THE

WESLEYAN-METHODIST MAGAZINE.

SEPTEMBER, 1848.

BIOGRAPHY.

MEMOIR OF MR. FRANCIS WILSON,

OF WHARTON-LODGE, IN THE KNARESBOROUGH CIRCUIT:

BY HIS SON, THE REV. WILLIAM WILSON, 5TH.

He

MR. WILSON was born in September, