can understand what are the pur- 
 poses of God till events have discovered 
 them ; and the promise is absolute that 
 all who seek shall find, and all who ask 
 shall receive ; and the promise is as much 
 a part of the scheme of predestination as 
 the blessing promised, and surely the 
 blessing of the promise being absolutely 
 and immediately certain to them that be- 
 
118 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 lieve can afford no cause of dm ^ourage- 
 ment to faith. A man who knows the 
 depravity of his own heart, and the mu- 
 tability of his best resolutions, will feel 
 encouraged from considering that his 
 final salvation is dependant on God not 
 on himself. 
 
 6. The doctrine of predestination ac- 
 counts for many events which appear 
 very unaccountable without it. Some 
 persons appear to be singled out by Pro- 
 vidence by a peculiar train of occur- 
 rences, and are preserved amidst a thou- 
 sand deaths even while they are in rebel- 
 lion against the divine Being, and at 
 length they are truly converted to God. 
 Others are brought to genuine repent- 
 ance under the first sermon they hear, 
 while others continue to hear the word 
 for years with awful indifference, and to 
 no saving benefit. The ways of Provi- 
 dence are inscrutable upon any scheme 
 of doctrine, but they are more easily ac- 
 counted for on that of predestination than 
 upon any other. " Even so, Father, for 
 so it seemeth good in thy sight," is a 
 principle to which the reflecting mind 
 must revert while contemplating the 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 119 
 
 divine go^ 'iiment with reference to al- 
 most all events respecting itself or others. 
 It is by banishing contingencies or 
 chance from our system of faith, and 
 tracing every thing up to the sovereign, 
 infinitely wise, and all controling, but 
 righteous will of God, that the mind is 
 resigned to afflictive dispensations, and 
 calm amidst terrific circumstances — " It 
 is the Lord, let him do what seemeth 
 him good." — Shall not the Judge of the 
 whole earth do right? — " The Lord gave 
 and the Lord hath taken away," is lan- 
 guage that shows our reason and will are 
 prostrate before the throne of God, re- 
 solving all into the will of him who has 
 a right to say " my counsel shall stand, 
 and I will do all my pleasure." 
 
 Lastly. There is nothing in the doc- 
 trine of predestination, properly under- 
 stood that is a reflection upon the justice 
 or goodness of God — unless it could be 
 proved that the events of providence are 
 reflections upon his justice and goodness ; 
 for the occurrences of every day and of 
 every province exhibit instances, which 
 cannot be reduced to any standard that 
 such objections would erect, of the justice 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of God. It is as difficult to account for 
 the facts of the sufferings of children in 
 body, mind, and circumstances, on ac- 
 count of the conduct of their parents ; of 
 the sufferings of nations arising from the 
 cruel conduct of a few individuals ; or of 
 the wretched slavery of one great part of 
 mankind to the other ; and of innumera- 
 ble favours being conferred by Providence 
 upon some parts of the world which are 
 withheld from the other, as it is to ac- 
 count for the doctrine of predestination : 
 this shows that men have incorrect ideas 
 of the divine justice. To suppose that 
 the divine Being is bound by any princi- 
 ple of justice to exercise mercy upon a 
 race of rebels against his government is 
 to suppose an absurdity; for this would 
 resolve all his kindness to his creatures 
 into acts of justice, which necessarily de- 
 stroys the idea of mercy; and this in- 
 volves another absurdity, that to exercise 
 justice in any case would be an act of 
 injustice. To suppose that because God 
 is pleased to exercise mercy towards any 
 of the rebels in his dominions, it would 
 be injustice to the rest if he did not exer- 
 cise mercy towards them, is not only 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 121 
 
 limiting the Almighty by denying to him 
 the prerogative exercised by every su- 
 preme governor in the world, which is 
 that of displaying his sovereignty in the 
 discrimination of the objects and the ends 
 of mercy, and of suffering justice to take 
 its course as to others ; but it is to sup- 
 pose that the act of mercy towards the 
 first individual that was pardoned, ren- 
 dered it necessary, in order to preserve 
 the honour of the divine character that 
 all the rest should be pardoned; which 
 converts what was an act of mercy in the 
 first instance into an act of justice in 
 every subsequent case ; this also shows 
 that some reasoners have very mistaken 
 conceptions of the divine justice. The 
 supposition that this doctrine is a reflec- 
 tion on the justice of God probably arises 
 from two causes ; first, from the want of 
 a deep and proper sense of the evil 
 and demerit of sin; and next from the 
 unwillingness of the human heart to sub- 
 mit to the absolute and unlimited sove- 
 reignty of the divine Being; which is a 
 principle so deep in human nature as not 
 to be fully discovered, and so extensive 
 in its operations as not only to arraign 
 
 G 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the truths of revelation at its bar, but also 
 the ways of Providence, and to "judge 
 the justice of our God." 
 
 1. As an explanation of this subject 
 was principally intended by introducing 
 it here, it is unnecessary to say more by 
 way of proof, than simply to state that the 
 truth of the doctrine was argued from its 
 being reasonable that the divine Being 
 should propose to himself some ultimate 
 end of all his works, that his glory should 
 be that end, and that every thing and 
 every event should be made conducive to 
 it. An ultimate end to be accomplished 
 supposes a design, a design supposes an 
 arrangement of parts and operations, an 
 arrangement supposes a determination, 
 and the work is the result of the whole ; 
 this is what is intended by predestination. 
 This argument is not only collected from 
 the operations of the human mind in its 
 progress to the accomplishment of some 
 design, but is evident from the works of 
 creation and providence. 
 
 2. It was argued from the admission 
 of the divine prescience or foreknow- 
 ledge. To deny his foreknowledge is to 
 deny one of the perfections of his nature, 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 123 
 
 and what in the scriptures he claims as 
 his distinguishing prerogative, but as it is 
 observed by a great writer on this sub- 
 ject, " There can be no prescience of fu- 
 ture contingencies, for it involves a con- 
 tradiction to say things which are not 
 certainly to be, should be certainly fore- 
 seen. If they are certainly foreseen they 
 must certainly be, and can therefore be 
 no longer contingent. An uncertain 
 foresight is also an imperfect act as it may 
 be a mistake, and is therefore inconsist- 
 ent with divine perfection. On the other 
 side the difficulty is easily explained. 
 When God decrees that an event shall 
 take place its existence becomes thence- 
 forth certain, and as such is certainly 
 foreseen. For it is an obvious absurdity 
 to say that a thing happens freely, that 
 is to say, that it may or may not be, 
 and yet that it is certainly foreseen by 
 God. He cannot foresee things but as 
 he decrees them, and consequently gives 
 them a certainty of future existence ; and 
 therefore any prescience antecedent to 
 his decree must be rejected as impossible. 
 Conditional decrees are farther absurd 
 inasmuch as they subject the purposes of 
 g 2 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 God to the will and action of his crea- 
 tures. Infinite perfection can wish no- 
 thing but what it can execute,, and if it 
 is fit to wish, it is^ fit to execute its 
 wishes." 
 
 3. It was argued from the express lan- 
 guage of the scriptures, and from its be- 
 ing evident that the apostle Paul intended 
 to establish the doctrine, not only from 
 the arguments he used, but from his an- 
 ticipating and replying to the objections 
 usually urged against it — the apostle's 
 reasonings in the first of the Ephesians, 
 and in the eighth, ninth, and eleventh 
 chapters of the Romans, were cited in 
 confirmation of the doctrine. 
 
 The use of the doctrine teaches those 
 who believe it to admire the harmony, 
 the irresistible energy, and the immuta- 
 ble stability of the divine government. — 
 It affords encouragement for prayer by 
 accounting for its efficacy, showing that 
 the prayer, the promise, and the blessing, 
 are inseparably connected in the purpose 
 of God, and therefore constantly united 
 in the divine conduct and in our experi- 
 ence. It lays a firm basis for faith, con- 
 fidence, and hope, in whatever God has 
 
MIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 125 
 
 promised, as it teaches us that his infinite 
 wisdom, his all controling energies, and 
 his immutable fidelity are all engaged to 
 accomplish these promises. If some of 
 the promises bear a conditional aspect, 
 the condition of one promise is the bless- 
 ing absolutely engaged by another. 
 
 The doctrine presents us with many 
 powerful motives to employ every faculty 
 we possess in working out our salvation ; 
 for it is God that worketh in us both to 
 will and to do of his good pleasure, 
 and we are persuaded that he who has 
 begun the good work will perform it till 
 the day of Jesus Christ " He is of one 
 mind, and who can turn him, and what 
 his soul desireth that he doth. Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and 
 for ever." 
 
 The doctrine affords the strongest in- 
 ducements to holiness of heart and con- 
 duct, for we are predestinated to be con- 
 formed to the image of his Son — that we 
 should be holy and without blame before 
 him in love — that we should apprehend 
 that for which we are apprehended of 
 Christ Jesus — and that we should be to the 
 praise of his glory. Now if the subordi- 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON, 
 
 nate ends are not accomplished or ac- 
 complishing we have no just cause to 
 expect the ultimate end will be accom- 
 plished in us ; hence the inducements to 
 self-examination, to much and fervent 
 prayer, and to an earnest striving to en- 
 ter in at the straight gate. 
 
 Lastly, The doctrine affords various 
 reasons for submission to afflictive dis- 
 pensations and patience to wait the issue ; 
 for " the vision is for an appointed time, 
 but though it tarry it shall speak and not 
 lie." 
 
 The doctrine is indeed full of much 
 holy and practical improvement, but it is 
 acknowledged that it is abused by those 
 who reject it, by making those who 
 believe it answerable for consequences 
 which they utterly disavow, and by their 
 denial of the sovereignty of God, and 
 making events contingent which the 
 word of God assures us are certain. But 
 the most fatal abuse to many is, that pre- 
 suming on their own inherent ability, 
 independent of the special grace of God, 
 they rely upon the exertion of their abi- 
 lity at some future period, and thus from 
 season to season they continue to pro- 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 127 
 
 crastinate the work ; and in consequence 
 of depending on their own strength they 
 neglect earnestly to seek for that divine 
 influence which is promised to those who 
 ask for it till death closes the scene, and 
 places the soul on that side the gulph, 
 mentioned by our Lord, whence prayers 
 are never answered. 
 
 Those who believe the doctrine were 
 cautioned not to abuse it by viewing the 
 subject in abstract parts, and separating 
 effects from their cause — duties from 
 privileges — the end from the means — sin 
 from suffering — and holiness from hap- 
 piness, for God having united them in 
 his purposes, we must unite them in 
 practice. 
 
 They were cautioned against attempt- 
 ing to pry into secret things, and of be- 
 ing wiser than what is written, for " se 
 cret things belong to God, and revealed 
 things to us and our children." Could 
 they read the book of purposes as clearly 
 as the book of revelation, no one difficulty 
 would be removed from the mind, but it 
 must still submit to the divine sove- 
 reignty, and wait in faith for the accom- 
 plishment of his will; and lastly, those 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 who were under concern about eternal 
 realties, and were desirous of salvation, 
 were cautioned against drawing conclu- 
 sions unfavourable to themselves ; for 
 whatever their doubtful minds might 
 imagine respecting the secret purposes 
 of God, there can be nothing contrary to 
 the word of God, and its language is, 
 " all that the Father giveth me shall 
 come to me, and him that cometh I will 
 in no wise cast out." " God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only begotten Son, 
 that zvhosoever believeth on him should 
 not perish but have eternal life." 
 
 This sermon was listened to by cap- 
 tain Wilson with a fixed attention, which 
 excited the observation of those who sat 
 near him, and especially of the minister 
 in the pulpit. The sentiments produced 
 a conflict of feelings in the breast of the 
 captain, like what we may conceive to 
 have been the conflict of the primary ele- 
 ments of nature when blended in chaos, 
 each striving to obtain its situation and 
 influence in the universe. His memory, 
 reason, conscience, imagination, and pas- 
 sions, were all in agitation. His preju- 
 dices for and against the doctrine, his 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 129 
 
 hopes and fears, his love and hatred, his 
 pleasures and disgusts, raised a storm in 
 his soul resembling the concussion of the 
 elements in a hurricane ; for while his 
 heart rose in hatred against the sove- 
 reignty of God, the events of his whole 
 life appeared before him as incontro- 
 vertible evidences of its truth. 
 
 The impassioned strains in which the 
 concluding part of the sermon was ad- 
 dressed to the auditory, representing the 
 infinite compassion of the Saviour, his 
 long suffering with sinners, the various 
 and persevering methods he used to 
 bring them to repentance, and his inex- 
 pressible readiness to receive and pardon 
 all that applied to him for mercy, drew 
 tears from those eyes which had never 
 wept during the long and almost unpa- 
 ralleled sufferings he had endured under 
 Hyder Ally. These silent tears, which 
 he endeavoured to suppress, and which 
 he was afraid to wipe off, lest he should 
 excite observation, drew tears of bene- 
 volent joy from the eyes of his friend 
 that sat opposite him, who heard the ser- 
 mon more for the captain than himself, 
 and spent a great part of the time in 
 g 5 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 turning its principles into earnest sup- 
 plications for his spiritual welfare. 
 
 When the service was ended his friend 
 asked him how he approved of the ser- 
 mon; the captain gave him an evasive 
 answer and left the place, manifesting an 
 evident reluctance to enter into conver- 
 sation. When alone, he reflected with 
 himself; how could I have been such a 
 fool as to suffer my feelings to be carried 
 away as they have been this morning? 
 No theatrical representation has ever 
 produced such an effect as this sermon. 
 To what can this be attributed ; is it the 
 spontaneous and earnest mode of address 
 to which I have not been accustomed in 
 hearing sermons ? is it the coincidence of 
 the principles of the sermon with the cir- 
 cumstances of my life ? or is it the impres- 
 sion of the Deity upon my mind, of which 
 the scriptures seem to speak ? He was 
 thus alternately agitated by speculation 
 on the truths he had heard, and by the 
 feelings they had excited. At one mo- 
 ment he considered them enthusiastic 
 notions and impressions, and resolved to 
 resist them ; at another they returned 
 upon him with increased vigour, and he 
 
tils CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 131 
 
 resolved to give himself up to their influ- 
 ence, feeling as though the tide was set 
 in against him, and it were better to go 
 with it than attempt to stem its cur- 
 rent. The next reflection suggested, If 
 I give myself to this current, where will 
 it carry me ? I shall be as great an ob- 
 ject of ridicule as ever I have made 
 others ; if I begin I must go all lengths 
 with these people and their notions, 
 there will be no stopping or receding. 
 Again, replied reason and conscience, if 
 what you have heard bears the appear- 
 ance of truth, ought you not patiently to 
 investigate it ? if it should be found to be 
 truth, ought you not to submit and ac- 
 knowledge it ? May you not have been 
 wrong in your sentiments and general 
 temper of mind, and are not these senti- 
 ments and feelings the best preparative 
 for death and a future state ? A religion 
 without feeling is a religion without in- 
 terest, and if my passions are not to be 
 employed in religious services, for what 
 purpose was I made a being of passions 
 as well as of intellect ? In this state of 
 conflict he spent the interval of worship 
 with some painful remembrance of 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 former sins, and fearful apprehensions of 
 futurity. When the time returned for 
 the afternoon service he resolved to go 
 to another place of worship, where he 
 heard a sermon read on the prodigal 
 son, not twenty minutes long, to which 
 he listened with great attention, but 
 when finished, he observed to himself, 
 not a sentiment has been uttered this 
 afternoon peculiar to revelation ; any 
 man, of whatever religious opinions, 
 might have preached this sermon, for 
 it is pure Deism. The sum of it was, 
 that young people are prone to folly 
 and extravagance, that every prodigal 
 son should return to his father, and 
 every father should receive a penitent 
 son. Surely, thought the captain, it did 
 not require the Son of God to come 
 down from heaven to teach such com- 
 mon place principles as these, and though 
 these are truths, I question whether the 
 author of the parable had not some 
 higher design in uttering it than this 
 sermon imports. From this it may be 
 seen that letting down the truths of re- 
 velation to a level with the principles 
 of natural religion, by preaching mere 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 133 
 
 moral ethics, is not calculated to con- 
 vince the Deists, or reconcile them to 
 the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 When returning home with Miss Wil- 
 son in the evening, the captain related 
 the sermon he had heard in the morn- 
 ing, and the impressions it had made 
 upon his mind. He appeared very seri- 
 ous and said, " If what I have heard to- 
 day be true, I am a lost man." This 
 language drew tears of joy from his af- 
 fectionate niece, who immediately began 
 to present the bright side of Christianity 
 to his mind, assuring him that he would 
 soon find more pleasure from believing 
 it than ever he had found from the 
 world. He now became very pensive 
 and thoughtful, the Bible and the writ- 
 ings of good men were his constant 
 companions. 
 
 His friend, captain Sims, soon per- 
 ceived that he was under very deep con- 
 cern about the salvation of his soul, yet 
 he said but little to him, for the captain 
 wishing to know every thing at once, 
 like youths who enter upon the study 
 of a new science, asked such a variety 
 of diversified and unconnected questions 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF CAlPTAIN WILSON-. 
 
 that it was very difficult satisfactorily to 
 answer them. The truth of revelation 
 believed but partially, and with many 
 painful suspicions, was now but a se- 
 condary object, his great concern being 
 absorbed in the enquiry, How shall I be 
 saved? Never did a labourer wish for 
 the night of rest more than he longed 
 for the return of the sabbath. The next 
 Lord's day morning he was one of the 
 first in the place of worship. The prayer 
 astonished him; the adorations, confes- 
 sion, petitions, pleadings, and thanks- 
 giving, every part appeared to be com- 
 posed for him, and seemed to open the 
 sluices of his soul that he might pour 
 out his grief, fear, desire, and gratitude, 
 into the bosom of the Father of spirits. 
 
 The next subject in course exhibited 
 to his view a delineation of the image 
 of the Son of God, the wisdom and holi- 
 ness of God in predestinating that men 
 should be conformed to him ; the cause, 
 progress, evidences, and advantages of 
 that conformity, were explained and en- 
 forced. From this discourse he per- 
 ceived that he was far from bearing a 
 resemblance to Jesus Christ, that it is 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 135 
 
 the work of the Spirit of God to pro- 
 duce such a resemblance, that there can 
 be no scriptural assurance that we shall 
 be partakers of the inheritance of the 
 saints in light, but by our bearing this 
 resemblance, and that our happiness is 
 only in proportion to the degree of our 
 conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 This sermon deepened former impres- 
 sions. Sin appeared exceeding sinful. 
 His judgment perceived the fitness, and 
 his conscience felt the force of truth. 
 The next sabbath morning, from the 
 words " whom he did predestinate, them 
 he also called/' the minister described 
 the way in which a resemblance to 
 Christ was begun, progressively effected, 
 and finally perfected: and the sermon 
 on justification opened to his mind the 
 method of a sinner's acceptance with 
 God. He perceived that Christ is the 
 end of the law for righteousness, that 
 faith is the means by which a soul is 
 interested in his justifying righteous- 
 ness, and that the promise of the ac- 
 ceptance of a penitent sinner through 
 Christ, is the ground or warrant of faith. 
 This discourse on justification was the 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 principal means of removing, in a good 
 degree, the load of guilt which had for 
 some weeks pressed on his spirits, and 
 dispelled the gloomy apprehensions which 
 tormented his mind about a future state. 
 He now entered into the pleasures of 
 religion. Before he was driven by fear, 
 now he was drawn by love. The hor- 
 rors of the night were turned into the 
 joy of the morning. He now thought 
 he understood what it was to be trans- 
 lated from darkness into marvellous light ; 
 from the power of Satan into the king- 
 dom of God's dear Son, which is not in 
 meats or drinks, in things external, but 
 in righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. Old things were passed 
 away, and all things became new. 
 
 His countenance which before had in- 
 dicated the anxious thoughtfulness and 
 desponding apprehensions of his grief- 
 worn spirit, now brightened with cheer- 
 fulness, while a radiance of ardent love 
 and gratitude seemed to sparkle in his 
 eyes. His conversation was no longer 
 forced, broken, and distressing. He 
 spoke freely and in every company, for 
 " out of the abundance of the heart the 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 137 
 
 mouth speaketh." He wondered that 
 his friend^ the captain, was not more 
 exalted with confidence and elevated 
 with joy, and began to reprove his for- 
 mer reprover for his lukewarmness. 
 Indeed he was a considerable means of 
 fanning the embers of his piety, which 
 had lost too much of the fire of religi- 
 ous zeal and spirituality, by his living 
 among the people, and in the maxims 
 of the world, and at too great a distance 
 from the social worship and the reli- 
 gious associations of serious persons. 
 He had retired into the country, ten 
 miles from the circle of his religious 
 connexions, for the benefit of his health, 
 but there is reason to fear that what 
 he had gained for his body, he had lost 
 in the life and power of vital religion in 
 the soul. 
 
 Soon after" captain Wilson's mind was 
 relieved from distress by the knowledge 
 and application of the gospel, he called 
 upon his minister. This was the first 
 interview they had with each other after 
 the long conversation on the subject of 
 Deism. He began by telling his friend 
 that he had resolved for some weeks to 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 visit him, but at length the happy state 
 of his mind constrained him to call. He 
 then related the progress of his views 
 from the time of the first conversation, 
 and said, " I have no language to ex- 
 press the happiness I now feel ; and the 
 gratitude I owe to God, I hope, will be 
 expressed in the life I have yet to live, 
 by my zeal in the service of God, bear- 
 ing some good proportion to that I have 
 manifested in the service of Satan. But, 
 my dear sir, I shall never reward you 
 for the good I have received, were I to 
 give you all I possess in the world, it 
 would be but a poor compensation for 
 the benefit I have derived from your 
 conversation and ministry." 
 
 The pleasure felt by his friend was 
 such as none but young ministers in 
 similar circumstances are capable of un- 
 derstanding. It was a testimony to him 
 and to the church of the presence of 
 God being with their minister; and 
 among other circumstances tended to 
 produce unanimity and confidence in the 
 church and congregation in their choice 
 of him for their pastor. 
 
 The captain soon manifested to the 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 139 
 
 circle of his gay acquaintances the change 
 of his principles by a change in his ha- 
 bits. He vainly imagined that he might 
 keep their company with a view to their 
 religious improvement, without going 
 all the accustomed lengths of gaiety. 
 He consulted his minister on the pro- 
 priety of his design to maintain an in- 
 timacy with his worldly connexions, 
 with a view to their benefit. — His mi- 
 nister perceiving it was not easy to rea- 
 son him out of the belief of the proba- 
 bility of attaining his object, remarked, 
 " I strongly suspect if you do not with- 
 draw from their parties, they will with- 
 draw from you." He soon experienced 
 the truth of this observation. For a 
 time, however, he accepted their invi- 
 tations and received their visits, but 
 endeavouring to carry his purpose into 
 execution, he conversed with one on 
 the truth of the Bible, and the necessity 
 of constantly reading it; asking the in- 
 dividual some questions which tended to 
 bring its truths home to his conscience : 
 to another he spoke of the sin and folly 
 of swearing and taking the Lord's name 
 in vain; to a third, of the importance 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of the sabbath, and the necessity of keep- 
 ing it holy. To some of the loquacious 
 ladies he manifested some doubts whe- 
 ther all the anecdotes they related of 
 their neighbours were quite correct, and 
 whether they might not bear a more 
 favourable construction than they gave 
 them. To others he even ventured oc- 
 casionally to mention the subjects of 
 death, judgment, and a future state, and 
 to make allusions and applications, as 
 though he thought it their duty to think 
 on these subjects. For a few evenings 
 he retired, hoping from their silence 
 that he had made some useful impres- 
 sions, and that his object would be ob- 
 tained, but afterwards he found they had 
 rallied their forces and combined their 
 energies. One ridiculed his serious 
 countenance as though he was surely 
 very ill and was about to die; another 
 on his being mealy-mouthed, and of 
 using language only fit for the Metho- 
 dist chapel; another took the Lord's 
 name in vain and then apologized. The 
 lady he had questioned as to the cor- 
 rectness of some of her whispers against 
 those who were not of her party, had 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 141 
 
 10 doubt but the captain would soon 
 turn parson, and that she should see 
 him with a white wig on a white horse ; 
 and a witty officer kept the company 
 for an hour at a time in a roar of 
 laughter, by relating a number of amus- 
 ing anecdotes about the Puritans and 
 Methodists, and church-going set. The 
 captain found the flood of raillery, which 
 he had often poured on others now re- 
 turning on himself. He frequently tried 
 to stem the torrent by argument, at 
 other times he aimed to go with it by 
 joining in the laugh till it had spent 
 itself, but all to no effect. They were 
 resolved either to rout him out of his 
 strange notions, or to rout him from 
 their society ; but as they could not ac- 
 complish the former, their parties were 
 at length formed unknown to the cap- 
 tain, but as he heard of them through 
 the medium of his servants. He thus 
 learnt that it was not possible to serve 
 two masters — that there is no commu- 
 nion between light and darkness, and 
 that a faithful and lively christian is 
 constrained to come out from among 
 the world and to be separate. They 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 have as great a dislike to his company 
 as he has to their's. He now under- 
 stood the meaning of that scripture, 
 " Marvel not if the world hate you, ye 
 know that it hated me before it hated 
 you ; if ye were of the world, the world 
 would love his own, but because ye are 
 not of the world, but I have chosen you 
 out of the world, therefore the world 
 hateth you." 
 
 The captain being a man of leisure 
 and having no pleasure in the sports of 
 the field, his time was principally occu- 
 pied in reading. His minister was some- 
 times at his house for several days, pur- 
 suing his own studies on one part of the 
 day, and directing those of his friend on 
 the other. He read with avidity most 
 of the principal works on the evidences 
 of Christianity, until he had obtained 
 such a firm persuasion of the tmth of 
 revelation as to be able to say after- 
 wards to his friend in a letter from Rio 
 de Janeiro — " The Bible is no cun- 
 ningly devised fable; though I may have 
 my doubts at times of my personal in- 
 terest in the glorious work of redemp- 
 tion, yet not all the men in the world, 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 143 
 
 nor Satan with all his principalities and 
 powers, can, or ever will, I trust, per- 
 suade me that it is not the word of the 
 Most High ; neither could any thing so 
 completely have weaned me from the 
 things of the world as this precious vo- 
 lume has done, since I have been en- 
 abled to believe it to be the word of 
 God/' 
 
 The captain found that though one 
 class of society shunned his acquaint- 
 ance, another as eagerly sought it; for 
 in nothing do real christians more re- 
 semble the spirits in heaven, than in 
 the joy they feel when a sinner repents 
 and testifies his love to the Redeemer. 
 Many rejoiced to hear him tell what 
 God had done for his soul, and cheer- 
 fully aided his mind in its searches after 
 evangelical and experimental truth. But 
 the captain, like most young christians 
 who have had little previous acquaint- 
 ance with the religious world, fixed his 
 standard of the christian character higher 
 than facts or the scriptures will justify. 
 He had not then learnt the truth of that 
 adage of our old divines, ' The best of 
 men are but men at the best.' He ex- 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 pected to find in almost every one pro- 
 fessing to be a christian, a degree of 
 religious knowledge, of spiritual affec- 
 tions, amiableness of temper, disinter- 
 ested benevolence, and glowing zeal for 
 the honour of God, as much beyond 
 what he experienced as their standing 
 in the christian church exceeded his in 
 duration. For a christian to be sleepy 
 under a sermon, every sentence of which 
 appeared to him almost like a new reve- 
 lation from heaven, seemed totally un- 
 accountable. That such persons should 
 converse on any other subject than reli- 
 gion, except what was necessary to the 
 economy of life, was to him a fearful 
 indication that they were destitute of 
 it; or that believers who agreed as to 
 the spirit and constituent principles of 
 Christianity, should so differ about modes 
 of worship, or their sectarian interests, as 
 to produce an uncharitable or a bicker- 
 ing spirit and conversation, appeared to 
 him a religious solecism. He often 
 therefore returned from the company 
 of some religious persons disappointed 
 and grieved, scarcely able to exercise 
 that charity which hopeth all things and 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 145 
 
 believeth all things, not properly con- 
 sidering that while he was waiting for 
 their conversation, they, from what they 
 had heard of him, and from diffidence in 
 themselves, were waiting for his. Thus, 
 while he improperly attributed their si- 
 lence to want of zeal and spiritual-mind- 
 edness, they as improperly attributed 
 his silence to Indian hauteur, which 
 shews how cautious christians should 
 be in putting unfavourable constructions 
 on the conduct of each other. 
 
 For some months after the captain 
 understood the knowledge of salvation 
 through Christ, he believed what he read 
 in the word of God without hesitation. 
 Feeling that the gospel was just suited 
 to his case, and not doubting but that 
 God was sincere in his gracious invita- 
 tions, and firmly believing his faithful- 
 ness to his promises, he cordially re- 
 ceived the remedy that infinite love had 
 provided, and resting his soul on the 
 oath and promises of God, he enjoyed 
 the comforts of the gospel in a high 
 degree. He experimentally knew that 
 the kingdom of God was in righteous- 
 ness, peace, and joy. He was able to 
 
 H 
 
146 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 call God his Father, and he walked all 
 day in the light of his countenance. Old 
 things were passed away, and all things 
 were become new. Those who were 
 most intimate with him, often found it 
 a presage of heaven to be in his com- 
 pany. The " first love" of some was 
 brought to their remembrance and re- 
 kindled into a flame ; others were deeply 
 humbled and excited to close investi- 
 gation of their own state, fearing by a 
 comparison of themselves with him, that 
 they had never felt the saving power of 
 religion on their soul. 
 
 That believers of considerable stand- 
 ing in the church should question their 
 interest in the blessings of the gospel, 
 and be sometimes in darkness and de- 
 spondency, were facts to him hardly 
 credible and perfectly unaccountable. 
 Time, however, the corrector of our 
 early mistakes, taught him that he had 
 known but little of the plague of his 
 own heart, or of Satan's devices. Before 
 two years had passed, former ideas re- 
 curred without their novelty, and con- 
 sequently without the strength of first 
 impressions, while on the other hand, 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 147 
 
 old ideas returned, and old propensities 
 revived and struggled for ascendancy. 
 The mind began to reflect on itself, and 
 to trace its own operations in search of 
 evidences of his being a partaker of the 
 grace of God which bringeth salvation. 
 — Now a variety of deficiencies were 
 discovered, and the power of indwelling 
 sin was grievously felt. He began to 
 question whether his knowledge were 
 not merely scientific, the effect of hu- 
 man, instead of divine teaching ; whe- 
 ther his pleasures of religion were not 
 the excitements of mere human pas- 
 sions, instead of the exercise of gracious 
 affections ; whether his confidence in the 
 promises were not presumption, and his 
 zeal for God the mere love of novelty 
 and of self-applause. Not having yet 
 learnt, while the eye of self-examination 
 is investigating the state of the soul, to 
 keep the eye of faith steadily directed 
 to first principles — the infinite love of 
 the Father, the efficacious atonement of 
 the Saviour, and the promised agency 
 of the Holy Ghost, his soul was in- 
 volved in sore distress. While he was 
 looking into the abyss of his own heart, 
 
 H2 
 
148 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 and into " the horrible pit" into which 
 sin had plunged him, he forgot the rock 
 on which he was standing. He now 
 fell into the practice of most young 
 christians, he reasoned on his feelings 
 when he should have lived by faith ; the 
 one he might have done, but he should 
 not have left the other undone. This, 
 however, is a lesson not easily learnt, 
 and when learnt, it is not easily prac- 
 tised. 
 
 His friend in the ministry had now to 
 present another class of truths to his 
 mind, and direct to another course of 
 reading. The experimental writings of 
 Dr. Owen were especially recommended, 
 as giving a sound scriptural view of the 
 work of God in the soul — ^such as his 
 works on justification by faith — on spiri- 
 tual mindedness, on communion with 
 God — on the nature of the forgiveness 
 of sin, and the case of a soul distressed 
 with the guilt of sin, and relieved by a 
 discovery of forgiveness with God, ex- 
 plained in his Exposition of the 130th 
 Psalm — on indwelling sin — and on the 
 nature, grounds, and evidences, of the 
 faith of God's elect. 
 
/ HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 149 
 
 After a few months more, his mind 
 was recovered from its perplexities ; he 
 had clearer views of the warrant of 
 faith, and better understood the nature 
 of christian experience. Though he 
 perceived that the sanctification of the 
 Spirit, forms the evidence of our meet- 
 ness for heaven, and is as essentially neces- 
 sary to salvation, as an interest in the jus- 
 tifying righteousness of Christ, he likewise 
 saw that the atonement of the Redeemer 
 and the promises of God, constitute the 
 foundation of our hope of acceptance 
 with him. On this basis he was en- 
 abled to build the superstructure of faith, 
 hope, and practice, and when the evi- 
 dences of grace became weak and indis- 
 tinct, he had recourse to these first prin- 
 ciples to revive and strengthen them. 
 
 Early in the year 1796, he was ad- 
 mitted a member of the church of Christ 
 in Orange Street, Portsea, with great 
 pleasure to the minister and to the peo- 
 ple. His residence being ten miles from 
 the place of worship, prevented his fre- 
 quently associating with the pious, aged, 
 and established members of the church. 
 This was a considerable disadvantage to 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 him, for as u iron sharpeneth iron, so 
 doth the countenance of a man his 
 friend." Habits of activity and benevo- 
 lence are seldom formed from merely 
 reading; they generally arise from ex- 
 ample and association. It is much to 
 be lamented that many christians have 
 resided in country villages, surrounded 
 with the poor and the ignorant, perish- 
 ing for lack of knowledge, without using 
 any means to instruct and save them, 
 while those who live at a distance from 
 such scenes, frequently converse on the 
 most necessary and suitable objects of 
 benevolence, and devise the means of 
 sending the gospel into the unenlight- 
 ened villages around them. The cap- 
 tain had not been sufficiently long in 
 the church to have learnt the principles, 
 and to form the habits of an active and 
 extensive christian zeal. He had pre- 
 vious to his conversion, given proofs of 
 considerable generosity to some of his 
 relations, and which he increased after 
 he had experienced the power of divine 
 grace. But he had not been particu- 
 larly excited to the exercise of libe- 
 rality for the cause of God, till his 
 
HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY. 151 
 
 minister, preaching regularly on a sabbath 
 morning through the eleventh chapter 
 of the Hebrews, shewed that faith not 
 only induces the negative parts of a 
 christian's conduct in his abstaining from 
 that which is wrong, but that it excites 
 and impels to the active and benevolent 
 virtues of the christian life. 
 
 This course of subjects excited in the 
 captain's mind a considerable degree of 
 painful anxiety, respecting his state as 
 a christian. He now fully perceived 
 that the design of God in imparting 
 divine grace to the heart, was not only 
 to save the individual, but to make him 
 the means of saving others. " Ye are 
 the salt of the earth" and " the light of 
 the world" began to revibrate in his con- 
 science, as though spoken from heaven 
 by the lips of his Saviour. He had rea- 
 son to hope that his faith had done 
 something for him, but it now became 
 a solicitous enquiry, " what lias my 
 faith induced me to do for others ?" To 
 this train of reflections is to be attri- 
 buted the reason for his offering him- 
 self to the Missionary Society, to convey 
 their first missionaries to the islands cf 
 the Pacific Ocean. 
 
152 
 
 PART III. 
 
 From the Captain's commencing the Missionary 
 Voyage to the South Sea Islands till his return 
 and settling in London. 
 
 Whether the islands in the South Seas 
 were the most eligible situation in which 
 to commence the efforts of the Mis- 
 sionary Society is now, after almost 
 twenty years, a question of little import- 
 ance to decide, as several other mis- 
 sions have since been established with 
 various success, and time only can fully 
 determine that point ; yet it may be use- 
 ful to observe that many advantages 
 arose out of that mission. It was of great 
 importance to the missionary cause that 
 the Society should commence its opera- 
 tions by some mission that was most 
 calculated to excite the attention of the 
 religious world to this interesting sub- 
 ject, to diffuse the missonary spirit, and 
 impart its impulsive energies to the 
 christian churches abroad and at home, 
 without exciting jealousies and opposition 
 injurious to its progress. 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 153 
 
 Had the society been more slow and 
 private in its operations at its first com- 
 mencement, it is hardly probable that 
 such a missionary flame would have been 
 lighted up in the world as was seen to 
 blaze in England, and to spread to many 
 of the churches on the continents of 
 Europe and America. Their plans gave 
 publicity to the subject, and excited a 
 lively interest in their design. It was 
 a new event in the Protestant church for 
 a ship to be wholly employed to convey 
 missionaries to the most distant part of 
 the globe. By this means the public at- 
 tention and benevolence were excited in 
 a good degree corresponding with the 
 magnitude of their object. If it should 
 be admitted that the sanguine expecta- 
 tion of many attributed more importance 
 to the society's having a ship employed 
 for the purpose than properly belonged 
 to it, and that the description of the 
 South Sea islands was too highly 
 wrought, little short of the descriptions 
 of the Elysian fields, or the primeval 
 paradise; yet it must be admitted also 
 that all this increased the popularity of 
 the subject, and gave a glowing tinge to 
 
 H5 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the missionary hemisphere, which made 
 it appear highly propitious to this glori 
 ous design. 
 
 It was also a station which could give 
 no possible offence to our own, or to any 
 other government, or national church 
 upon earth. Perhaps there was no other 
 place to which the attention and ener- 
 getic operations of the Missionary So- 
 ciety could have been directed, at that 
 perturbed period of the world, without 
 exciting the jealous opposition of our 
 own, or some other government. The 
 South Sea and South African Mis- 
 sions gave time for the character of the 
 Missionary Society to be established in 
 the estimation of government, and show- 
 ing by its sermons, public meetings, and 
 conduct, that its objects were purely re- 
 ligious, to obtain its confidence, and even 
 its patronage. Such has been the cha- 
 racter of the society through the wisdom 
 and prudence of its official conductors in 
 London, that successive administrations 
 have lent an attentive ear to their various 
 representations, and have afforded them 
 their protection and countenance. The 
 influence of this society, in union with 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE, 155 
 
 other societies formed for the pur- 
 pose of accomplishing the same bene- 
 volent object j has excited such a mis- 
 sionary spirit in the nation that parlia- 
 ment has been induced to open a more 
 effectual door for the entrance of the gos- 
 pel into Indostan, and to hold a shield of 
 protection over the missionaries already 
 there. The character of the first South 
 Sea mission contributed in no small de- 
 gree to produce this effect, and captain 
 Wilson was no insignificant agent in the 
 work. I would not put the influence of 
 this event in comparison with the repute 
 the society has since obtained by Mr. 
 Morrison, one of its missionaries, being 
 the first European who has translated, 
 printed, and circulated, the whole of the 
 New Testament in the Chinese language. 
 Yet, at the commencement of the so- 
 ciety, the benevolence of an independant 
 gentleman in not only offering his ser- 
 vices to the society without reward, but 
 in spending more than five hundred 
 pounds in the mission — his skill as a 
 navigator — his prudence* in presiding 
 among the missionaries — and his success 
 in the voyage, stamped a respectability 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 on the society which proved beneficial in 
 its influence in many, both of the British p 
 and foreign churches. 
 
 Captain Wilsons friend, Dr. Haweis, 
 shall here relate, with a few alterations, 
 the manner in which he was led to en- 
 gage in that noble and benevolent 
 design. 
 
 " One day, after returning from Port sea, 
 as the captain was walking in his garden, 
 he meditated on the faith of Abraham in 
 leaving his country and friends at the 
 call of God not knowing whither he went. 
 This was the subject of the sermon he 
 had heard that day. On reviewing the 
 circumstances of the patriarch he w r as 
 much affected by the wonders wrought 
 by faith, and admired the devotedness 
 and self-denial of the worthies recorded 
 in the eleventh chapter of the epistle to 
 the Hebrews. While he mused on the 
 nature and evidence of the faith there 
 described, as the substance of things 
 hoped for, and the evidence of things 
 not seen, he began to question himself 
 on the reality of his own, and felt a rising 
 fear in his mind lest he should have de- 
 ceived himself by placing doctrinal opi 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 157 
 
 nions in the stead of divine convictions 
 of the truth. He asked himself, If called 
 in Providence «to suffer or to serve like 
 these, whether he could as readily give 
 up all for Christ, and go forth at the 
 divine bidding ? 
 
 " The impressions made by these reflec- 
 tions fixed deeply on his heart for several 
 weeks, and his mind underwent many 
 harassing fears and desponding feelings 
 on this subject, till one day after receiv- 
 ing the Evangelical Magazine, the first 
 subject which caught his eye and atten- 
 tion, was the account of a design to form 
 a Missionary Society in London r and, if 
 possible, to convey the gospel to the 
 islands of the Pacific Ocean. The 
 thought immediately forcibly struck his 
 mind " If you are wanted to command 
 the expedition have you faith to sacrifice 
 all the comforts around you, and freely 
 devoting yourself to the service, could 
 you embark once more on the deep, not 
 to increase your substance, but to seek 
 the souls redeemed by the blood of the 
 Lamb?" He felt that moment he could 
 do it with pleasure ; he perceived his 
 faith was equal to the sacrifice, he read 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the chapter over with delight, and was 
 sure he could, if called, give himself up 
 to God. • 
 
 " He had enjoyed some happy hours in 
 these meditations. They were the fre- 
 quent subjects of his thoughts, when one 
 day a series of new ideas rose up in his 
 mind to which he had been hitherto a 
 stranger. He had hardly, during all the 
 years of service on the sea, ever known 
 what fear was: he had been unaffected 
 by the storms which he had encountered, 
 and never thought of the perils of the 
 deep ; but now the dangers and difficul- 
 ties to which such an enterprise must 
 expose him rose up tremendous to his 
 view, and he began to reason on the folly 
 of quitting his present comfortable abode 
 for a life so very different; and deter- 
 mined to try to banish the idea from his 
 mind. It followed him, however, in spite 
 of all his efforts. Fearing to trust his own 
 judgment, he resolved to communicate 
 his thoughts to some of his serious and 
 most judicious friends, state to them the 
 feelings of his mind, and have their advice 
 on the subject. 
 
 " The general voice on the view of his 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 159 
 
 circumstances rather discouraged his en- 
 tertaining any further thoughts of the 
 matter. Though they highly approved 
 of the mission, and honoured his zeal in 
 desiring to promote so glorious a cause ; 
 some of them did not see his call clear 
 to quit his present station, and persuaded 
 him to weigh the subject well in his own 
 mind before he determined. His mind, 
 however rested not at ease. He was con- 
 scious he ought not to move but on some 
 evident call of necessity — that he must 
 see the path of duty clear before he 
 quitted the comfortable settlement he 
 enjoyed, and though his heart was greatly 
 drawn out in prayer for the glorious ob- 
 ject of the mission, he resolved to wait 
 awhile the leadings of Providence, with- 
 out entirely renouncing his purposes of 
 service, if required. 
 
 " A general meeting of the Hampshire 
 Association of Ministers being held at 
 Salisbury, among other objects to consi- 
 der, the subject of forming a Missionary 
 Society,to decide on the intended mission, 
 and to promote its accomplishment, he 
 determined to accompany his minister 
 thither, and hear what should be advanced 
 
160 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 on the occasion. There also he mentioned 
 to some of the brethren the impression 
 which rested on his mind ; but they ra- 
 ther in general damped than encouraged 
 his sensations on the subject; and though 
 they zealously favoured the missionary 
 attempt, they hardly thought his services 
 would be necessary, as it was to them 
 improbable that a ship would be em- 
 ployed solely for that purpose. 
 
 " He had now probably dropped all far- 
 ther thoughts of the matter if the first 
 General Missionary Meeting had not 
 called up his pastor, with many others, 
 to town, in order to consult what steps 
 were proper to be pursued at the com- 
 mencement of so great an undertaking. 
 The captain resolved to be of the party, 
 to see and hear for himself what was the * 
 object intended, and the means proposed 
 for carrying the mission into effect. 
 
 M Previous to his going to London, feel- 
 ing his mind in a painful state of per- 
 plexity and incapacity to decide what was 
 right, he informed his minister that he 
 had made up his mind to leave the case 
 with him ; he should have all the respon- 
 sibility of his offering his service, or of 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 161 
 
 declining it. His friend was naturally 
 unwilling easily to give up such a respect- 
 able and useful member of his church, 
 and to sacrifice the pleasure of his soci- 
 ety, yet felt sufficient zeal for the cause 
 not improperly to influence his mind on 
 such a subject. He however declined 
 accepting such a responsibility, but de- 
 clared himself willing to consult with 
 him most conscientiously what was right, 
 when the plan of the Society should be 
 more fully developed. 
 
 "As the thing was evidently of the Lord, 
 he came with a mind prepared for the 
 work in the eternal counsels appointed 
 him to fulfil. He listened with . serious 
 attention to the discourse delivered at 
 the Castle and Falcon to the body of the 
 society, " Wherein I/! says Dr. Haweis, 
 " expressed my confidence that however 
 difficult the work might appear, God 
 would provide instruments for the execu- 
 tion of his own purposes ; that the means 
 would never be wanting if we zealously 
 set our shoulders to the yoke, and con- 
 sidered the glory of the object, and the 
 urgency of the call." He attended next 
 day at Spa Fields chapel, and heard the 
 
162 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 first discourse, (since published,) enforc- 
 ing our duty, describing the objects, and 
 suggesting the steps necessary for the 
 execution. These met his full approba- 
 tion, and contributed to decide his mind 
 on the subject. He desired his friend to 
 call upon me and appoint an interview. 
 His minister described the man and his 
 conversation, situation, circumstances in 
 life, his ability and zeal. " My very heart," 
 says this venerable minister, " leaped 
 with joy at the proposal, and I was filled 
 with hope that God, in different places, 
 was raising up men unknown to each 
 other for the accomplishment of his own 
 purposes towards the heathen. I begged 
 to see him without delay, and we met 
 next morning, when, after some confer- 
 ence concerning the mission, with great 
 modesty and diffidence, but with a de- 
 cided purpose, he intimated that if the 
 society could not find a better conductor, 
 which he wished and hoped they might, 
 the service should not be impeded for lack 
 of nautical skill, and that he was ready, 
 without other reward than the satisfac- 
 tion resulting from the service, to de- 
 vote himself to the work with "whatever 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 163 
 
 inconvenience to himself it might be at- 
 tended. He gave me an account of the 
 dealings of God with him, and expressed 
 a sense of the obligation he was under 
 to our Lord to dedicate himself to this 
 service, as he said he should never for- 
 give himself if he held back when his 
 help was wanted. It was now agreed 
 between him and his minister, that he 
 should write a letter, addressed to the 
 chairman of the next meeting, in the 
 name of the captain, offering his services 
 to the society, should they be needed, to 
 carry its designs into effect. The letter 
 was accordingly written, and two of the 
 directors were appointed as a committee 
 to converse with captain Wilson on the 
 subject. They were equally charmed 
 with his modesty, ability, zeal, and de- 
 votedness of heart to the work, and con- 
 curred in opinion that nothing could tend 
 more powerfully to the accomplishment 
 of our designs than having such a man 
 to command the vessel that should con- 
 vey the missionaries to the place of their 
 destination. The offer was therefore 
 embraced by the directors with delight, 
 and contributed in a very special manner 
 
164 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 to animate our confidence, that God 
 would provide all other necessary means, 
 and quicken us to execute the work with- 
 out delay." 
 
 " I may speak with confidence," says 
 the doctor, in his Memoir presented to 
 the society at its last meeting, " where 
 my brethren are all so unanimous in opi- 
 nion, that a man more highly qualified 
 for this work could not be hoped for if 
 we had the choice of the whole land. In 
 all his manners a gentleman — a mien 
 that is commanding — an age yet in the 
 prime of vigour with the maturity of ex- 
 perience — and with all, an amiability of 
 diffidence of offering himself, that seemed 
 only conquerable by the calls of the mis- 
 sion, and the deep impressions resting 
 on his own heart. I confess I have been 
 so struck with the circumstance, and 
 many other particulars I could mention, 
 that I know not where to close. 
 
 " The captain being presented to the 
 directors confirmed the report which had 
 been made ; and though he hoped we 
 might yet find an abler commander, and 
 in that case he might be excused, and 
 his heart be at rest, yet he pledged him- 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 165 
 
 self, if we could not, to do his best for 
 the mission ; and that at whatever time 
 he should be called into the service he 
 would come up and prepare for the voy- 
 age. At the end of the week, when the 
 society broke up, he returned to his house 
 in the country, leaving the deepest im- 
 pression upon every man who conversed 
 with him, that never did a person appear 
 more eminently qualified for the dis- 
 charge of this service, than the man so 
 providentially prepared for us. I . 
 
 " Some months elapsed in the prepa- 
 ratory steps in seeking out and examin- 
 ing missionaries, providing funds, and 
 weighing the most proper means of car- 
 rying the proposed mission into effect. 
 After long and ample discussion it was 
 resolved that the attempt should be made 
 in a ship belonging to the society, suffi- 
 cient to carry thirty missionaries, and 
 that captain James Wilson be requested 
 to undertake the command. This reso- 
 lution was accordingly communicated to 
 him, and though he had met with many 
 causes to damp his zeal and deter him 
 froni the service, he continued fixed in 
 his purpose, and his correspondence 
 
166 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 breathed a spirit so truly noble that it 
 was impossible not to congratulate each 
 other on such an acquisition. 
 
 " The mission being now in great for- 
 wardness^ and a second general meeting 
 in May, 1796, having confirmed all our 
 former resolutions, the captain was de- 
 sired to come up, which he did, and took 
 an active part in the preparations. Not 
 less than seven or eight times did he go 
 up and down, though more than sixty 
 miles from town, at his own expense; 
 sought out and purchased a proper ves- 
 sel, forwarded every thing in his depart- 
 ment ; engaged the mariners, and settled 
 all his own affairs for so long an absence. 
 He sold his house at Horndean, fixed his 
 niece in London, and prepared to embark 
 with the missionaries in a long and pe- 
 rilous navigation. 
 
 " Through the whole of his eventful 
 story we discover a beautiful and admir- 
 able developement of the leadings of 
 divine Providence. Who would have 
 looked for a commander of a christian 
 mission in an impious and infidel sailor 
 chained in a prison at Seringapatam ? 
 Who would have expected to have found 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 167 
 
 the man who returned from India con- 
 tradicting and blaspheming the faithful 
 leader in the missionary cause, within five 
 years afterwards on the quarter-deck, in 
 the midst of prayer and praise, carrying 
 the everlasting gospel to the isles of the 
 Pacific Ocean ? Who that reads the his- 
 tory of his eventful life can hesitate to 
 confirm the exclamation of the Moor- 
 man, ' This is God's man ?' " 
 
 About this time he wrote to his friend 
 at Portsea describing the state of his 
 mind — 
 
 " London, June 28, 1796. 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " According to my promise I write 
 to inform you of a ship having been 
 purchased yesterday afternoon. I this 
 morning took possession. She is the 
 first-rate vessel of her burden in the 
 river, but when I tell you she cost five 
 thousand pounds you will think she ought 
 to be a good one. Such is the high value 
 of ships at present that I think she is 
 worth what we gave for her. She is river 
 built, two years old, copper-bottomed 
 and fastened, and a complete vessel for 
 our purpose. I cannot help observing 
 
168 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 that it will require -all the well-wishers 
 of the cause to exert themselves to the 
 utmost — but why should I talk thus? 
 Has He not power to command the gold 
 that commanded such a rebellious wretch 
 as I was, to be willing in the day of his 
 power ! 
 
 " Praise be to God for all his mer- 
 cies. Were it not for the many precious 
 promises, I know not what I should do, 
 for it is really hard parting from all 
 those we fondly love, and entering into 
 a sea of trouble and perplexity. I look 
 back on my past life with pain, to my 
 future pilgrimage I look with fear and 
 trembling, but to that state where we 
 shall all meet and every tear be wiped 
 from our eyes, I look with a pleasing 
 hope, that I shall be one of that happy 
 number, that God in his great mercy has 
 chosen. This cheers my drooping spirits 
 and causes me to press onward for the 
 prize, forgetting the past and the pre- 
 sent, and looking only to the future for 
 real happiness. 
 
 " Had I thought I should have been 
 held up to public view, as I have been 
 by some of my friends, I should most 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 169 
 
 certainly never have offered myself, but 
 now there is no retreating. 
 [/ " I therefore trust that the Lord will 
 strengthen me for the work, and enable 
 me to accomplish it to his praise and 
 glory. Ah ! my worthy and dear friend, 
 you say what I now experience. " New 
 engagements and new circumstances 
 will cause new trials." I am persuaded 
 that even at this early stage of the busi- 
 ness, I have seen more of the human 
 heart, than I should have known for 
 years in the calm retreat of a country 
 life, but knowledge is of little use if it 
 does not influence the heart. If I do 
 not deceive myself, I think I feel more 
 humble, and Jesus more precious than 
 ever, and a throne of grace the greatest 
 consolation I can enjoy. 
 
 " I am, 
 " Your affectionate brother in Christ, ' 
 
 g J. Wilson." 
 
 London, July 27, 1796. 
 " MY VERY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 " I have just time to tell you, I re- 
 ceived your kind and affectionate letter, 
 it came at a very suitable time. I had 
 just returned from the India House, 
 
170 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 where I met with the severest ridicule ; 
 but blessed be God, I bore it with pa- 
 tience, and I trust this is some proof, 
 that he will bear me up through every 
 trial and difficulty. 
 
 " I find my mind, though severely 
 pained, yet quite resigned to the will 
 of my gracious God and Father, and can 
 look up to him for a supply of grace 
 and strength in the trying hour of part- 
 ing. You are mistaken, my dear friend, 
 respecting my inward conflicts; I have 
 never been more assaulted by the great 
 adversary, since I professed to believe 
 the truth as it is in Jesus, than I have 
 recently; but blessed be his name, he 
 has kept me, though I have been con- 
 strained to cry out, " O wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death." My inward 
 and outward trials keep me very low, 
 but I trust the Lord will enable me to 
 carry his people to the furthermost parts 
 of the globe. Should he bless me thus 
 far, I trust I shall then be able to resign 
 my all into his hands ; for the only thing 
 I wish now to live for, is to promote his 
 glory. — Your affectionate letter I shall 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 171 
 
 peruse when I am many leagues from 
 you, and will follow your kind advice. 
 
 " I hope the Lord will be with you of 
 a truth. I shall be on my knees at 
 half-past six on the morning you allude 
 to, for the purpose of praying for you 
 and my church, through whose instru- 
 mentality I have received such unspeak- 
 able blessings. 
 
 " I am, 
 " Ever, ever, your affectionate friend, 
 
 " J. Wilson." 
 
 The ship purchased for the voyage, 
 was called the Duff. In her were em- 
 barked four ordained ministers, a sur- 
 geon, and twenty-five other mission- 
 aries or settlers, being pious persons, 
 having for the most part been engaged in 
 business or mercantile employments, 
 highly necessary to impart the princi- 
 ples and habits of civilization to the 
 South Sea islanders, together with six 
 women, wives of some of the Mission- 
 aries, and three children. 
 
 The ship was manned by three prin- 
 cipal officers, besides a gunner, carpen- 
 ter, steward, and sail-maker, fifteen other 
 sailors, and the captain, most of whom 
 I 2 
 
172 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. " 
 
 made a profession of being under the in- 
 fluence of christian principles. They 
 sailed from the river Thames, August 
 10, 1796, having for their flag hoisted 
 at the mizen-top-gallant-mast-head, three 
 doves argent on a purple field, bearing 
 olive branches in their bills. The ship 
 was navigated to Spithead, by Mr. 
 William Wilson, the chief mate, where 
 the captain joined her and took the 
 command. Here they were detained, 
 waiting for wind or convoy for some 
 weeks. Several of the directors from 
 London, visited the ship, and crowds 
 of pious people from the neighbouring 
 towns, who left a variety of presents 
 either for the missionaries or for the 
 natives. Such was the fervour of the 
 captains religious zeal, like most per- 
 sons under first impressions and in new 
 religious engagements, that he declared 
 himself astonished after what he had 
 heard in London, that none of the pro- 
 minent ministers should offer to go as 
 missionaries. He was equally surprised 
 that any, who were not absolutely bound 
 by circumstances, and had felt the power 
 of truth, and knew the state of the 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE* 173 
 
 heathen world, could quietly remain in 
 England, while millions abroad were 
 perishing for lack of knowledge. His 
 minister did not wish to damp his zeal, 
 but urged a variety of considerations to 
 regulate it. At the request of the cap- 
 tain, he wrote in a book various cau- 
 tions, counsels, and admonitions, under 
 different heads. These he often read, 
 and as he afterwards expressed, found 
 them of unspeakable advantage to him. 
 His friend was aware, that though he 
 had been extensively acquainted with 
 the world in general, he had known but 
 little, comparatively, of the religious 
 world. Perceiving that his standard of 
 the christian character was fixed very 
 high, 'and his hopes corresponded with 
 it, he endeavoured to moderate his ex- 
 pectations and prepare him for i disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 He pointed out to him, that among 
 such a number there would necessarily 
 be a 'great diversity of tempers, preju- 
 dices, and degrees of education, chris- 
 tian knowledge, and gracious disposi- 
 tions, which, when circumstances put 
 them to the trial, and their interests and 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 passions were affected, would without 
 materially affecting their moral or chris- 
 tian character, create differences of opi- 
 nion, and excite considerable tenacity 
 of feeling and conduct. The probable 
 failures of christians were drawn rather 
 in dark shades, that his sanguine expec- 
 tation, in case of some disappointments, 
 might not overwhelm him with discou- 
 ragement. Without intending any re- 
 flection either upon him or others, it 
 may be observed, that he soon found 
 these cautions highly necessary. It is 
 easy to delineate what a christian should 
 be, but in our intercourse with the^_ 
 christian world, we ought to expect no 
 more from others, than we are willing 
 they should expect from us. Undue 
 expectation of excellencies in others, 
 may lead to undue severities towards 
 those whose foibles disappoint us, and 
 thus hurry us into opposite extremes. 
 The captain was a young christian, most 
 of the missionaries were so, and such 
 were most of those who professed to be 
 religious among the sailors ; no wonder, 
 therefore, if some aged and experienced 
 persons trembled for the ark of God, 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 175 
 
 and that the fears of the captain's friend 
 should have been awakened by his own 
 reflections, as well as by the apprehen- 
 sions of others. However, there is no 
 one deeply acquainted with the human 
 heart, and who has had an extensive 
 knowledge of christian society, when he 
 considers how rapidly the mission was 
 formed, and the persons who composed 
 or conducted it were brought together, 
 and who has had an opportunity of 
 knowing all that passed during that voy- 
 age, as the author has had, but will be 
 astonished that its progress and termi- 
 nation displayed so many excellencies, 
 and so few real faults, either in the cap- 
 tain or the persons connected with the 
 mission or the voyage. 
 
 The captain had an arduous task to 
 perform. He had duties to discharge, 
 which required great diversity of talent, 
 and even opposite qualifications. Among 
 the sailors, he had to maintain autho- 
 rity and command, and yet conduct him- 
 self towards them as a brother in Christ. 
 Among the missionaries, he had to pre- 
 side in their meetings of debates and 
 arrangements, and at once to step from 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the command on the quarter-deck into 
 the missionary cabin, and there, forget- 
 ting that he was captain, to preside as 
 a brother. Such a situation required 
 great firmness and decision of character, 
 and yet much real kindness and pliabi- 
 lity of temper. These observations will 
 be fully confirmed by a perusal of the 
 following well-written, but diversified 
 and important instructions, given to the 
 captain by the directors. These placed 
 him under great responsibility, not as 
 it regarded the navigation of the ship 
 only, but in conducting the different 
 missions, and that too through the me- 
 dium of the votes of the missionaries. 
 
 Letter of Instruction to Captain James Wilson 
 from the Directors. 
 
 August 5, 1796. 
 
 '? " The constant protection with which 
 it has pleased the Divine Being to fa- 
 vour the concerns of the Missionary So- 
 ciety, renders it inctimbent on us, before 
 we enter on the immediate subject of 
 our address to" you, to make an humble 
 and undissembled acknowledgment of 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 177 
 
 the gratitude which is due to Him, and 
 to recognize with thankfulness the fre- 
 quent and manifest interpositions of his 
 hand in favour of this institution. 
 
 " Among many other occurrences 
 which have appeared to us of a nature 
 peculiarly providential, and which we 
 have considered as the proofs of the 
 condescending care with which it has 
 pleased the great Head of the church 
 to regard this undertaking, there has 
 been none that excited more gratitude 
 to his name, or occasioned more uni- 
 versal satisfaction among ourselves, than 
 the circumstance of your having been 
 inclined to consecrate yourself to the 
 service of God on this interesting occa- 
 sion. We trust that the same Being, 
 from whom the disposition has pro- 
 ceeded, will impart the grace which is 
 requisite to accomplish the arduous ser- 
 vice, and inspire the wisdom which is 
 needful for the execution of its important 
 duties. 
 
 " Connected with us in the direction 
 
 of the affairs of the Society, you are fully 
 
 apprised of the nature and design of 
 
 the expedition you have undertaken to 
 
 i5 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 conduct. You are aware that it is not only 
 in its nature singular, and almost with- 
 out a precedent, but that it is also one 
 of the most honourable and most im- 
 portant services which can be confided 
 to a human being. 
 
 " The attention of the christian world 
 is very generally excited to the object, 
 and devout intercessions are continually 
 ascending like incense to heaven for its 
 success. Should it be favoured with 
 the blessing of God, it may be the di- 
 rect means of imparting divine light and 
 eternal life to great multitudes of im- 
 mortal beings, and may form an sera of 
 distinguished importance in the history 
 of human redemption. In this view of 
 the interesting nature of the business 
 we are engaged in, it is with sincere 
 affection and peculiar satisfaction, that 
 we, the Directors of the Institution, not 
 only invest you with the command of 
 the ship, and with full and complete 
 authority for the management of its 
 concerns in relation to the voyage, but 
 also commit to your care and superin- 
 tendance during the same period, the 
 more important charge of the mission 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 179 
 
 itself, and especially of those faithful 
 brethren who accompany you therein. 
 Dear to our Saviour, in whose name 
 they go forth, these apostolic men will 
 have a strong interest in your affections 
 also. Having forsaken their friends and 
 their country for the love of Christ, and 
 with the desire of spreading the honours 
 of his name among the heathen, they 
 will seek in your kind attention an equi- 
 valent for the endearing connexions 
 they have relinquished, and you will be 
 desirous of extending toward them the 
 wise superintendance of a parent, and 
 the affectionate sympathy of a brother. 
 You will cheer the spirit that is liable 
 to droop under the pressure of its anx- 
 ieties, or administer the word of admo- 
 nition to the disciple that is in danger 
 of erring. You will be among them 
 the centre of union, to reconcile their 
 divisions, and confirm their love — the 
 universal friend, in whose bosom they 
 will deposit their diversified cares. 
 
 a As it is needful you should be fur- 
 nished with instructions, both with re- 
 spect to the voyage itself, and also with 
 relation to the establishment of the mis- 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 sion, it is our duty to desire that after 
 having received your cargo on board, 
 an invoice whereof you will be fur- 
 nished with, and also the missionaries 
 who are to accompany you, whose names 
 and occupations you will have an ac- 
 count of, you will please to proceed 
 with all possible dispatch to Portsmouth, 
 in order to join the East India convoy 
 now lying there, to which you are to 
 attach yourself, and to use every exer- 
 tion in your power to keep company 
 with it, as far as its course and yours are 
 designed to coincide. 
 
 " In case the convoy should stop at 
 Teneriffe, you will procure four pipes 
 of the best wine, in hogsheads, for which 
 you will apply to the house of Messrs. 
 Paisley and Little, and reimburse them 
 for the amount by your draft on the 
 Treasurer to the Institution. You will 
 endeavour to procure from thence two 
 or three bunches of dried grapes of the 
 best kind, and the seeds of such tropi- 
 cal fruits as you may think it would be 
 advantageous to take with you. You 
 will also endeavour to procure one ram 
 sheep and two ewes, to be preserved 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 181 
 
 for the purpose of breeding, and also 
 a male and female ass for the same 
 purpose. You will also at this place 
 probably have an opportunity of giving 
 your ship's company and the passengers 
 several meals of fresh meat and vege- 
 tables ; which, as it will promote their 
 health and comfort, we are well per- 
 suaded will not escape your attention. 
 On taking your departure from Tene- 
 rifFe, we wish you to consider the Port 
 of Rio de Janeiro, on the coast of Brazil, 
 as your next object. At that place you 
 will be able to lay in a stock of sugar, 
 very cheap, for the use of the ship's 
 company and missionaries on the voy- 
 age, as well as for the latter after they 
 are put on shore ; as also tobacco, cho- 
 colate, cochineal-plant, and many other 
 vegetable productions useful for con- 
 sumption and cultivation at the settle- 
 ment. Here you will also embrace the 
 opportunity to procure a supply of fresh 
 meat and other desirable articles for the 
 refreshment of the ship's company, at a 
 reasonable rate. 
 
 " From this port, we wish you to 
 proceed by way of Cape Horn to the 
 
182 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Island of Qtaheite, there to put in exe- 
 cution the directions which will be 
 hereafter suggested, so far as they may 
 appear to you eligible on your arrival. 
 In the mean time, we think it material 
 to provide against the probability of 
 your meeting with a foul wind in your 
 attempt to double Cape Horn, in which 
 case, after having made the first attempt 
 as close in with the land as you think 
 consistent with the safety of the ship, 
 we recommend you to stand to the 
 southward, to the distance of, at least, 
 four or five degrees ; when, if you still 
 find the wind blowing steadily against 
 you, rather than lose much time in at- 
 tempting to beat against it, we advise 
 you to bear up and run for the Cape of 
 Good Hope, where you will find those 
 refreshments which, by that time, you 
 will stand in need of. 
 
 u On your arrival in the South Seas, 
 the destined scene of your benevolent 
 exertions, the immediate prospect of the 
 important service before you will im- 
 press your mind with peculiar weight, 
 and you will be anxious to fulfil to the 
 utmost of your power the engagement 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 183 
 
 you have undertaken. You will then 
 recollect that the sphere of your activity 
 is widely extended, and includes a con- 
 siderable number of different islands re- 
 motely situated from each other ; you 
 will be reminded of the resolution of 
 the General Meeting, which was thus 
 expressed : 
 
 ' That a mission be undertaken to 
 Otaheite, the Friendly Islands, the Mar- 
 quesas, the Sandwich, and the Pelew 
 Islands, in a ship belonging to the So- 
 ciety, to be commanded by captain Wil- 
 son, as far as may be practicable and 
 expedient.' 
 
 " This resolution embraces a plan of 
 great extent and importance, and pro- 
 ceeds from the laudable and benevolent 
 desire of introducing the knowledge of 
 Christ into as many different islands as 
 possible ; you will therefore consider 
 this resolution as the rule of your con- 
 duct, and keep it in your remembrance 
 in all your proceedings. It is not to be 
 departed from without solid and im- 
 portant reasons ; for, as the gospel of 
 Christ is a blessing beyond the power 
 of calculation to estimate, the desirable- 
 
184 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 ness of sending it to as many islands 
 as possible, is in proportion to its in- 
 estimable value. We do not mean, 
 however, to encourage you to adopt a 
 system of missionary enterprize beyond 
 the boundaries of discretion ; we do not 
 urge you to depart from the principles 
 of prudence and caution which so im- 
 portant an occasion requires ; nor by 
 attempting to introduce the advantages 
 of Christianity in many places, so to di- 
 vide your numbers, as to weaken your 
 efforts too much in each, and endanger 
 your success in all. The resolution is 
 not intended to prevent a wise and dis- 
 creet circumspection. It is indeed de- 
 sirable to introduce the gospel into se- 
 veral islands, but it is necessary, if pos- 
 sible, to establish it in one ; for, if you 
 concentrate your exertions, and gain a 
 solid establishment in one place, it may 
 become the germ of their missionary 
 efforts, and be a sacred leaven which 
 may gradually spread its beneficial in- 
 fluence through numerous and distant 
 islands of the South Seas. Thus you 
 will perceive, that although the resolu- 
 tion by which you are to endeavour to 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 185 
 
 regulate your operations is of great ex- 
 tent, and highly desirable to be accom- 
 plished, yet that it is limited by the 
 considerations of practicability and ex- 
 pedience ; and of these you will of ne- 
 cessity be the best qualified to judge. 
 
 " The question respecting the prac- 
 ticability of visiting so many distant 
 islands must be decided by circum- 
 stances which it is impossible for us to 
 anticipate; and even to you, when in 
 the South Seas, a mission may appear 
 to be practicable, which you, neverthe- 
 less, may not think it expedient to at- 
 tempt. For instance, the Pelew Islands 
 are the last which in the order of your 
 voyage you will have occasion to visit. 
 The character of the natives furnishes a 
 strong inducement to establish a mis- 
 sion among them,, and the attempt may 
 also appear to be practicable ; but would 
 you think it expedient to take a few 
 missionaries from the islands at a great 
 distance to windward, at an uncertainty 
 of the reception which a missionary 
 plan might meet with in the former? 
 Suppose that by a new chief having 
 arisen with less favourable dispositions 
 
186 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 than the father of Le Boo, or through 
 any other cause, you should be pre- 
 vented from leaving our brethren there, 
 with perfect satisfaction to yourself and 
 them, what would be the effect? You 
 could not admit of the waste of time, 
 and the expenditure of money which it 
 would require to convey them to the 
 islands where your other missionaries 
 may have been established, even if your 
 return thither against the trade wind 
 was practicable: and you would proba- 
 bly have no alternative but that of bring- 
 ing them with you to their native land. 
 The same reasoning may apply with 
 respect to the Sandwich Islands. It is 
 extremely desirable that the blessings 
 of the christian religion should be ex- 
 tended to those populous regions; but 
 the indubitable accounts which we have 
 lately received of the actual state of 
 those islands, do not permit us to re- 
 commend the establishment of a mis- 
 sion among them at present. A variety 
 of considerations will occur to your 
 mind, when you are to decide on what 
 is practicable and expedient. If you 
 look over the inventory of the different 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 187 
 
 articles which make up your cargo, sup- 
 plied by the liberality of our friends, or 
 furnished from the funds of the Insti- 
 tution, you will probably conclude that 
 they are much more adapted for the co- 
 operation of a number of individuals 
 in one or two Societies, than for distri- 
 bution among more. When you con- 
 sider the qualifications of the mission- 
 aries you will perhaps be inclined to 
 think that remaining in one or two 
 bodies they may form models of civilized 
 society, small indeed, but tolerably com- 
 plete. There are some among them who 
 are adapted to be useful by the improved 
 state of their minds, and their fitness for 
 taking the lead in religious services ; there 
 are others who are necessary on account 
 of the skilfulness of their hands, and their 
 knowledge of the useful arts ; thus there 
 would be among them that mutual de- 
 pendance and usefulness which is the 
 cement of the social order. 
 
 ?f If you should separate them into 
 several parties for various missions, it 
 would occur to you that this order and 
 connexion would be very much broken ; 
 and as every mission should contain 
 
188 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 within itself a competent fund both of 
 divine and human knowledge, you might 
 perhaps find it impracticable to arrange 
 our missionaries into several parties, and 
 yet preserve among them these indis- 
 pensable requisites. Among our bre- 
 thren who accompany you we trust you 
 will find some who possess a considerable 
 acquaintance with the doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity/ in their foundation and mutual 
 dependance, and are qualified for the de- 
 fence and confirmation of the gospel; 
 but others of them have not perhaps a 
 view of the subject sufficiently accurate 
 and enlarged to fit them for the office of 
 teachers. They understand indeed the 
 doctrines of grace in the most precious 
 sense by experimental conviction; and 
 having a general idea of them may be 
 very useful to the heathen by means of 
 their conversation, as well as their exem- 
 plary lives. But in every mission, how- 
 ever small, it is essential that there 
 should be some whose minds have ac- 
 quired a maturity in divine things, and 
 who are scribes well instructed in the 
 kingdom of heaven. This it might be 
 difficult for you to accomplish on the 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 189 
 
 plan of establishing a number of different 
 settlements. 
 
 i " If, from these reasons, or others 
 which may arise in your mind when you 
 are amidst the scene of action, you judge 
 that the cause of Christ among the hea- 
 then will be best promoted by the estab- 
 lishment of fewer missions, we shall re- 
 ceive great satisfaction in finding that 
 you are able to visit more islands, with a 
 view to the introduction of the gospel 
 among them at a future period. By 
 means of some of the Europeans now 
 probably residing at Otaheite, who may 
 be disposed to accompany you, your ac- 
 cess to the understandings of the island- 
 ers will be facilitated: you will easily 
 communicate to them the beneficial plan 
 you are projecting in their favour, and 
 you may ascertain how far a mission to 
 any of them may be advisable. This 
 mode of procedure is highly desirable, as 
 it may throw a considerable light upon 
 our future path, and assist our judgment 
 respecting the designs of Providence to- 
 ward these islands. It is the more to be 
 recommended on account of the great 
 degree of probability there is of our 
 
190 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 revisiting them soon after the safe return 
 of our vessel from her present expedi- 
 tion ; as it is evident, with the assistance 
 of a freight homeward, the navigation to 
 those seas may be hereafter undertaken 
 at a little comparative expense, and thus 
 opportunities be afforded of frequent in- 
 tercourse with them. Submitting these 
 considerations to your attention, we now 
 think it necessary to offer you a few 
 more observations derived from the best 
 information we can obtain, and the best 
 judgment we can at present form on the 
 subject : you will adhere to them or not, 
 as you may find it expedient when you 
 arrive. 
 
 " It is well known that Otaheite is the 
 island on which the general expectation 
 has been fixed as the place where our 
 first mission is to be attempted ; and we 
 have no reason to alter the opinion we 
 at first entertained of the eligibility of 
 the spot ; but as our object is to intro- 
 duce the gospel of Christ among the hea- 
 then, all partialities or predilections to 
 particular places must be made subser- 
 vient to that end. We conceive you will 
 visit that island before any other, and 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 191 
 
 you will doubtless have an early inter- 
 view with the chiefs. It must be left to 
 your own discretion how far you will 
 unfold unto them the occasion of your 
 voyage. You will also probably soon be 
 visited by some Europeans, and will, 
 most likely, find means to conciliate their 
 esteem and confidence without commit- 
 ting yourself to them any further than 
 you may think prudent. All your dis- 
 crimination may be requisite to fix on 
 those among them who are best suited 
 to become your instruments ; from them 
 you will learn the present state of this 
 island, and perhaps of those adjacent, as 
 to produce, population, disposition of the 
 nations, and political relations. You will 
 be on your guard against misrepresen- 
 tation, and by comparing different re- 
 ports find out the truth. You will also 
 guard against treachery and surprise. 
 You will be cautious whom you admit on 
 board ; especially you will not allow the 
 females, except the wives of the chiefs, 
 and only a few at a time. Neither would 
 it be prudent to permit too many of the 
 English, if remaining at Otaheite, to be 
 on board at once. You will take an early 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 opportunity of visiting the smaller penin- 
 sula, as it has been represented by some 
 voyagers to be the most fertile, well cul- 
 tivated, and abounding with cotton and 
 sugar cane. Let the ship run down to 
 the adjacent islands of Eimeo, examine 
 the harbours of Taloo and Avoitai, con- 
 verse with the chiefs, learn the present 
 state of that island, and the dispositions 
 of the inhabitants toward a settlement of 
 some of our brethren among them. 
 After you have ascertained to your satis- 
 faction the kind of treatment which the 
 missionaries are likely to experience at 
 Otaheite, you will be more capable of 
 judging how to improve the remainder 
 of your voyage than we are at present. 
 To assist you in the direction of your 
 farther attempts, we recommend to your 
 attentive perusal the papers which have 
 been committed to you containing a de- 
 scription and historical account of the 
 islands that are connected with Otaheite, 
 or inclosed in the groups, called the 
 Friendly Islands, and the Marquesas. 
 You will compare them on the grounds 
 of immediate advantage, and future pros- 
 pects. To this subject belongs the con 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE.* 193 
 
 aideration of the safety of our women, 
 probability of introducing our improve- 
 ments, supply of provisions, the products 
 of the islands, in sugar, cotton, sandal- 
 wood, '&c. We are thus particular in 
 suggesting these observations to you be- 
 cause you are much better qualified than 
 we can expect any of the missionaries to 
 be, to decide on the most eligible spots 
 for our settlement, and it is a circum- 
 stance of so much importance as to claim 
 your utmost attention. You will, doubt- 
 less, on this subject hold very frequent 
 communications with the missionaries, 
 and especially with the committee, stat- 
 ing to them the grounds on which you 
 may prefer one spot to another, as it 
 would be peculiarly desirable to obtain, 
 if possible, a perfect unanimity of the 
 whole body as to the place of settlement ; 
 and the objections of those who may 
 happen to think differently from yourself, 
 or from the majority of their brethren, 
 should be attentively heard, and maturely 
 considered. It is however very difficult 
 for so many persons to coincide on any 
 subject ; and we therefore place the power 
 of decision in a majority. As we con- 
 
 K 
 
194 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 elude that you possess a superior judg- 
 ment on this subject to any of them, it 
 appears to us to be a regulation highly 
 conducive to their good that no settle- 
 ment should be made without your ap- 
 probation. Tor the sake of relieving 
 you from some part of the responsi- 
 bility, we lodge in the same commit- 
 tee, and subject to the same rule, the 
 power of deciding whether there shall be 
 more missions than one established, and 
 where the subsequent ones shall be at- 
 tempted. 
 
 " To this committee belongs also, 
 under the same restriction, the controul 
 over the articles, implements, and uten- 
 sils, which make up the cargo of the ship, 
 and they, with your concurrence, are to 
 decide when, where, and in what propor- 
 tions those articles are to be landed. In 
 case however of several missions being 
 attempted, (for the sake of strict and im- 
 partial justice,) we appoint that [two* of 
 the committee shall be taken from those 
 who remain at the first settlement, and 
 two others from those who are intended 
 to be detached to any other, yourself 
 being the president, and perfectly disin- 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 195 
 
 terested, will have the power of admini- 
 stering justice towards both. It is, how- 
 ever, intended that a quantity of articles 
 suitable for presents to the chiefs of 
 islands which you may visit in your 
 way to Canton should remain on board, 
 and you must have the power of de- 
 ciding what articles, and what quantity 
 of each shall be reserved for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 f € To a number of serious christians 
 who are, on all oceasions, seeking divine 
 direction, it will no doubt occur that the 
 determination of any question respecting 
 attempts to extend the gospel is of such 
 trandscendant importance, as to require 
 the most solemn invocation of Him who 
 heareth prayer, for the interposition of 
 his wisdom to guide you in judgment. 
 An unanimity, or nearly so, of the whole 
 body, on questions so interesting, and 
 which are to be decided after a solemn 
 season of devotion appointed for that 
 special occasion, would afford consider- 
 able satisfaction to our minds as a favour- 
 able intimation of the divine superin- 
 tendance. 
 
 " In negociating with the chiefs you 
 k 2 
 
196 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 will explain to them the advantages 
 which will arise to them from our resi- 
 dence among them ; that it may be the 
 happy effect of their earnest desire, and 
 not of our solicitation. As an induce- 
 ment to us to prefer their island, they 
 must give us a fall title to the land we 
 may have occasion for, guarantee to us 
 the safety of our property from plunder, 
 the enjoyment of our laws and customs, 
 and the undisturbed exercise of our re- 
 ligion. Instead of exciting the jealousy 
 of the chiefs by any importunity on our 
 parts to continue with them, it would be 
 more prudent to show a readiness to leave 
 the island and fix upon some other ; that 
 it may be understood by them that our 
 inducements to visit them have not been 
 to receive advantages, but to confer 
 them. On this principle, as well as for 
 other reasons, we recommend that the 
 land should not be purchased, but re- 
 quired as the condition of our remaining 
 with them; and that the presents we 
 make should not be considered as pay- 
 ments but as gratuities — the expressions 
 and pledges of our good- will. If you 
 should determine to make a settlement 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 197 
 
 at several islands, you and the committee 
 will decide what number, and which indi- 
 viduals should reside at each. If this 
 should be the occasion of disputes which 
 you cannot amicably terminate, we re- 
 commend your appealing to the decision 
 of divine Providence by a solemn and 
 religious use of the ancient institution of 
 drawing lots. 
 
 " We have now finished the instruc- 
 tions which appeared to us needful to 
 communicate with respect to the mis- 
 sion. The changes which may have 
 taken place in the state of the islands 
 since the last accounts, may make it ne- 
 cessary for you to depart from the advice 
 which we have now offered, and resort 
 to expedients more congruous to the cir- 
 cumstances before you, and better fitted 
 to secure the great object* 
 
 " On your arrival at Canton, you will 
 address yourself to the Factory of the 
 India Company, and in all respects con- 
 form to the conditions of the charter, a 
 copy of which you will take with you. 
 You will in particular observe the neces- 
 sity of your being there by the month of 
 December, or at latest in the month of 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 January, 1798, that you may receive your 
 cargo on board, and sail for Europe in 
 the early part of the spring. Thus we 
 shall cherish the hope of your safe return 
 soon after the succeeding midsummer. 
 In the mean time you will doubtless 
 embrace whatever opportunities occur of 
 writing to us either from Rio de Janeiro, 
 or ^by the first ship which sails from 
 Canton, and let your dispatches be ad- 
 dressed to Mr. Joseph Hardcastle, of 
 London. 
 
 " We have now only to commend you 
 to the all-sufficient care and protection 
 of f Him who holds the winds in his fists, 
 and the waters in the hollow of his hand.' 
 The throne of mercy will be addressed 
 with unceasing supplications in behalf of 
 your safety, and the success of your em- 
 bassy. You are accompanied by the 
 affectionate esteem of the excellent of 
 the earth ; and ministering spirits we 
 trust will receive the welcome charge to 
 convey you in safety to the place of your 
 destination. May they be glad specta- 
 tors of the formation of a christian tem- 
 ple in those heathen lands, and thus be 
 furnished with the subject of a new song 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 199 
 
 to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
 to the Lamb ! 
 
 " Signed by order of the Directors, 
 
 " John Love, Secretary." 
 
 The convoy being at length ready, and 
 the wind steadily fair, the ship, in com- 
 pany with more than fifty others, sailed 
 from Portsmouth on the 23d of Septem- 
 ber, wafted by propitious winds, and un- 
 der the auspices of the effectual fervent 
 prayers of many thousands of British 
 christians. The ship on her passage 
 touched at St. Jago, and arrived on the 
 12th of November in the harbour of 
 Rio de Janeiro, whence the captain ad- 
 dressed the following letter, giving an 
 account of himself and the voyage, to his 
 friend at Portsea. 
 
 "Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 15, 1790. 
 " MY DEAR AND REVEREND FRIEND, 
 
 " Were you near the directors I would 
 refer you to their letter for information, 
 but as that is not the case I will give you 
 all I can. We sailed from you on Friday 
 the 23d of September, and on the follow- 
 ing Sunday we lay to off Falmouth ; and 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 on the 30th, a fresh wind springing up 
 from the north-east, I thought it a favour^ 
 able opportunity of parting with the con- 
 voy, by which we had been considerably 
 detained. In six days [afterwards we 
 passed the island of Madeira, and on the 
 14th of October cast anchor in Porto- 
 Praya bay, in the island of St. Jago. 
 After getting our water-casks filled, and 
 obtaining other refreshments, we sailed 
 the next day, so that you will see there 
 was no time lost. At this place, and the 
 two following days, we experienced the 
 hottest weather, and then the thermo- 
 meter was only 77 degrees, and when 
 immediately under the sun, which was 
 in latitude 16° south, it was 72=30. 
 Thus you see how exceedingly kind our 
 God has been to us. From the time we 
 sailed till our arrival here, the vessel has 
 had little more motion than on the day 
 you and our friends came on board in 
 the sloop. On the 29th we crossed the 
 equator in longitude 30° west. Here- 
 about we had a few squalls. These being 
 what the missionaries were not accus- 
 tomed to, the first alarmed them very 
 much. They were at prayers below at 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 201 
 
 eight in the evening, when the vessel 
 laying down, suddenly some fell to lee- 
 ward ; one in particular got up the fore^ 
 hatchway, but before he knew where he 
 was he tumbled head-foremost down the 
 main, without hurting himself. These 
 things to old sailors cause a great deal 
 of mirth, when attended with no injury. 
 
 " We arrived here on Saturday the 12th 
 instant. After waiting on the governor 
 I could not go on shore again, owing to 
 the ceremony of visiting the ship, which 
 was not over till late last night. A fleet 
 bound to Lisbon being on the point of 
 sailing, I thought it best to stay on board 
 to write to you and the directors, lest I 
 should lose this opportunity. I mean 
 if possible to sail from this place by Sa- 
 turday next, as I wish to get to the field 
 of action. I trust the great Head of the 
 church will conduct us safely through, 
 and give me wisdom to conduct this in- 
 teresting undertaking. We must be infi- 
 dels indeed, after experiencing the past 
 loving kindness of the Most High, not 
 to trust him for the future. 
 
 " Myself, officers, missionaries, and 
 ship's company, are all in perfect health, 
 k5 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 blessed be his name, who said, ' When 
 thou goest through the waters I will be 
 with thee.' This promise, with many 
 others, we have fully realized. I have 
 had five of the missionaries at my table 
 every day, besides giving all on board 
 one, and sometimes two fresh meals 
 a week, beside other refreshments suited 
 to the climate. Some of the mission- 
 aries tell me they have not tasted salt 
 meat yet. Their conduct has really been 
 very pleasing. I have do doubt but 
 the Lord will do good by them to the 
 poor Indians. I am persuaded should 
 one soul be called to the knowledge of 
 the glorious gospel of our blessed God 
 and Saviour, it will more than rt 
 pense me for all the dangers, watci... 
 anxieties, and various privations that I 
 have had, or may have to endure,^ this 
 long voyage ; I feel my mind pr%\ ared 
 to act as circumstances offer; I am per- 
 suaded that God has called me to this 
 work, and that he will carry me through 
 it. I know, my dear friend, in my own 
 strength I can do nothing right, but as 
 the apostle says, ' I can do all things 
 through Christ who strenghteneth me.' t 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. , 203 
 
 a The Bible is no cunningly devised 
 fable, though I may have my doubts at 
 times of my personal interest in the glo- 
 rious work of redemption, yet not all 
 the men in the world, nor Satan with all 
 his principalities and powers can, or ever 
 will, I trust, be able to persuade me that 
 it is not the word of the Most High. 
 Nothing in this life could so completely 
 have weaned me from the things and 
 maxims of this world as this precious 
 volume has done since I have been en- 
 abled to believe it to be the word of God. 
 I have not had yet a single wish for any 
 of my temporal blessings left behind, and 
 the only fear I have had, has been, that 
 ord would not prosper the work in 
 my hands. 
 
 I have been often afraid lest I should 
 nc ?ase the society ; but now, though 
 conscious of always offending, I can go 
 and plead with my great Employer 
 my own ignorance and insufficiency, 
 and earnestly intreat for more wis- 
 dom and strength according to his pro- 
 mises. This, my dear friend, is part of 
 my experience since I left you. I trust I 
 have an interest in your prayers, and in 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 those of the church. Give my christian 
 love and affectionate regards to them all. 
 My continual prayer to God for them is, 
 that they may live in brotherly love, and 
 that they may stir up each other to act 
 more and more like King's sons and 
 daughters, and not to choke the good seed 
 with over anxious cares for the things of 
 this world. This will pain their con- 
 sciences and fret their souls till they are 
 as lean as Pharaoh's cattle. I trust, my 
 dear friend, as the Lord has placed 
 you over his vineyard you will be care- 
 ful to destroy those injurious weeds. I 
 know you cannot do this of yourself, 
 but what you have to do, is to use 
 the means, to cry aloud and spare 
 not, and leave consequences with your 
 Master. 
 
 " I would have written to my friend 
 Mr. Eastman, but I think as I have writ- 
 ten you every particular, and am very 
 much engaged, he will excuse it : give 
 my christian love to him and to all his 
 family — -let me hear from you at Canton 
 in China. Give my love to all my chris- 
 tian friends in your neighbourhood. The 
 Lord bless you, guide you, prosper and 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 205 
 
 preserve you, is the fervent and sincere 
 prayer of 
 
 " Your affectionate brother in Christ, 
 
 " J. Wilson." 
 
 Nothing further was heard of the Duff 
 till May the 11th, 1798. On Friday 
 morning, the last day of the fourth gene- 
 ral meeting of the society, when it was 
 favoured with the use of the elegant and 
 spacious church of Spitalfields ; " In the 
 time of service a note was sent to the 
 church," say the directors in their re- 
 port, " that the Duff was on the list 
 received that instant at Lloyd's, of ships 
 safely arrived at Canton in China before 
 the end of December." This Dr. Haweis 
 announced from the pulpit as [soon as 
 the prayers were ended, that the whole 
 congregation might partake of the joy 
 which began to be communicated from 
 individual to individual, and that all 
 might unite in praise to God on the oc- 
 casion ; the emotions excited by this 
 pleasing and unexpected information can 
 be more easily conceived than expressed. 
 The next day the following letter was 
 received from captain Wilson from 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 China, which is inserted because it gives 
 an epitome of the voyage in the laconic 
 and unvarnished language of the captain. 
 This letter was circulated as speedily as 
 possible among the members of the so- 
 ciety in town and country. 
 
 To Joseph Hardcastle, Esq. 
 
 " Canton, Dec. 16, 1797. 
 " DEAR SIR, 
 
 " I wrote to you last from Rio Janeiro, 
 dated the 15th of November, which I 
 hope you received, informing the society 
 how kind our heavenly Father had been 
 in wafting us so far in perfect health and 
 safety ; we can now further say from expe- 
 rience that he has never left us from that 
 time to this. At present I can only give 
 you the outlines of our voyage, which, no 
 doubt, you will be all glad to hear. 
 
 " After receiving a plentiful supply of 
 every thing needful, which I was able to 
 pay for, having cash of my own, we left 
 that port on the 19th. From that time 
 to the 3d of December nothing material 
 happened, only the weather getting gra- 
 dually colder. But the Lord showed us 
 we were going the wrong way by send- 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 207 
 
 inga severe gale from the south. We 
 could now see that to beat round Cape 
 Horn would be folly to attempt. After 
 shipping several heavy seas, by which we 
 lost some of our live stock, we bore up 
 to go by the Cape of Good Hope. This 
 was a great trial, being in latitude 30, 
 and longitude 50 west, and having now 
 a line to run of 262 degrees in longitude, 
 beside latitude. However, we had soon 
 reason to rejoice, for by the 24th of 
 January, 1797, we were in longitude 133 
 east. Had we laid to another night ere 
 we bore away we must have lost all our 
 stock ; instead of which the missionaries 
 had fresh meat twice a week all the way, 
 besides dining with me as before related ; 
 and though we had repeated gales we 
 never had occasion to batten down our 
 hatches once ; add to this the inestimable 
 blessing of the public ordinances of our 
 God, and the missionaries every means 
 of improvement. Thus were we carried 
 along in a most pleasing manner. On 
 the 30th of January we rounded New 
 Zealand, and on the 4th of March made 
 Otaheite ; but from various winds we did 
 not anchor in Matavia till the 6th, where 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 we were received in the most friendly 
 manner. 
 
 " Here mark the dealings of Provi- 
 vidence : a large house, which the na- 
 tives had built for captain Bligh, was 
 just finished; the whole island in per- 
 fect peace (Pomarre and his son Otoo 
 being absolute sovereigns of this island, 
 and of Eimeo,) thus our business was 
 expedited; for, instead of many chiefs 
 as we expected, we had only to make 
 our errand known to Pomarre. This 
 we were fully able to do, our God hav- 
 ing kept two Europeans for the purpose, 
 the other having gone to Europe ; one 
 of them whose name is Peter, had left 
 the Dsedalus, the other named Andrew, 
 was cast away in the Matilda, and had 
 been five years on the island: both 
 could talk the language fluently. Our 
 reasons for coming were no sooner made 
 known to Pomarre, than he said we 
 should not only have the house, which 
 is a hundred feet by forty, but that all 
 Matavia should be given to the English, 
 which was accordingly done in the most 
 formal manner. 
 •- " After having thus succeeded, far be- 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 209 
 
 yond our expectation, it is now neces- 
 sary that I should acquaint you that 
 some time before we made the land, 
 the missionaries had divided in the fol- 
 lowing manner. Eighteen for Otaheite, 
 besides women and children ; ten for 
 the Friendly Islands, and two for the 
 Marquesas. This being the case, we 
 had no time to spare. As soon, there- 
 fore, as I saw them in their commodious 
 house, we sailed for Eimeo, with a view 
 to get the ship ready, but more particu- 
 larly to see how the natives would be- 
 have during the absence of the ship. 
 After five days we returned — found them 
 all well, the natives having treated them 
 with the utmost kindness. Having no 
 time to spare, we made all sail to the 
 Friendly Islands. This was on the 
 twenty-sixth of March. On the first of 
 April we made Palmerston Islands, and 
 on the ninth, Tongataboo. The next 
 day we anchored about the place cap- 
 tain Cook lay, according to his bear- 
 ings. The anchor was no sooner gone 
 than the ship was surrounded with 
 canoes. A number of chiefs came on 
 board, who informed us that two Euro- 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 peans were on the island, and to our 
 great joy they soon made their appear- 
 ance; but of all the men we ever saw, 
 these were certainly the most wicked 
 looking fellows, and they soon gave us 
 proof they were as bad as they appeared 
 to be. One of them was an Irishman, 
 named John Kennelly, the other Benja- 
 min Ambler, of London. They told us 
 a strange story respecting their coming 
 to these islands, but this was a matter 
 of little consequence to us, firmly be* 
 lieving that the Lord had sent them as 
 our interpreters ; for, though we had 
 provided as we thought, sufficient in- 
 struments for the purpose, by bringing 
 Peter and two Otaheiteans with us, we 
 should have been much at a loss, the 
 language differing so much, that .they 
 could not understand one word in ten ; 
 but these two men, Ambler and Ken- 
 nelly, who had been only thirteen 
 months on the island, speak the lan- 
 guage well. After some time our busi- 
 ness was partly told them. They readily 
 agreed to give all the assistance in their 
 power. After giving them and the 
 chiefs presents, they all went on shore, 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 211 
 
 apparently highly satisfied. Very early 
 the next morning we were surrounded 
 with a prodigious number of single 
 canoes, beside ten or twelve large double 
 ones. From the peaceable manner they 
 left us the night before, we had not the 
 least suspicion, until the two Europeans 
 came and told us they intended to take 
 the ship. This you may easily conceive 
 alarmed us very much. We got the 
 people to their quarters as privately as 
 possible. After getting thus ready we 
 scaled two of our guns; on this the 
 large canoes began to sheer off, and a 
 number of single ones followed. Whe- 
 ther their intention was really to attack 
 us we know not — but it was very alarm- 
 ing to see so many canoes and people 
 round the vessel presenting their clubs 
 and spears for sale, which might in a 
 moment be turned against us. 
 
 u Our fears in a great measure being 
 done away, Ambler pointed out four 
 chiefs which he said were the only ones 
 we need care for. Tibo Mamoe, the 
 present king, was then at the point of 
 death, and his son Tugahowe, the least 
 of the four, would certainly succeed his 
 
212 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 father, (which afterwards proved to be 
 so,) he would therefore recommend the 
 missionaries being placed under his care. 
 After talking with them oil the subject 
 they readily agreed to go. I told them 
 they could not expect to keep their 
 chests, and if they were the least afraid 
 I would take them back to Otaheite. 
 Their answer was, the property was 
 only a secondary object with them, that 
 they would go in a humble dependance 
 on that God who had brought them safe 
 over the mighty ocean, and had en- 
 abled them to leave their country and 
 their friends. After a most solemn sea- 
 son in prayer, six of them went with 
 the chief, and Ambler ; but not before 
 they promised they should want for no- 
 thing. The other chiefs wanted each to 
 have one, but we thought it best for the 
 present they should all be together, pro- 
 mising them that when the ship re- 
 turned, if they then chose to separate, 
 each should have some of them — this 
 satisfied them all. Having received va- 
 rious presents, they all went on shore 
 before dark, and all the canoes left us. 
 The next morning we weighed and ran 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 213 
 
 rurther out, that we might have plenty 
 of room in case of an attack. About 
 noon, two of the missionaries returned 
 with the pleasing intelligence that the 
 natives did not attempt to steal, but 
 treated them with the greatest respect. 
 We then loaded the canoes with the 
 remainder of their things, and with 
 such stores as they thought they should 
 want. 
 
 " We now got under weigh/ to en- 
 deavour to find a channel to the west- 
 ward of the spot where captain Cook 
 got a-ground. After some time a very 
 good one was found, which we sailed 
 through. This we conceived to be a 
 valuable acquisition, as we should now, 
 in case of being attacked, be able to sail 
 out of the harbour, either to the east or 
 west. Being now without the reefs, we 
 intended to spend two or three days to 
 see how the natives would behave to 
 our people; but the Lord saw fit. to send 
 us a smart gale from the north-west, so 
 that at day-light we found ourselves in 
 a critical situation, not being able to 
 weather the reefs on either tack ; but to 
 our comfort we just fetched the channel 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 which we had discovered only the day 
 before, and thus we narrowly escaped 
 shipwreck. Before we cleared the har- 
 bour, we were nearly cast away a second 
 time. What cause have we to praise 
 our God for thus preserving us in such 
 imminent danger ! Having now cleared 
 the harbour, April the 16th, we made 
 the best of our way towards the Mar- 
 quesas, with the only two missionaries 
 on board, Messrs. Harris and Crook. 
 The fair wind lasted six days, and was 
 succeeded by hard gales from the east- 
 ward, so that on the 6th day of May, 
 we were only hi 206 degrees of longi- 
 tude and 39 degrees of south latitude. 
 
 " On the 23rd of May we discovered 
 two islands on which we endeavoured 
 to land, but the natives from their hos- 
 tile disposition prevented us. We named 
 one the Crescent, from its shape, the 
 other after Sir Charles Middleton : they 
 lay in latitude 23° 12' south, and in lon- 
 gitude 226° 15' east. The next day we 
 discovered another, which we named 
 after admiral Gambier, latitude 21° 36', 
 longitude 225° 40' east; and on May 
 the 29th, discovered another, which we 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 215 
 
 called after our friend Mr. Searle ; lati- 
 tude 18° 18' south, longitude 224° 12' 
 east. On the 4th of June, made the 
 island Christiana, and the next day an- 
 chored in Resolution Bay, after a long 
 disagreeable passage of fifty days. Our 
 rigging being now in a bad state, it 
 was necessary to get it on deck. I shall 
 only remark, that on getting the fore- 
 shrouds down, we found two of them 
 gone, so that had we been on the star- 
 board tack instead of the larboard, dur- 
 ing the gales we had t in this passage, we 
 must have been dismasted. O what 
 cause of gratitude for all His kindness 
 to us ! We no sooner arrived than we 
 were visited by many of the natives, and 
 amongst them the chief, whom, after a 
 few visits, we gave to understand that 
 the two missionaries were to stay with 
 him. On hearing this he could not con- 
 tain himself, but jumped about the cabin 
 for joy. He said they should have a 
 house, and that they should never want 
 while he had to give. The young lad, 
 Crook, went immediately with the chief, 
 hut Harris staid on board to get the 
 things ready, as he said; however, I am 
 
216 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 sorry to say in this place, that though 
 he was the first that proposed coming 
 to these islands, and was the cause of 
 two others not coming, he seemed now 
 to have lost his missionary spirit, which 
 was visible to every one. After a little 
 time he went on shore, but with such a 
 gloomy countenance, that the natives 
 soon took a dislike to him. The youth 
 on the contrary was cheerful and oblig- 
 ing, so that the whole village was re- 
 markably fond of him. In consequence 
 of this I was under the necessity of car- 
 raying Harris back to Otaheite. I would 
 have brought Crook away likewise, but 
 he begged to be left, which was agreed 
 to, and I have no doubt but he will prove 
 a blessing to those poor good-natured 
 heathens. 
 
 " Having now refitted our rigging, 
 supplied Crook with every thing need- 
 ful, we took an affectionate leave of each 
 other, and sailed for Otaheite on the 
 27th of June. In our way we took a 
 view of Trevenen's and Sir Henry Mar- 
 tin's Islands ; and arrived in Matavia the 
 6th of July, when I found them all well 
 I began dividing their property, which I 
 
.' HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 217 
 
 found a very disagreeable task, this took 
 up all the time I was here, but I got 
 through it apparently much to their 
 satisfaction. 
 
 " Having now completed our busi- 
 ness, we took leave of our dear friends 
 and the kind natives, the 4th of August, 
 and touched at Huahine, which was in 
 a dreadful state, owing to their wars. 
 From this we made Palmerston Island, 
 and planted bread-fruit, plantains, and 
 Ava trees ; and on the 1 8th of August, 
 anchored off Tongataboo, nearly in our 
 old birth. We were soon visited by our 
 dear people, who informed us they were 
 all well, except one ; and how the Lord 
 had preserved them from the machina- 
 tions of their countrymen, who had done 
 all in their power to make the poor 
 heathen destroy them; and that some 
 of them had separated, (under different 
 chiefs,) with a view to counteract their 
 villainous plots. During my stay, Messrs. 
 Buchanan and Galton went to live with 
 another chief, which I trust will be the 
 means not only of gaining their affec- 
 tions, but will likewise facilitate the 
 knowledge of the language, which is of 
 
 L 
 
218 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the greatest importance. After doing 
 every thing in our power with the chiefs, 
 and dividing the articles, we parted with 
 many tears on both sides. I brought 
 away Mr. Nobbs, by their advice, as he 
 had not his health from the time he 
 landed. Our intention was now to touch 
 at the Fegee Islands, and if possible to 
 have some intercourse with the natives. 
 
 " On the 7th of September, we left 
 Tongataboo, and on the 9th, in the even- 
 ing, made the Fegees ; but after six 
 days toil, trying to find anchorage, we 
 were under the necessity of quitting 
 them without finding any, or having 
 any intercourse with the natives ; yet 
 not before we struck on a coral rock, 
 but got off without receiving any da- 
 mage. I believe no islands in the world 
 are so hemmed in by dangerous reefs. 
 We got into the middle of them, and we 
 have reason to be thankful we got out 
 in the manner we did. In steering to 
 the westward, we made the Island Rut- 
 tuma, and had a little intercourse with 
 the natives, who seem to be of the same 
 race with the Friendly Islanders ; they 
 talk the same language, and their canoes 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 219 
 
 are of the same construction. From 
 thence we intended making the best of 
 our way to the Pelews, but from varia- 
 ble winds and calms we did not reach 
 them till the 7th of November, and then 
 from the stormy appearance of the wea- 
 ther, we did not think it prudent to 
 stay; after a little intercourse with the 
 natives, therefore, we proceeded on our 
 way to this port, with a view to send 
 you intelligence, if possible, by the first 
 ship. We found on our arrival at Ma- 
 cao, which was the 21st of November, 
 that we could not proceed to Wampoo, 
 without an authority from the Hoppo, 
 because we had no cargo. Finding a 
 ship had been detained a month, I went 
 to Canton, by which means we got per- 
 mission the fourteenth day we anchored 
 at Wampoo. There are three of the 
 last ships ready for sea, but I prefer 
 sending you this by a Danish ship — 
 there are four direct ships arrived. My 
 nephew received a few lines from you 
 and Mr. Fenn, but I have not yet re- 
 ceived any ; three of the packets are not 
 yet up, yet I could not think of losing 
 this opportunity. 
 
 l 2 
 
220 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 r " This brief relation, I hope will be 
 satisfactory to all our dear friends, but 
 you must make great allowance for the 
 writer. Shall conclude with only ob- 
 serving, that as our work has been great, 
 having been eleven months out of four- 
 teen at sea, the wear of the sails, &c. 
 has been in proportion. We never split 
 a sail, nor carried away a mast. The 
 seamen and officers are in the ship, all 
 well, except one seaman, who ran from 
 the ship. I can give you no idea when 
 we shall leave this place. To me it is 
 the worst part of my voyage, having to 
 associate with the professed enemies of 
 my Lord, and frequently I am the butt 
 of the whole company. 
 
 " May the Lord increase your zeal, 
 and present you with such instruments 
 as he will own and bless. This is, and 
 ever will be the sincere prayer of, 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Your affectionate Servant, 
 
 " J. Wilson." 
 
 Before the captain left the islands, he 
 received general and many individual 
 testimonies of the affection and grati- 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 221 
 
 tude of the missionaries. Those at Ton- 
 gataboo, being the last island he visited, 
 wrote to him on his leaving the South 
 Seas, the following kind and grateful 
 letter — 
 
 " Tongataboo, September 5, 1?97. 
 Cf DEAR SIR, 
 
 " As the period is just at hand when we 
 are to bid a long farewell to each other, 
 perhaps never more to meet on this 
 side eternity, we should consider our- 
 selves as inexcusable if we did not ad- 
 dress a few lines to you, expressive of 
 the grateful sense we entertain of the 
 many and kind offices you have rendered 
 us. We recollect with pleasure, the 
 time when we first heard of your inten- 
 tion to forego every thing that might 
 render your native country dear to you, 
 in order to conduct us to the place of 
 our destination, and with pleasure we 
 acknowledge that we have often, when 
 addressing the throne of grace, found 
 ourselves delightfully and powerfully 
 constrained to adore and bless our hea- 
 venly Father on your account, whom 
 we have considered, and do still con- 
 
222 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 sider, a truly valuable gift of Providence 
 to the Missionary Society. 
 
 ? The many instances in which we 
 have found you a faithful and friendly 
 adviser ; your kind endeavours to render 
 our long voyage as agreeable as possi- 
 ble, and the attention you have paid to 
 our interests before and since your re- 
 turn to this place, call upon us to ex- 
 press to you our most lively gratitude. 
 May the Lord return into your own 
 bosom a hundred fold for every expres- 
 sion of your kindness towards us. Dear 
 sir, we trust you will not look upon this 
 as fulsome adulation ; no, far be it from 
 us to commit such a crime ; believe us, 
 these are the real sentiments of our 
 minds, and could you look into our 
 hearts, you would see more than we 
 can express. 
 
 " The most important part of your 
 voyage is now finished, and you are 
 about to return to your native land. 
 May that God who has been with you, 
 and delivered you out of so many dan- 
 gers, still be with you ; may you experi- 
 ence his supporting, comforting, and 
 reviving presence continually ; and may 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 223 
 
 he enable you to rejoice in the comfort- 
 able assurance that your name is written 
 in heaven. In return for your kindness 
 and prayers for us, we will not be un- 
 mindful of you in our addresses to the 
 Father of mercies. Our social meet- 
 ings, our private retirements, shall wit- 
 ness the sincerity of our desires for 
 your welfare, both temporal and spiri- 
 tual; and we cannot but acknowledge 
 the pleasure we feel from the consider- 
 ation that we have not a wish for your wel- 
 fare, but which you can return with equal 
 warmth of affection. May the Lord 
 bless you to the end of a useful life, 
 and cause you to experience an increas- 
 ing meetness for his heavenly kingdom, 
 till the blissful moment arrive when 
 every earthly object shall disappear, 
 and the shining glories of the future 
 world shall open to your enlightened 
 and enlarged soul in such a manner, 
 as would in this frail state, quite over- 
 whelm it. 
 
 " Adieu, dear sir, till we meet in 
 those happy mansions where we shall 
 no more say farewell — till then, believe 
 us to be your sincere well-wishers, and 
 
224 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 thankful and obliged servants in the gos- 
 pel of Christy 
 
 " D. Bowell, Secretary. 
 
 " To Captain Wilson, on board the Ship Duff" 
 
 Though the captain met with consi- 
 derable ridicule in China on account of 
 his religious enthusiasm, yet his busi- 
 ness was facilitated beyond precedent. 
 He expected to be detained there at least 
 three months; but Mr. Hall, the head 
 supercargo, informed the captain that 
 as the ship was reported to be in excel- 
 lent order, and fit to receive a cargo, if 
 he could be ready in five or six days to 
 receive his lading, he would dispatch 
 him. By the kindness of the other 
 supercargo also, the difficulties usually 
 thrown in the way by the Chinese were 
 easily surmounted. The ship was dis- 
 patched in a shorter time than had ever 
 been known before; for, though these 
 gentlemen smiled at the captain's reli- 
 gious zeal, they could not but admire 
 his benevolent philanthropy, and there- 
 fore readily expedited his business. The 
 ship was ready just in time to sail with 
 the first ships that were leaving China. 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 225 
 
 The singularity of the manners of the 
 officers and ship's company while at 
 Canton, excited attention. All immora- 
 lity being utterly discountenanced, -not 
 an oath sworn, and an unusual devotion 
 maintained, induced those in the ships 
 whose company they had joined, to give 
 the Duff a new name: they called her 
 ' The Ten Commandments? 
 
 The ship left China, the 3rd of De- 
 cember, 1797, and arrived after a safe 
 and pleasant passage at the Cape of Good 
 Hope, on the 17th of March, 1798. Here 
 the ships of war impressed some sailors 
 from the other ships, but none from the 
 Duff. They sailed from the Cape on the 
 1st of April; touched at St. Helena on 
 the 15th ; on the 24th of June put into 
 Cork for convoy, and under the protec- 
 tion of the Ethalion, captain Countess, 
 the Duff arrived safe, and all well, in the 
 river Thames, on the 11th of July. In 
 a few days the cargo of teas was dis- 
 charged in as perfect a state as when re- 
 ceived at China. 
 
 " Thus," says the captain to his mi- 
 nister in a letter off Dover, " has our 
 God wafted us from place to place in 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 a most wonderful manner, having sailed 
 nearly fifty thousand miles since we left 
 you, in little more than one year and 
 nine months. I may say with Naomi, I 
 went out full, but the Lord has brought 
 me home again empty. Yet, not with- 
 out being able to say, I think with sin- 
 cerity, c The prosperity of Zion lies 
 near my heart.' " Experience had taught 
 the captain his deficiencies, and the ne- 
 cessity of an habitual dependance on 
 divine grace. 
 
 The return of the Duff, and the brief 
 but interesting account of the voyage 
 published by the directors, excited an 
 unusual degree of attention, and of gra- 
 titude to God among the friends of the 
 Missionary Society; while the admira- 
 tion of the conduct of the captain was 
 the subject of almost universal conver- 
 sation. The fervour of pleasurable feel- 
 ing glowed in every bosom, and darted 
 from individual to individual like an 
 electric shock. 
 
 The directors in their special report 
 on this occasion, observe, " The safe re- 
 turn of the Duff, the health which pre- 
 vailed on board during the whole voyage, 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 227 
 
 the welcome reception and safe settle- 
 ment of the missionaries at the places of 
 their destination, and the remarkable 
 interpositions of Divine Providence from 
 beginning to end of this remarkable 
 enterprize, were such evident answers 
 to the numerous prayers which had been 
 offered up to God on behalf of the mis- 
 sion, as loudly demanded the ' most 
 public acknowledgment of gratitude and 
 praise. 
 
 " The directors, therefore, of the 
 Missionary Society, having acquainted 
 the friends of the Institution, as soon as 
 they possibly could, with the leading cir- 
 cumstances of the voyage, requested that 
 a day of public thanksgiving might be 
 observed on the 6th of August, being 
 the first Monday in the month, when 
 the prayer-meetings of the Society are 
 usually held throughout the kingdom, 
 that all whose hearts have been inter- 
 ested in the work, might have an oppor- 
 tunity of uniting at the same time, in 
 the same pleasing and reasonable ser- 
 vice; they appointed Mr. Griffin of Port- 
 sea, to whose church captain Wilson 
 belonged, to preach on the occasion at 
 
228 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Surrey Chapel in the morning, and Dr. 
 Haweis, as being one of the oldest mi- 
 nisters in the direction, and who first 
 proposed the mission to the Pacific 
 Ocean, to preach at Zion chapel in the 
 evening. These extensive places were 
 soon filled with serious and respectable 
 auditories. — The whole services were 
 conducted with the utmost solemnity, 
 the presence of God was happily experi- 
 enced by preachers and hearers ; and 
 never, perhaps, was gratitude more 
 warmly expressed on any public occa- 
 sion." 
 
 Dr. Haweis in his thanksgiving ser- 
 mon, expressed his admiration in glow- 
 ing eloquence. " In this voyage," he 
 pbserves, " to tell of all His wonders, 
 my time would fail, and my ability be 
 unequal; I will just refresh your me- 
 mory with the following hints of some 
 of the great things done for us, in the 
 swiftness, the safety, the health, and 
 success of the voyage. 
 
 " The swiftness of the passage. This 
 will be the admiration of every nautical 
 man by profession. Who ever heard, in 
 the most prosperous voyage of the ablest 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 229 
 
 navigators, 183 degrees of longitude 
 passed in the short space of fifty- one 
 days? Moving often at the rate of two 
 hundred and twenty or thirty miles a 
 day, and so steadily before the wind as 
 seldom ever to interrupt the daily exer- 
 cises of prayer and praise, of study, or 
 repose. 
 
 " Shall we not with thankfulness ad- 
 mire the safety of the conveyance ? Not 
 a mast sprung, not a yard lost, not a 
 sail split, not an anchor left behind ! 
 To traverse more than twice the circum- 
 ference of the globe — especially amidst 
 lurking shoals, the hidden rocks, and 
 low islands of the Southern Ocean, must 
 it is well known be full of danger. They 
 felt it, and sometimes were at their wit's 
 end — going up to heaven and sinking 
 down into the deep — shook by the peal- 
 ing thunder — embayed without a pas- 
 sage, and once suspended on the dread- 
 ful reef. I read and trembled. But he 
 that dwelleth under the defence of the 
 Most High, shall be safe under the sha- 
 dow of the Almighty. I was ashamed, 
 humbled, comforted, exulted, when in 
 the midst of the most awful scenes I 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 hear one of my brethren, S We took the 
 wings of faith and fled in prayer to the 
 God of our mercies, and when we had 
 sung an hymn, presently the storm 
 abated, and we lay down comfortably 
 and fell asleep.' Ah! € So he giveth 
 his beloved sleep.' : 
 
 " Shall we not gratefully notice their 
 health. What a miracle of mercy hath 
 our vessel been ! Of about sixty persons 
 during nearly a two years' voyage, not 
 one has been lost: not only a hair of 
 their head hath not perished, but those 
 who have returned are " fat and well- 
 liking ;" and almost every man and wo- 
 man are reported in better health than 
 when they left the shores of their nati- 
 vity. What disease, misery, and fa- 
 mine, have we not often heard of in 
 voyages of far less extent and duration ? 
 The great Physician had determined 
 that the inhabitants of his ark should 
 not complain e I am sick.' Few ves- 
 sels have ever been so long without 
 touching for refreshments, or performed 
 so vast a run, as 13,800 miles without 
 the sight of land ; but except the com- 
 mon well-known effects of the sea, or 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 231 
 
 the indisposition of one individual, not a 
 scorbutic complaint appeared, no spread- 
 ing fever, no infectious disorder, no dan- 
 gerous accident, nor broken bone. Pas- 
 sing through climates so different — 
 tender women and children, many who 
 had never seen the sea till they em- 
 barked upon it, unaccustomed to such 
 food or accommodation, they reached 
 Otaheite, after a five months voyage, 
 without an individual sick. All the way 
 they had plenty of provisions, their water 
 sweet, abundant, and never failing, and 
 not a creature wanting any manner of 
 thing that was good. Whilst we record 
 the mighty acts of the Lord let future 
 voyagers learn from captain Wilson what 
 care, cleanliness, proper food, and unre- 
 mitted attention can, under the divine 
 benediction, do for the health of those 
 ' who occupy their business in great 
 waters.' " 
 
 An account of the voyage was pub- 
 lished by order of the directors for the 
 benefit of the society, written principally 
 by Mr. William Wilson, the chief officer, 
 with a number of beautiful views, and 
 instructive maps and charts. Prefixed 
 
232 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 is a scientific discourse on the geography 
 and history of the South Sea islands 
 where the missionaries have settled. 
 Appended to the voyage is a detailed 
 account of the natural and civil state of 
 Otaheite never before published. The 
 whole composed from the papers of the 
 captain, Mr. Wilson, and the mission- 
 aries, under the superintendance of a 
 committee of directors appointed for the 
 purpose. 
 
 This handsome volume was dedicated 
 to the king, and presented to his majesty 
 by the Rev. Dr. Haweis, rector of Aid- 
 winkle ; the Rev. David Bogue, tutor of 
 tl\e missionary academy ; and Mr. Chap- 
 man, the bookseller, in Fleet-street, gave 
 to the society two thousand pounds for 
 the copyright of this volume, of which 
 twelve thousand six hundred copies were 
 printed of the first edition. The direc- 
 tors received from the East India com- 
 pany for the freight of teas from China 
 four thousand one hundred pounds; so 
 that, though the voyage was a consider- 
 able expense to the society, these items, 
 together with the value of the ship after 
 her return, reduced it to a very moderate 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 233 
 
 sum indeed ; for after making a large 
 allowance for the value of the presents 
 sent by the friends of the society for the 
 missionaries and the natives not entered 
 in the account current, the whole ex- 
 pense of bringing the missionaries from 
 their various places of residence, fitting 
 them out, furnishing them with books 
 and various utensils, conveying them to 
 the utmost extent of the globe, and af- 
 fording them ample stores in the islands, 
 did not amount to the sum of one hun- 
 dred and forty pounds for each indi- 
 vidual missionary and his wife. This 
 statement is due to the memory of the 
 captain, as a proof that as the directors 
 had resolved to send missionaries to the 
 South Seas, his services were a real bene- 
 fit to the society. 
 
 As a token of the society's gratitude 
 to the captain, and as a lasting memorial 
 of it in his family, an elegant represen- 
 tation of the public interview of the king 
 and queen of Otaheite, and other princi- 
 pal persons, with the captain and the 
 missionaries, was painted by Smirk, and 
 presented to him by the directors. 
 
 His friend, Dr. Haweis, who had from 
 
234 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the first felt deeply interested in the 
 South Sea mission, and had given five 
 hundred pounds to the society speci- 
 fically in aid of that mission, presented 
 the captain with a diamond ring of con- 
 siderable Value accompanied with the 
 following note — 
 
 " MY DEAR CAPTAIN, 
 
 " Anxious for your arrival I had pre- 
 pared the following little token. I wish 
 to couple my name with yours. The 
 circle is the emblem of the eternity I 
 hope to spend with you. The brilliant 
 is not brighter than my affection, nor the 
 gold purer than my friendship. Wear 
 me on your heart, whilst mine beats it 
 will remember you, and bless God for 
 you. 
 
 " Yours, ever, 
 
 T. Haweis." 
 " Lady Ann Erskine desires particular 
 respects and congratulation." 
 
 To have expected immediate, rapid, 
 and extensive success in the work of 
 evangelizing the inhabitants of the South 
 Sea islands would have been the extreme 
 of unreasonable enthusiasm. A people 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 235 
 
 whose language had never been arranged 
 into a system, nor ever reduced to writ- 
 ing — whose governments were mutable 
 as the human passions — subject often to 
 the whim or caprice of the next most 
 athletic and daring chief — whose religion 
 was supported by the most inhuman and 
 cruel rites ; and whose manners were but 
 a few degrees above the state of the 
 brutes, and in many things below them, 
 for they protect and nourish their young, 
 but the South Sea islanders often destroy 
 their infants to save themselves the trou- 
 ble of nursing them — they sacrifice their 
 defenceless neighbours to appease their 
 gods — and eat the flesh of their enemies to 
 save their hogs — sucha people were not ea- 
 sily or speedily to be civilized, and brought 
 under the influence of the rational, order- 
 ly, and ennobling virtues of Christianity. 
 These are not reasons why the attempt 
 to evangelize them should not have been 
 made, nor why it should not be zealously 
 and perseveringly continued, but the re- 
 verse ; they are reasons however why we 
 should not be too sanguine in our expec- 
 tation of success, nor discouraged by 
 partial disappointments. 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Though the obstacles to success were 
 very great and numerous, and the mis- 
 sion was under a dark cloud for some 
 years, yet it is pleasing to observe that 
 the cloud is now dispersed, and an auspi- 
 cious sun begins to beam upon those 
 benighted heathens. The missionaries 
 have not only introduced several of the 
 useful arts and habits of civilization, but 
 they have reduced the language to a 
 standard by forming a grammar, and a 
 pretty extensive vocabulary of words and 
 phrases. They have translated into the 
 language an account of the life of Christ 
 and his apostles in the words of the New 
 Testament, and also a catechism ; these 
 have been printed either in New South 
 Wales or in London. They have also trans- 
 lated the Gospel of the evangelist Luke, 
 which is now ready for the press. They 
 have established schools which are regu- 
 larly attended ; the king and others have 
 learnt the arts of reading and writing, 
 but what is most highly interesting, the 
 king has received the truths of Chris- 
 tianity and professes to love them. He 
 has written several letters to the mission- 
 aries describing his views of himself as a 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 237 
 
 sinner, his desires of salvation through 
 Jesus Christ, and his earnest concern to 
 live a life of holiness. The originals of 
 these letters in the hand-writing of king 
 Pomarre are in the possession of the 
 directors in London. They are inserted 
 here in the translation given of them by 
 the missionaries as a specimen of the 
 literature and religion of the king of 
 Otaheite. The missionaries who had been 
 under the necessity of flying from Ota- 
 heite to Port Jackson in consequenee of 
 the civil wars, returned to Eimeo, an 
 island adjacent to Otaheite, and accom- 
 panied these letters, with the following, 
 to the directors ; — 
 
 " Island of Eimeo, Oct. 21, 1812. 
 
 " HON. FATHERS AND BRETHREN, 
 
 " We, your undersigned missionaries, 
 after a grievous dispersion and absence 
 from these islands, and the variety of 
 gloomy occurrences relative to the mis- 
 sion which beclouded our prospects and 
 grieved our hearts, being by the good 
 hand of our God upon us, mercifully 
 preserved in the perils, hazards, and 
 changing scenes through which we have 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 been led since our leaving these islands, 
 and now brought back to them in safety, 
 and permitted again to combine our 
 efforts for the accomplishment of the 
 grand object of the mission, and having, 
 (glory be to God,) our prospects in some 
 measure brightened, our hopes exalted, 
 and our hearts encouraged by an event, 
 which you will no doubt with us deem of 
 great importance in itself, and portend- 
 ing a happy result of our missionary la- 
 bours ; we take the earliest opportunity 
 of making this known to you, and of 
 giving you a statement of our circum- 
 stances, and the state of the mission. 
 The event to which we allude is the con- 
 version of king Pomarre to Christianity, 
 a circumstance which no doubt will cause 
 your hearts, and the hearts of all true 
 friends of Christ who may hear of it, to 
 rejoice. 
 
 " On the 18th of July he came to us 
 and offered himself a candidate for chris- 
 tian baptism, declaring it his fixed pur- 
 pose and determination to cleave to Je- 
 hovah the true God, and to his people, 
 expressing his desire and willingness to 
 receive further instruction in the things 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 239 
 
 of God, and requesting us to pray for 
 him. He gave us to understand that this 
 resolution was the result of long and 
 increasing conviction of the truth and 
 excellency of our religion. Much inte- 
 resting conversation took place on this 
 occasion too tedious here to relate at 
 large ; however we must mention some 
 of it. He said he had been endeavouring 
 to persuade his father-in-law, Tamatoa, 
 and Tapoa, the two principal chiefs of 
 the leeward islands, to take the same 
 step he was taking, but that they told 
 him he might do as he pleased; as for 
 them they would cleave to Ora ; which 
 he observed was cleaving to Satan ; and 
 said that if no one else would hear us, or 
 embrace our religion, he would, as he 
 desired to be happy after death, and be 
 saved in the judgment day. On our ob- 
 serving that we did not cease to pray to 
 God for him, and that it would rejoice 
 us much to see him sincerely and truly 
 given up in heart to God, and that, if that 
 was the case, he might then be baptized ; 
 he replied, that we could not know his 
 heart, nor he ours, but that He who 
 made us men knew our hearts, and whe- 
 
240 MEMOIRS OT CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 ther we spoke truth or falsehood to each 
 other. Indeed he introduced the sub- 
 ject at first by saying, ' You do not 
 know the thoughts of my heart, but 
 God does.' We informed him that it 
 was customary for those who offered 
 themselves . as candidates for ^baptism 
 from among the heathen to be for some 
 time further instructed in the things of 
 God, and their conduct inspected, that it 
 might be known whether they had truly 
 forsaken every evil way, and were really 
 turned in heart to God before they were 
 baptized, all which he seemed to approve 
 of, observing that he was willing to do as 
 we thought proper ; and that he left the 
 affair of his baptism entirely with us as 
 to the time. Another thing he proposed 
 during this conversation must not be 
 omitted, namely, the erection of a build- 
 ing for the worship of God ; and on be- 
 ing told that perhaps it would be better to 
 defer the building till his and our affairs 
 should be more settled, he replied, ' Let 
 us not mind these, let it be built at all 
 events.' However, his removal to Ta- 
 heite prevents this for the present. In- 
 deed [it is a circumstance we much re- 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 241 
 
 gret, as it deprives him of the means of 
 grace and instruction, except by letter, 
 and exposes him to many and great 
 temptations. However, thanks be to 
 God, we learn from his letters and ver- 
 bal accounts of him, that he strictly ob- 
 serves the christian sabbath, and perse- 
 veres in an open profession of his new 
 religion before the chiefs and people ; and 
 for which we understand he has already 
 experienced a considerable degree of per- 
 secution notwithstanding his dignity. 
 
 f That you may form a judgment for 
 yourselves of the present state of his 
 mind, we send you with this two of his 
 late letters, with a translation of them. 
 
 " We remain, honoured fathers and 
 brethren, your brethren and humble ser- 
 vants in the gospel for Christ's sake, 
 
 " W. Henry. H. Bicknell. 
 
 " C. Wilson. J. Davies. 
 
 " W. Scott. H. Nott." . 
 
 " H. Hayward. 
 
 ■" Papeite, Taheite, Friday, Sept. 25, 1812. 
 " DEAR FRIENDS, 
 
 " May Jehovah and Jesus Christ, may 
 the Three-One, our only trust and Sa- 
 viour, bless you! May the anger of 
 
 M 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Jehovah towards me be appeased, who 
 am a wicked man, guilty of accumulated 
 crimes — of regardlesness and ignorance 
 of the true God, and of an obstinate per- 
 severance in wickedness ! May Jehovah 
 give me his good Spirit to sanctify my 
 heart, that I may love what is good, 
 and that I may be enabled to put away 
 all my evil customs, and become one of 
 his people, and be saved through Jesus 
 Christ our only Saviour ; you indeed will 
 be saved, you are become the people of 
 God, but I may be banished to hell ; God 
 may not regard me : I am a wicked man, 
 and my sins are great and accumulated 
 (or collected) together. But O that we 
 may all be saved through Jesus Christ. 
 May the anger of God towards us all be 
 appeased ; for all of us have been disobe- 
 dient to him as our Lord and Master. 
 Look at the beasts, they are all obedient 
 to man as their lord and master; but we 
 have not obeyed our Lord and Master. 
 Surely we are fools ! May the Three-One 
 
 save us !" 
 
 " To the Missionaries at Moorea, Eimeo." 
 " MY DEAR FRIENDS, 
 
 " War will perhaps soon commence in 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 243 
 
 the district of Papara. We are listening 
 to the reports to find out whether they 
 are true or not. Should war not take 
 place, it will be through fear of us. Eno- 
 matua is at the head of one party, and 
 Arutapoea and his brother Tate at the 
 head of the other. Should Enomatua be 
 banished from Papara all Taheite will be 
 involved in war. In this case I shall take 
 Enomatua's part, and the Poreoniice, 
 (which includes all the districts from 
 Isthmus to Tepaeriei,) will join me. Par- 
 para and part of Atahuru are for banish- 
 ing Enomatua ; but Tacarabei and Faa, 
 and part of Atahuru, wish to be neuter. 
 We are aware that this war is on our 
 account, and designed to involve us. 
 Perhaps you do not know Enomatua, nor 
 Arutapoea, the brother of Tate, who 
 came from Reiatea with Tapoa and 
 party. 
 
 " Tapoa is at the point of death ; he 
 can eat nothing, and knows nobody. 
 
 " I am ill myself, and have no appe- 
 tite for food. I was taken ill about 
 three o'clock on Monday last. My afflic- 
 tion is great ; but if I can only obtain 
 God's favour before I die I shall count 
 m 2 
 
244 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 myself well off. But, O ! should I die 
 with my sins unpardoned it will be ill 
 indeed with me. O! may my sins be 
 pardoned, and my soul saved through 
 Jesus Christ ! And may Jehovah regard 
 me before I die, and then I shall rejoice, 
 because I have obtained the favour of 
 Jehovah. 
 
 " May Jehovah and Jesus Christ bless 
 us all. 
 
 " Pomarre." 
 
 " Papeite, Taheite, Oct. 8, 1812. 
 < " MY DEAR FRIENDS, 
 
 "> May Jehovah and Jesus Christ our 
 Saviour bless you. If it had not been 
 for the mercy of God towards us we 
 should all have been cut off long ago. 
 Had it pleased God to have given us up 
 to the will of Satan he would long ago 
 have destroyed us all. To the Three- 
 One we owe our preservation and salva- 
 tion. O Jehovah save us I O Jesus Christ 
 save us ! 
 
 " Nothing bad (referring to the war) 
 is talked of at Taheite at present ; if it 
 were otherwise I would not remain here : 
 there is one thing that fills me with 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 245 
 
 horror, which I will inform you of by and 
 by. Satan perhaps is the author of it; 
 he is envious of me. May Jesus Christ 
 save me. 
 
 " The affairs of Taheite are pretty well 
 settled, the chiefs having sent professions 
 of subjection ; but how long this will con- 
 tinue is uncertain* However, at present 
 all is well. 
 
 " I continue to pray to God without 
 ceasing. Regardless of other things, I 
 am concerned only that my soul may be 
 saved by Jesus Christ ! It is my earnest 
 desire that I may become one of Jeho- 
 vah's people, and that God may turn 
 away his anger from me, which I deserve 
 for my wickedness — my ignorance of 
 him, and my accumulated crimes ! 
 
 " If God were pleased to create all 
 mankind anew, then they would be good. 
 This is my desire, that God would enable 
 me from my heart to love that which is 
 good, and to abhor that which is evil; 
 and that I may be saved by Jesus Christ. 
 My dear friends write to me that I may 
 know your minds. Inform me also of 
 the news from Port Jackson, and whe- 
 ther king George is alive or dead. 
 
246 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 " May Jehovah and Jesus Christ our 
 Saviour bless you ! 
 
 " POMARRE." 
 
 ce To the Missionaries at Morea, Eimeo:' 
 
 The king wrote again to the mission- 
 aries in the same strain in February, 
 1814 ; and in September of the same year 
 the missionaries inform the directors 
 that the mission was increasingly suc- 
 cessful both at Eimeo and at Otaheite, 
 (as called in Cook's and other voyages, 
 but Taheite, as called by the natives; 
 the letter O being dropped as only hav- 
 ing something of the force of an article.) 
 The example of the king in publicly re- 
 nouncing the idol gods and false religion 
 of his country, and declaring his full 
 conviction of the truth, superiority, and 
 excellency of our religion, has had a 
 powerful influence upon the minds of 
 many. Several have been removed by 
 death, leaving very satisfactory evi- 
 dences of their having been truly con- 
 verted to God by the gospel through the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit. A meet- 
 ing for prayer has been formed at 
 
MIS MISSIONARY VOYAGK. 247 
 
 Taheite without the interference or know- 
 ledge of the missionaries at the time. 
 At Eimeo a society is formed of more 
 than forty natives who have renounced 
 their idol- worship and wicked customs, 
 and who profess to worship the one living 
 and true God, and to be desirous to be 
 saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Marsden, the principal 
 chaplain to the colony of New South 
 Wales, and a magistrate, writes to the 
 directors, dated May the 17th, 1814, as 
 follows : " I have sent you several letters 
 from the missionaries at Otaheite. I 
 am exceedingly happy to hear that the 
 good work is begun among the natives, 
 and that many have renounced their 
 idols, and have turned unto the living 
 and true God. The private letters from 
 the brethren are very gratifying to my 
 feelings. The Lord will establish his 
 kingdom in their islands : the way is 
 gradually opening. You have some of 
 the best of men in my opinion as mis- 
 sionaries, whose hearts are wholly en- 
 gaged in the great work." 
 
 From these interesting facts it appears 
 that the labours and sacrifices of the 
 
248 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 captain, the society, and the missionaries, 
 have not been in vain. The morning 
 now begins to brighten on these long 
 benighted lands. The desert at last buds, 
 and will soon blossom as the rose. Some 
 of the redeemed spirits from those dis- 
 tant isles of the sea have entered into 
 bliss as the first fruits of the Spirit, and 
 certain presages of the goodly number 
 who shall one day surround the throne 
 with joyful acclamations, and unceasing 
 strains of gratitude to God, for the bless- 
 ings derived from the exertions of the 
 Missionary Society. Already have the 
 blessed spirit of the captain, and the glo- 
 rified spirits from the islands mingled 
 their joyful hallelujahs to God and the 
 Lamb, and sung in elevated tones u unto 
 him that loved us and washed us from 
 our sins in his own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests to God and his Fa- 
 ther ; to him be glory and dominion for 
 ever and ever. Amen." 
 
 I shall finish this part in the language 
 of the writers of the missionary voyage. 
 
 " We cannot but flatter ourselves that 
 the public, on an impartial survey of 
 what has been done, will consider the 
 
HIS MISSIONARY VOYAGE. 249 
 
 Missionary Society as among the real 
 benefactors to mankind; and support 
 an undertaking which God has hitherto 
 singularly blessed, and which proposes, 
 as its first object, the divine glory, and the 
 salvation, temporal and eternal, of those 
 whom hitherto no man has cared for. 
 Names, sects, and parties have no place 
 among us — we mean nothing political, 
 partial, or exclusive. Qne is our Master, 
 even Christ. We desire to know and 
 teach nothing but him crucified ; to in- 
 terfere in no contest, to disturb no go- 
 vernment established, nor to introduce 
 any peculiar modes of worship, but to 
 leave every man to the book of truth for 
 his guide in the spirit of meekness ; to 
 unite in one centre, Jesus Christ, the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; 
 and to love one another out of a pure 
 heart fervently. Time and better infor- 
 mation, it is hoped, will dissipate every 
 prejudice entertained against so benevo- 
 lent an undertaking." 
 
 m 5 
 
250 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 From the settling of the captain in London, after 
 the Missionary Voyage, to the time of his 
 death. 
 
 There is a special sphere of action, 
 suited to the talents, dispositions, and 
 habits of individuals, in which their ex- 
 cellencies concentrate, and shine in a 
 pre-eminent degree, but out of which 
 they often appear inferior to men of or- 
 dinary capacities. Captain Wilson was 
 so deeply sensible of the truth of this 
 position, and so naturally diffident of his 
 own opinion on subjects not within the 
 range of his immediate profession, that 
 he sought and sighed for retirement^ 
 even from the business and bustle of 
 the Missionary Society. Accustomed 
 to the manners of an East India mer- 
 chant and captain, he felt himself incom- 
 petent to take any useful share in those 
 popular meetings, or among untrained 
 societies, where it often happens that 
 the most unqualified persons to decide 
 or act, are for a time the most promi- 
 nent, and where they obtrude their opi- 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 251 
 
 nions upon all subjects that come before 
 them, with equal confidence and voci- 
 feration. He had not, perhaps, been 
 sufficiently enured to the free discus- 
 sions of voluntary societies and the un- 
 restrained animadversions of a body of 
 independent individuals, to feel, after the 
 storms of a protracted debate, the sere- 
 nity of a summer's evening, which thou- 
 sands in the metropolis and in this land 
 of freedom, are accustomed to feel. 
 But though this might have had some 
 influence in preventing his making him- 
 self prominent in the religious societies 
 in London, yet his retirement arose prin- 
 cipally from other causes. 
 
 He was chosen from time to time on 
 the direction of the affairs of the Mis- 
 sionary Society, but did not make a 
 point of attending, unless when he 
 thought his mercantile, geographical, or 
 nautical knowledge could be used to 
 advantage, and then he never withheld 
 his presence or his opinions, whenever 
 his health would admit of his attendance. 
 After the captain's return from the 
 South Seas, he resided in London for 
 some time, his niece, as before, having 
 
252 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the superintendance of his domestic con- 
 cerns. The effects of a sedentary life 
 after a long sea voyage, soon manifested 
 themselves in a very serious bilious at- 
 tack, which indicated a morbid affection 
 of the liver, and in his own opinion 
 threatened his life. In this state of body 
 he possessed great pleasure and comfort 
 of mind. He felt that he had lived to 
 accomplish an important object, and he 
 was therefore not unwilling to die ; but, 
 He who had fixed the bounds of his 
 habitation, added nearly twenty years 
 more to his life. He felt himself very 
 subject to frequent attacks of the same,, 
 or similar complaints, which made him 
 very cautious as to his regimen, and 
 often prevented his being out at the 
 meetings of the directors, because of 
 the evening air. 
 
 The same unerring Providence which 
 had guided him by a right way through 
 the whole journey of life, now led him 
 to a city of habitation, by uniting him 
 with a rich and respectable family on 
 Denmark Hill, and placing him under 
 the pastoral care of the Rev. George 
 Clayton, of Walworth. 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 253 
 
 Immediately on his return from India, 
 he manifested a benevolent concern to 
 advance the interest of several relatives, 
 the descendants of two of his brothers, 
 and it was his aim, after his return from 
 the missionary voyage, to promote the 
 same object. One of these had obtained 
 a respectable wine trade in London, and 
 afterwards entered into extensive mer- 
 cantile engagements. The captain, out 
 of pure kindness to his relative, ad- 
 vanced several thousand pounds in aid 
 of his capital. These sums being in 
 jeopardy from the state of the times, 
 to save them and to rescue his friend 
 and relative from the gulph which he 
 perceived opening beneath him, he ad- 
 vanced some thousands more. • Besides 
 these loans to his relative, he likewise 
 made some, of nearly or quite sixteen 
 thousand pounds to another individual 
 in part connected with his relative, and 
 as he conceived, principally for his be- 
 nefit. He continued to make advances 
 in order to save the former sums, till in 
 consequence of what has been called the 
 second South Sea bubble, or the failures 
 of the British merchants in the ship- 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 ments to South America, his relative 
 failed for a vast sum of money, and the 
 other person was incapable of meeting 
 the captain's demands upon him, so that 
 all the advantages of some years fatigue 
 in the Indies, besides what he received 
 with Mrs. Wilson, and what was left 
 him by Mr. Holbert, his father-in-law, 
 a sum in the whole little short of thirty 
 thousand pounds, were all swallowed up 
 by the adventurous engagements of one 
 whom he from pure friendship most ear- 
 nestly wished to serve. 
 
 Though through the kindness of a 
 munificent Providence, he still possessed 
 an ample fortune for his children, in the 
 right of Mrs. Wilson; he had nothing 
 at his own disposal that he thought 
 would admit of leaving to any of his 
 friends the least testimony of former 
 friendship, however endearing, or of long 
 standing. Though his loss deprived him 
 of none of the comforts of life or the 
 means of making a respectable appear- 
 ance in society, yet it was an 6vent that 
 tried his mind in a very considerable 
 degree, not only on his own account, 
 but also on account of his family and 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 255 
 
 those relatives who had partaken of his 
 kindness, but from whom he now 
 thought himself called in a great mea- 
 sure to withhold his benevolence in fu- 
 ture. This part of domestic calamity 
 would not have been thus particularized, 
 but as it serves to shew that remarkable 
 events of Providence attended him even 
 to the last, and that all human posses- 
 sions are mutable and uncertain. But 
 it is mentioned principally because it ap- 
 pears necessarily due to his memory; 
 for the general report of his possessing a 
 very ample fortune, naturally induced 
 the friends of religion to expect from 
 him a liberality to the cause of God, in 
 some measure corresponding with his 
 riches and his former professions of zeal 
 for the welfare of that cause. This event 
 not only prevented any testamentary 
 tokens of concern for that Society and 
 cause, to which he had been such a pro- 
 minent and zealous friend, but it limited 
 his ability for extensive benevolence dur- 
 ing the greater part of his residence near 
 London. 
 
 To describe a man without faults, is 
 in the esteem of all that know human 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 nature, even in its most improved state, 
 to discredit the whole account. There 
 are few days so clear as to be without a 
 cloud; even the luminary of day itself 
 has some dark spots on its disk. 
 
 The captain's temper was naturally re- 
 serve, and though softened and rendered 
 affable by divine grace, yet at times, it 
 partook of something bordering on hau- 
 teur. This, as it was his fault, was to 
 himself the cause of considerable suf- 
 fering ; he often lamented to the writer 
 that he had not sufficiently known his 
 own character ; for, said he, had any one 
 informed me, after I returned from the 
 South Sea Mission, when my fortune 
 was all safe in the English funds, that 
 any thing Avould have induced me to 
 venture it on any mercantile engage- 
 ment or individual security, J should 
 have smiled at his ignorance of my cha- 
 racter, and should have said, it is im- 
 possible. What he lamented as his fault 
 was, that he had not advised with some 
 judicious friends on the prudence or 
 propriety of making such large advances 
 of a pecuniary nature upon such preca- 
 rious security, but more especially, that 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 257 
 
 he had never acquainted Mrs. Wilson 
 with the extent of it, nor in any case on 
 this subject advised with her about it. 
 This certainly was not right ; the mar- 
 riage bond includes reciprocal duties and 
 confidence as well as affection. It is an 
 old adage, and I am persuaded generally 
 a very true one, " A man will seldom 
 do wrong if he consults his wife." She 
 may lead him wrong, if the scheme be 
 her own, but her fears and advice may 
 be of great advantage to the husband if 
 he listens to her, in making him reflect 
 and examine his own designs till he is 
 under the . controul of a cautious dispo- 
 sition. When the failure was known, 
 in which the whole of the captain's for- 
 tune was involved, he had the unspeak- 
 able pain of disclosing the circumstance 
 to Mrs. Wilson and her family, in all its 
 extent. Had it been done some time 
 before, probably it had prevented a con- 
 siderable part of the loss, and saved him 
 from much painful anxiety. However, 
 when she fully understood the subject, 
 her concern was more about his feel- 
 ings than their loss ; and instead of 
 making any reflections on him, she con- 
 
258 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. , 
 
 soled his mind by reminding him, that 
 every thing is from the Lord for some 
 wise end, and that still they had a suffi- 
 ciency left for them and their family^ 
 and also an interest in a covenant or- 
 dered in 'all things and sure. He how- 
 ever admitted he had unwittingly lent 
 his aid more from feelings of benevo- 
 lence and kindness, than from the dic- 
 tates of his understanding* These un- 
 pleasant subjects are mentioned as 
 admonitory events in this age of daring 
 and imprudent speculation, in which the 
 adventurer not only involves himself but 
 all his connexions, and in which he him- 
 self often suffers the least. 
 
 Few lives have more clearly taught us 
 the uncertainty of human possessions, 
 and that we are under the controul of 
 an invisible hand, than that of captain 
 Wilson. A life subject to such a vast 
 number of changes, must necessarily 
 have excited as numerous and various 
 feelings ; these had produced in the 
 captain's mind a deep and lively sense 
 of the divine government. He admitted 
 that all he possessed was by the special 
 gift of a munificent Providence, and that 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 259 
 
 the same hand which had given, or 
 rather lent it to him, had a right to 
 take it again. If, however, there was 
 in the character of this excellent man 
 any other shade than that just men- 
 tioned, it was, perhaps, a want of a suffi- 
 cient sense of his obligation to his God 
 and Redeemer, to use a proportion of his 
 property for his honour, and a little too 
 much attachment to the wealth of this 
 world. God often chastises faults in his 
 own people, which he suffers to pass 
 without correction in the men of the 
 world. Christians are partakers of more 
 exalted principles, have higher privi- 
 leges, a more glorious destination, have 
 greater obligations, and are therefore 
 under a different discipline from unre- 
 generate men. The cause of truth, and 
 the salvation of the souls of men/ is, 
 under God, dependent upon the prin- 
 ciples and actions of his own people. 
 What he gives them, is not for them- 
 selves only, they are to be the lights of 
 the world and the salt of the earth ; 
 they are to lay by, according as God has 
 prospered them, for the promotion of 
 his cause. " He that soweth sparingly 
 
260 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 shall reap also sparingly, he that soweth 
 bountifully shall reap bountifully, and 
 he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the 
 flesh reap corruption." These princi- 
 ples are better understood^ and more 
 practically felt than they were fifty years 
 since ; but still they are not sufficiently 
 felt by christians in general, especially 
 by many of the richer members of the 
 church of Christ, though there are cer- 
 tainly many happy exceptions: their 
 liberality to the cause of God is very 
 little when compared with that of the 
 labouring classes of society. The word 
 of God does not instruct us to level the 
 distinctions which Providence .has, made 
 in society. Though penuriousness may 
 induce some so improperly to limit their 
 expenditure, as not to afford to the 
 labouring, manufacturing, and trading 
 classes, that encouragement which they 
 have a right to expect, yet the apostle 
 Peter teaches us, that there is an ex- 
 ternal appearance of costliness even in 
 pur apparel, and of course in greater 
 things, unbecoming persons professing 
 godliness, which ought to be conscienti- 
 ously avoided. 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 261 
 
 It has often been a question of con- 
 science with many, what is the portion 
 which persons should appropriate of 
 their income to the cause of God and 
 the poor? A countess of Warwick, many 
 years ago, in reply to a question pro- 
 posed by her on this subject to a mi- 
 nister, received for answer, " It is hard, 
 if not impossible, to fix a rule which can 
 hold universally, and that the circum- 
 stances in which persons stand with re- 
 spect to their yearly income, their de- 
 pendencies, and emergent occasions 
 inevitably occurring, must all be consi- 
 dered :" but when urged by her for a 
 more direct reply, as the question re- 
 spected her own case, he suggested that 
 a seventh part would be a fit proportion 
 of her income to devote to charitable 
 uses ; she immediately informed him that 
 she had resolved never to give less than 
 one third. Some think from a seventh 
 of our time being required for God, that 
 a seventh of our property should be de- 
 voted to him, yet, as in the case of the 
 countess, even this would not give scope 
 to the feelings, and comprehend the 
 abilities of some. Others think from 
 
262 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 the tenth of the income being appro- 
 priated as early as the call of Abraham, 
 that less should not be appropriated now 
 under the gospel dispensation. We must 
 admit with the adviser of the countess 
 of Warwick, that no rule can be pre- 
 sented that will universally apply ; yet a 
 tenth of the savings, or in other words, 
 of the increase of the capital of an indi- 
 vidual, after all domestic and other ex- 
 penses are discharged cannot in general 
 either injure the man, his family, or his 
 creditors. Though the far greater ma- 
 jority of christians, individually consi- 
 dered, give much more than this, yet it 
 is questionable, whether this is true in 
 the average of the ultimate savings of 
 the christians of the present day in Great 
 Britain ; at least it is not true of many : 
 but a careful observer of the providence 
 of God may clearly perceive the truth 
 of sacred writ. " There is that scat- 
 tered yet increaseth, and there is that 
 withholdeth more than is meet, but it 
 tendeth to poverty :" this is often verified 
 either in the person or his children. 
 
 The captain did not admit of adopting 
 any fixed rule of benevolence ; he, with 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 263 
 
 perhaps most other persons, left his be- 
 nefactions to depend principally upon 
 the number of applications. To some 
 this may be the best method ; but in the 
 opinion of the author, which was freely 
 given to his friend, it should be the re- 
 sult of a prayerful and conscientious ex- 
 amination of his circumstances, because 
 the command is, u Let every one of 
 you lay by in store, for the collection 
 for the saints, as God has prospered 
 him;'' because, when once the rule is 
 adopted and the habit formed, it pre- 
 vents that grudging and carnal reason- 
 ing which naturally arise in the heart, 
 when objects of charity are presented. 
 If the sum to be appropriated for bene- 
 volent purposes is fixed by the individual 
 according to some rule, the judgment 
 has only impartially to examine the de- 
 gree of excellence of each case, and the 
 claims it has upon him. Nor is the per- 
 son bound by this rule not to exercise 
 faith, and give vent to his generous feel- 
 ings in special cases, as it is not neces- 
 sary that the rule should never be ex- 
 ceeded : but its use chiefly is, to keep 
 the conscience and the habits up to the 
 
264 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 principle. The tenor of these remarks 
 was made in the presence of a valuable 
 friend of the authors some few months 
 since, who felt the force of them on his 
 heart, and after mature reflection, re- 
 solved to act under their influence. After 
 he had examined the sum which the pro- 
 ceeds of his business, and the interest 
 of his monies not employed in trade, 
 had enabled him to add to his capital in 
 the past year ; and after he had deducted 
 the sums he had given to benevolent 
 objects, (among which he did not reckon 
 i:he subscriptions for the support of the 
 ministry of the word, because he con- 
 sidered this an act of justice, not of 
 benevolence, as he and his family par- 
 took of the advantage) he found* upon 
 the principle of giving a tenth of his sav- 
 ings that he was three hundred pounds 
 in debt to the cause of God, principally 
 for the last year only. This sum he im- 
 mediately appropriated with the know- 
 ledge and approbation of his wife to 
 some specific objects of benevolence, 
 but the donor is known to none but his 
 friend. This was accompanied with a 
 declaration, that through the strength of 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 265 
 
 Divine grace it was his design to pur- 
 sue the same rule in future. This fact 
 is recorded for the sake of example, as 
 this person was not considered by his 
 friends as at all deficient in liberality 
 before. 
 
 It was remarked by many, after the 
 captain had made so noble a sacrifice of 
 his time and property in the missionary 
 voyage, when it was understood that he 
 had married a truly pious lady, the only 
 child of a gentleman of very ample for- 
 tune ; " See how God rewards his faith- 
 ful servants even in this life !" But he 
 who gave him this addition to his for- 
 tune, thought fit to wean his heart from 
 it, and this was, perhaps, one reason 
 why he was suffered to sustain so great 
 a loss by the adventurous conduct of 
 others. In either view, the providence 
 is instructing and improving. We see 
 how easily God can return to his people 
 a hundred-fold in this life for what they 
 do for his cause, and on the other side 
 we see that if his people do not make a 
 scriptural and benevolent use of what he 
 gives, how easy it is for God to take it 
 again. " Whoso is wise and will observe 
 
 N 
 
266 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 these things, shall understand the loving- 
 kindness of the Lord." 
 
 This event, in a spiritual sense, proved 
 highly beneficial to the captain. It gave 
 him deeper discoveries of his own heart, 
 and of the minute fulfilment of the word 
 by the providence of God. In the Oc- 
 tober and May previous to his death, 
 these events were the subject of very 
 useful conversation between the captain 
 and his friend. He observed, " In how 
 many ways God has taught me my de- 
 pendance upon him ! he saw this was 
 the most effectual way to humble my 
 spirit, to wean me from the world, and 
 to bring me near to himself, and I trust 
 he has done it." The writer never left 
 his company at the period mentioned, 
 without feeling in a lively degree, that as 
 iron sharpeneth iron, so does the coun- 
 tenance of a man his friend. The pro- 
 fitable reflections he made upon his own 
 life and experience, shewed how closely 
 he had watched his own spirit, and the 
 advantages he had derived from the 
 word of God. 
 
 His family afflictions and frequent per- 
 sonal indispositions produced retired and 
 
HIS SETTLING IN LONDON. 267 
 
 domestic habits ; though he was not pro- 
 minent in any of the active societies in 
 the metropolis for general usefulness, 
 yet he improved his retirement to the 
 benefit of his personal religion. His 
 reading did not partake of an extensive 
 range of subjects, but it was well em- 
 ployed on those of theology ; he not 
 only read, but studied the Scriptures ; 
 the word of God was his companion. 
 Part of the day was devoted to reading 
 the Scriptures and committing certain 
 portions to memory, and another part to 
 a repetition of them as he walked or 
 rode to town, or employed himself in his 
 garden. By this means he obtained a 
 great richness in experimental religion. 
 His conversation with his intimate friends 
 was highly instructive and animating. 
 Indeed his religious feelings were kept 
 so much alive by this profitable train of 
 meditation and much prayer, that he felt 
 considerable reluctance to company, as 
 he was often disappointed in not meet- 
 ing with a correspondent disposition in 
 others to converse on spiritual subjects. 
 The last interview which the author had 
 with his friend, was in the May previous 
 n2 
 
268 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 to his death, at which time, his mind 
 was spiritual, resigned, and full of con- 
 fidence of his personal interest in the 
 blessings of the gospel. He wondered 
 at the sovereign grace which had been 
 manifested to him, and exulted in the 
 glorious prospect before him. i 
 
 -His last illness was painful and pro- 
 tracted, but he bore it with great pati- 
 ence and fortitude, and his death was 
 not only peaceful, but triumphant. His 
 much respected pastor and friend, the 
 Rev. George Clayton, preached his fu- 
 neral sermon to a very respectable and 
 crowded auditory. In this discourse, he 
 gave an affectionate testimony to the 
 character of his deceased friend and 
 deacon of the church, and also an inter- 
 esting account of the last closing period 
 of a life, which, for diversity of circum- 
 stances, affecting incidents, and happy 
 termination, has but few equals. Mr. 
 Clayton has kindly furnished the author 
 with the substance of this account, with 
 permission to insert it, which is here 
 done with the omission of a few facts 
 already recorded in the previous part of 
 the Memoirs. 
 
HIS DEATH. 269 
 
 *< Such, blessed be God !" says Mr. Clay- 
 ton, " is the consolation we enjoy in re- 
 gard to our departed friend and brother. 
 I must confess I feel some degree of 
 embarrassment in speaking of him upon 
 this occasion, because he enjoined me 
 in his last moments to say nothing 
 which should tend to bring him into 
 notice. Yet this injunction, wliich was 
 quite in unison with the retiring mo* 
 desty of his character, had an exceptive 
 clause relating to the glory of God and 
 the edification of the church. It is not 
 possible, however, to separate these 
 points from personal allusions, when a 
 Narrative is to be given, designed to illus- 
 trate the efficacy of christian principles, 
 in scenes of sickness and in the hour 
 
 of death. Whatever it may be neces- 
 
 sary to say of the individual, is not in- 
 tended to exalt the dead, or to admi- 
 nister to the unprofitable curiosity of the 
 living; but is advanced with a view to 
 glorify the truth and grace of our Divine 
 Master, whose we are and whom we 
 serve. It happens that our departed 
 friend was very extensively known in 
 the religious world, more particularly 
 
 
270 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 from the circumstance of his accepting 
 the command of the ship Duff., a vessel 
 fitted out at a considerable cost by the 
 directors of the Missionary Society. On 
 this account, some details of the con- 
 cluding scenes of his christian course may 
 very naturally be expected. I shall not 
 attempt to enter minutely into the par- 
 ticulars of his early life, though his his- 
 tory was indeed an eventful one, be- 
 cause it is my aim to present him to 
 your observation, only as he was occu- 
 pied in the province of religion. Suffice 
 it then to observe, that on his return 
 from the voyage, in which he proved 
 himself worthy of the trust reposed in 
 him, his circle of connexions and friends 
 was greatly widened. Among other fa- 
 milies of worth and affluence to whose 
 acquaintance he was introduced, was 
 that of the late Richard Holbert, Esq. of 
 Denmark Hill, Camberwell, whose amia- 
 ble and pious daughter Jie married in 
 the year 1799, and found^in her to his 
 latest day a most tender and affectionate 
 wife. Having entered upon a domestic 
 settlement which fixed him in our imme- 
 diate neighbourhood, he became an oc- 
 
HIS DEATH. 271 
 
 easional communicant at the table of the 
 Lord in this place, till in the year 1805, 
 he received a regular and honourable 
 dismission from the Christian Society at 
 Portsea, under the pastoral care of the 
 Rev. J. Griffin. Subsequently to this, 
 he was appointed to the office of dea- 
 con, by the unanimous suffrages of this 
 religious community ; an office which he 
 continued to fill peacefully and usefully, 
 till the time of his removal from the 
 present world. And we can bear a 
 thankful testimony to the manner in 
 which our departed brother fulfilled the 
 duties devolving on him. We are wit- 
 nesses of his steady attachment to the 
 house of God, his punctual attendance 
 on the ordinances of divine worship, 
 and his humble unassuming deportment 
 amongst us. At no time has he sought 
 to usurp undue authority, or to lord it 
 over God's heritage. Deeply convinced 
 of the evils of an officious and over- 
 bearing temper in dissenting churches, 
 he never was ambitious of taking the 
 lead, and though by no means reluctant 
 to act, when fairly called upon, he^did 
 nod misuse his office by rudely prying 
 
272 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON, 
 
 into the affairs of others, nor overstep 
 its scriptural limits by intruding into the 
 province of the minister. If any one 
 should incline to censure him for ap- 
 pearing less frequently in public socie- 
 ties than in former years, let the change 
 of his circumstances and the new train 
 of duties they brought with them, be 
 duly weighed. While in unconnected 
 life, without relative calls and domestic 
 claims, he could very properly devote 
 the greater part of his time and atten- 
 tion to religious objects abroad; but 
 when he contracted those alliances which 
 involved the various and responsible 
 offices of a son, a husband, and a fa- 
 ther, it certainly became him to shew 
 piety at home. 
 
 " About ten months ago his health visi- 
 bly suffered by the incroachments of an 
 internal distemper. No very alarming 
 symptoms however at first [appeared ; 
 but as weeks and months revolved it was 
 impossible not to observe the change 
 which augmented disease had made in 
 his frame and appearance. So long since 
 as the close of the year 1813 his aspect 
 was such as to excite the regret and ap- 
 
 
HIS DEATH. 273 
 
 prehension of all his friends, and he even 
 then entertained some thoughts that his 
 sickness would probably be unto death. 
 Under this impression he made the fol- 
 lowing observation — " I would as soon 
 die now as at any time if it were not on 
 account of these ties (alluding to his en- 
 deared wife and his little children,) but 
 the Lord is all-sufficient ; I can trust them 
 in the hands of that God who has been 
 my God." The first sabbath in January, 
 1814, was the last in which he officiated at 
 the table of the Lord in distributing the ele- 
 ments of bread and wine, and the last but 
 one (I believe in the month of February,) 
 in which he appeared as a worshipper 
 in the sanctuary of God. He used to 
 express much regret at this unavoidable 
 
 detention from our public assemblies, 
 
 saying, " When shall I come and appear 
 before God?" and in the language of 
 Hezekiah, " What is the sign that I shall 
 go up to the house of the Lord T a com- 
 mendable feeling this in the chamber of 
 sickness, and very unlike the temper of 
 more some professing christians who pant 
 ardently for a return to the places of busy 
 traffic and mercantile concourse, and are 
 n 5 
 
274 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 sooner seen there on recovery than for 
 the courts of Jehovah — the palaces of 
 Zion. 
 
 " It pleased God to exempt our departed 
 brother from acute pain, of which he had 
 only two severe paroxyms during his 
 long protracted illness. This alleviating 
 circumstance enabled him to employ his 
 leisure hours in those thoughts and exer- 
 cises of mind which were suited to the 
 dispensation under which he was placed, 
 and to the prospects which were opening 
 before him in unparalleled grandeur and 
 awful solemnity. As I was a near ob- 
 server of the operations of his mind at 
 this critical juncture I shall record them 
 as they offered themselves to my notice. 
 I marked in the first place a deep and 
 axious investigation into the state of his 
 soul. He debated the matter of his per- 
 sonal religion as in the light, and under 
 the immediate eye of God. Considering 
 the ease with which a man may deceive 
 himself, and impose upon others by an 
 empty and unprofitable form of godli- 
 ness, he was desirous of availing himself 
 of every assistance in ascertaining the 
 truth of his condition. He felt perplexed 
 
HIS DEATH. 275 
 
 on the ground of indwelling sin, and for 
 the sake of obtaining clear views, and 
 refreshing his recollections on this im- 
 portant point, he read Dr. Owens mas- 
 terly treatise on the subject. On one 
 occasion he told me he had been seriously 
 engaged in examining the grounds and 
 evidences of his own conversion, fearing 
 lest he should take too much for granted, 
 or regard a change of sentiment, and a 
 reformation of manners as conversion, 
 without the inbeing of that spiritual life, 
 and those concomitant fruits of the Spi- 
 rit, which the scriptures represent as 
 indispensably necessary. He dwelt much 
 on this theme, and we concluded with 
 prayer for light, sincerity, and satisfac- 
 tion. Having attained to some good de- 
 gree of certainty on this momentous 
 point, he enjoyed a stable peace by faith 
 in the atonement and righteousness of 
 Jesus Christ, and never afterwards be- 
 trayed even a momentary disquietude or 
 alarm at the prospect or consequences 
 of his approaching dissolution. He had 
 been generally accustomed to repeat 
 those lines of Dr. Haweis at the end of 
 every day. 
 
 
276 MEMOIRS OT CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 'f One day more is past. 
 
 And the nearer my last, 
 To the close of my life and my labours I haste. 
 
 My strength as my day 
 
 Renewed — I stay 
 On Jesus my hope, and still hold on my way." 
 
 and was wont to add with peculiar em- 
 phasis and delight — 
 
 <( And when my" work done 
 
 My full course I have run, 
 And my pilgrimage finished under the sun. 
 
 To heav'n I shall soar, 
 
 Where the night is no more, 
 And awake to thy praise, thee ever t' adore." 
 
 " Habituated thus familiarly to converse 
 with death he was not in the least degree 
 dismayed by its nearer approaches. To 
 his medical friend, and to those who 
 occasionally visited him, he would talk 
 with as much calmness of his departure 
 from the world as of any transaction to 
 which he had been accustomed while in it. 
 On one occasion he quoted, with evident 
 pleasure, the lines of that experimental 
 author named above as applicable to his 
 own case. 
 
 g€ Safe lodg'd my fruits, at even tide I rest ; 
 My work near done I lean on Jesu's breast, 
 Wait without fear death's winter drawing nigh, 
 Preparing for my mansion in the sky." 
 
MIS DEATH. 277 
 
 *' His indeed was a strong and unwaver- 
 ing faith, which swallowed up every fear, 
 and enabled him to look at death not 
 only without dread but with joy and tri- 
 umph. The exercise of this holy prin- 
 ciple moreover was not restricted to the 
 concerns of his soul, which he had com- 
 mitted into the hands of the Redeemer, 
 but extended also to those of his family. 
 He was the subject of warm affections, 
 and as a kind husband and a fond father, 
 his little ones were closely entwined 
 about his heart; yet through a fiducial 
 reliance on the divine Providence he was 
 enabled to divest himself of all the tender 
 anxieties of a relative life, and to cast 
 them on his God and [ Saviour. The 
 struggle was painful, but faith was com- 
 pletely victorious. He would pray earnest- 
 ly for his dear children, and express a 
 strong desire that they might be trained 
 up in scriptural sentiments, and thus 
 brought to the knowledge of Christ — 
 but it was evident that he had no dis- 
 quieting care concerning them, and no 
 prevailing wish to continue with them. 
 The cords of earthly attachment were all 
 loosened, and the willing spirit waited 
 
278 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 without perturbation the signal for its 
 flight. 
 
 "Exemplary patience was a distinguish- 
 ing feature in the character of this dying 
 believer. Though made to possess 
 months of vanity, and though many 
 wearisome nights were appointed unto 
 him, not a murmuring word was heard 
 to escape his lips. He justified the sove- 
 reign Disposer of events in his dealings 
 towards him, and was rather inclined to 
 enlarge on the subject of his mercies 
 than his afflictions. Charity also to his 
 fellow-creatures was manifestly apparent 
 in his last hours. He declared his for- 
 giveness of those who had injured him, 
 and testified his good-will towards them 
 by offering up prayers on their behalf. 
 
 In this state of readiness for the Hour of 
 
 his departure he seemed considerably 
 disappointed when the morning light re- 
 turned and beheld him still in this vale 
 of tears, and especially when the revol- 
 ving sabbath witnessed those conflicts 
 on earth which he longed to exchange 
 for the rest and the triumph of heaven. 
 Surveying the wastes of disease in his 
 emaciated frame he exclaimed, " What a 
 
HIS DEATH. 279 
 
 different body will this be in the morn- 
 ing of the resurrection if I am found in 
 Christ! I hope I shall be enabled to 
 wait with patience till my change come. 
 I am not afraid to trust my all in the 
 hands of the despised Nazarene." To a 
 relation who said, c I hope you will get 
 better/ he replied, " my hope is beyond 
 Jordan !" At one time he repeated those 
 lines as applicable to his own case — 
 
 " Triumphant now from sin and death, 
 From law and curse secure ; 
 Peaceful I yield my parting breath, 
 And know my heaven is sure 1" 
 
 " On the return of his pastor from an 
 excursion in the country, of whom he 
 had already taken a solemn, affectionate, 
 
 and as it was judg-ed, a last farewell, he 
 
 expressed great surprise that we had met 
 again in the body. " I had hoped," said 
 he, " to have obtained my release ere 
 this, but the messenger still delays. I 
 desire to say, The will of the Lord be 
 done — but I request you will pray for a 
 speedy dismission." His nights, which 
 for the most part were sleepless, he 
 passed in prayer, and in the recollection 
 
280 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 of those passages of scripture which were 
 familiar to his mind. And it is here 
 especially worthy of observation that he 
 derived the utmost solace and refresh- 
 ment from the many portions of sacred 
 writ which he had committed to memory 
 in the last years of his life. The account 
 he gave of this matter was as follows : 
 " When I arrived at the age of forty-six, 
 beginning to feel the failure of sight, I 
 was struck with the idea thatj might per- 
 haps become wholly unable to read the 
 sacred volume; under this impression I 
 set myself to learn by heart whole chap- 
 ters, and even books, which I rehearsed 
 in my solilitude, whether at home or 
 abroad, in set portions every day. So 
 that in the course of a week I had re- 
 peated 'all I had learned, and by this 
 means retained what I had previously 
 acquired, and continued adding some- 
 thing to the store ! " I cannot describe," 
 said he, " the pleasure and advantage I 
 have derived from this practice, especi- 
 ally since I have been laid on this sick- 
 bed: I am now incapable of reading 
 much, but I have found a rich fund of 
 consolation in recurring to those parts 
 
HIS DEATH 281 
 
 of the scriptures which I have treasured 
 up in my memory." The word of Christ 
 dwelt in him richly, and as he delighted 
 much in the law of the Lord, so he medi- 
 tated therein day and night. From a 
 personal experience of the benefit accru- 
 ing from such a familiar acquaintance 
 with the Bible, he enjoined it upon his 
 dear children, and recommended to his 
 young friends in general to copy his ex- 
 ample in this respect, only to begin much 
 earlier than he did. After expressing his 
 kind wishes for a young gentleman for 
 whom he entertained a great esteem, he 
 sent this message to him by a mutual 
 friend who was about to visit him in a 
 remote part of the country: " Charge 
 him to store his memory with the scrip- 
 tures, to begin immediately, for now IS 
 
 the time to set about it. Had I begun at 
 his age I should now have been able to 
 recite that blessed book from beginning 
 to end." It is believed this message 
 from the lips of a dying christian had its 
 full weight ; and has led to the adoption 
 of the salutary practice it intended to 
 recommend. Our departed brother could 
 repeat perfectly a great part of the 
 
282 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 Psalms of David ; many chapters of the 
 prophecies, and of the gospels, and seve- 
 ral entire epistles of the New Testament. 
 In one of those nights which he passed 
 without sleep, he informed an old friend 
 who kept watch at his bed-side that he 
 had repeated the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 from the first to the eleventh chapter 
 inclusive; and he believed, without the 
 omission of a single verse. 
 
 " To one of his children, the sabbath 
 before his departure, he said with a firm 
 tone, " My dear child I thought I should 
 not have seen you again, I expected this 
 would have been the first sabbath I 
 should have spent in eternity, but God's 
 time is best." On one of his friends 
 enquiring if he were comfortable, he re- 
 plied, " Yes, and if I had but my tongue," 
 
 (his mouth being in such a state as to 
 render speaking exquisitely painful,) u I 
 would let you all know how happy I am ; 
 I am looking for that blessed hope, and 
 the glorious appearing of the great God 
 my Saviour." At one, season he observed, 
 " Here I am waiting for my change — 
 what a mercy! If I were a heathen I 
 could not wait so." To his medical at- 
 
HIS DEATH. 283 
 
 tendant, who, aware of his unconquer- 
 able aversion to medicine, had with 
 much kindness administered as little as 
 the case would admit, he said, " I can- 
 not take any more, let me go as easily as 
 you can;" and then lifting up his eyes to 
 heaven added, " Lord, now lettest thou 
 thy servant depart in peace for I trust 
 mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Not 
 long before his dismission he used the 
 following verses with a reference to his 
 own circumstances — 
 
 " My fluttering pulse and fait' ring breath 
 Announce the near approach of death ; 
 How can I meet, dear Saviour, say, 
 The last dark, dismal, cloudiest day ? 
 
 Look to my cross, the sov'reign cure 
 For all the ills thou can'st endure ; 
 Whence dart the beams of endless day, 
 And clouds and darkness flee away." 
 
 " He was blest with the continuance of 
 his intellectual faculties till within two 
 or three hours of his dissolution, when 
 the powers of nature being completely 
 exhausted the unfettered spirit was al- 
 lowed to take its joyful flight to that 
 blissful region where the inhabitant saith 
 not " I am sick ;" the people that dwell 
 
284 MEMOIRS OP CAPTAIN WILSON^ 
 
 therein having been forgiven their ini- 
 quities. Contemplating his undisturbed 
 and tranquil exit we may truly and em- 
 phatically say, " the end of that man was 
 peace." 
 
 " Thus terminated the life "of captain 
 Wilson on Friday, Aug. 12, at the age of 
 fifty-four, leaving a widow, a son, and 
 four daughters, to lament their loss. 
 Since his death Mrs. Wilson has been 
 bereaved of her second daughter, about 
 eleven years of age, who gave pleasing 
 testimony that she was graciously fitted 
 to meet the blessed spirit of her father 
 in the realms of eternal light and feli- 
 city."* */ 
 
 The life and death of the captain fur- 
 nish subjects for much improvement to 
 
 the reflecting and pious mind ; they give 
 an interesting view of the providence of 
 God. It appears mysterious yet wise in 
 its operations — often afflictive in its 
 events, yet kind in its designs — the mi- 
 nutest parts accurately arranged in con- 
 nexion with the most prominent — 
 
 * An interesting account of her is written by the 
 Rev. George Clayton. 
 
MIS DEATH. 285 
 
 and all like the seasons of the year ter- 
 minating in some grand and beneficial 
 result ; or like the elements of nature 
 working together for good. The storms 
 of commercial life, the calms of easy cir- 
 cumstances and retirement, the blasts of 
 temporal adversity, the beams of pros- 
 perity, the floods of domestic afflictions, 
 the soft breezes of religious friendship, 
 all promoted his final and eternal wel- 
 fare. In the early part of his life we 
 see the hand which held, supported, and 
 directed him, but which he then saw not. 
 We see how wonderfully He who had 
 chosen him from eternity prepared his 
 way before him, and fitted the instru- 
 ments which were to be employed in 
 his conversion. With admiration we see 
 how events, persons, places, and times, 
 concurred to bring his spirit in faith and 
 repentance to that God whom he had 
 offended, and whose salvation he de- 
 spised. That Providence which had pre- 
 served him amidst deaths, often various 
 and numerous, till he was effectually 
 called by divine grace, guided his feet, 
 by ways to him unknown, to a city of 
 habitation. 
 
286 MEMOIRS OF CAPTAIN WILSON. 
 
 The other parts of his life show in a 
 manner confounding to human pride, 
 but highly encouraging to faith, the so- 
 vereignty of divine mercy, the riches 
 of divine grace, the efficient influence of 
 truth, and the ineffable blessings of real 
 religion. These principles enable the 
 most endeared relatives and connexions 
 to follow the soul of their friend up to 
 the gates of death, and to contemplate 
 his state beyond the grave with the sub- 
 limest feelings of delight, admiration 
 and gratitude. " For him to live was 
 Christ, but to die was gain." 
 
 Printed by Benjamin Bensley, 
 24, Nelson-square, Great Surrey-street. 
 
WORKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 T. HAMILTON, 33, Paternoster-row, 
 LONDON. 
 
 DISCOURSES on the MILLENNIUM. By 
 DAVID BOGUE. In One large volume octavo, 
 price 14s. boards. ■ 
 
 ICELAND ; or, the Journal of a Residence in 
 that Island during the Years 1814 and 1815. Con- 
 taining Observations on the Natural Phenomena, 
 History, Literature, and Antiquities of the Island • 
 and the Religion, Character, Manners and Customs 
 of its Inhabitants : with an Introduction and Appen- 
 div. By EBENEZER HENDERSON, Doctor in 
 Philosophy, Member of the Royal Society of Got- 
 tenburgh, &c. &c. Two volumes 8vo. illustrated 
 with a Map and Engravings, price ll. 8s. boards. 
 
 THE OLD WORLD ; or, Remarkable Occur- 
 rences during the last 120 Years before the Flood ; 
 supposed to be taken from Noah's Journal. De- 
 signed for Young Persons. By JOHN CAMPBELL, 
 Kingsland. With 4 Plates, price c 2s. boards. 
 
 NUINCUIN'JbXJliiYLlTY : A Sermon delivered at 
 White-row, Meeting-house, Nov. 6, 1817, at the 
 Monthly Association of Congregational Ministers, 
 and published at their Request. By MARK WILKS, 
 Second Edition, price c Zs. 6d. 
 
 " And Haman said unto Ahasuerus there is a certain peo- 
 ple scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people 
 in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws 
 are diverse from all people, neither keep they the 
 king's laws : therefore it is not for the .king's profit to 
 suffer them." — Esther iii. 8. 
 
 A REVIEW OF ECCLESIASTICAL ESTA- 
 BLISHMENTS : in which their Advantages and 
 Disadvantages are examined : Objections to their 
 abolitions answered ; and the ' Extent of Civil 
 Legislation for Ecclesiastical Objects is defined. By 
 
Works published by T. Hamilton, London/ 
 the late Rev. AVILLIAM GRAHAM, Newcastle : 
 abridged by Mark Wilks. 12mo. price 2s. 6d. 
 boards. 
 
 LECTURES ON ECCLESIASTICAL HIS- 
 TORY: To which is added, An Essay on Chris- 
 tian Temperance and Self-Denial. By the late 
 G. CAMPBELL, D. D. Principal of Marischal Col- 
 lege, Aberdeen. With some Account of the Life and 
 Writings of the Author by the Rev. George Skene 
 Keith, Keith-hall, Aberdeenshire. Second Edition, 
 2 vols. 8vo. price 1/. 1j. boards. 
 
 MODERN JUDAISM 5 or, a Brief Account of 
 the Opinions, Traditions, Rites, and Ceremonies of 
 the Jews in Modern Times. By JOHN ALLEN. 
 With a Plate, representing a Rabbi dressed for 
 Prayers. 8vo. price l%s. boards. 
 
 " The Public are much indebted to Mr. Allen for the pains 
 which he has taken to furnish this portraiture of mo- 
 dern Judaism. It is almost a reproach for persons 
 who acknowledge the authority of the Bible to be un- 
 acquainted with the present opinions and ceremonies 
 of a people whose history, and the records of whose 
 civil and religious polity constitute so large a portion 
 of it. Though they live in the midst of us, and min- 
 gle with us, how little do the christians of Britain know 
 concerning them ! The present Work supplies a very 
 important desideratum, and the spirit of the Author 
 we can most cordially applaud. " Modern Judaism** 
 will afford its readers no small degree of information 
 and amusement." — Eclectic Review, May. 
 
 * AN ESSAY on the EXISTENCE of a SUPREME 
 CREATOR, possessed of Infinite Power, Wisdom, 
 and Goodness : containing also the Refutation, 
 from Reason and Revelation, of the Objections 
 urged against his Wisdom and Goodness, and de- 
 ducing from the whole subject the most Practical 
 Inferences. By WILLIAM LAURENCE BROWN, 
 D. D. Principal of Marischal College and University 
 of Aberdeen. Two vols. 8vo. price 1/. Is. boards. 
 To this Essay was adjudged Mr. Burnett's first Price, 1200/. 
 at Aberdeen, August 4th 1815. 
 
 Prefixed is a Memoir relating to the Founder of the 
 Prizes. 
 
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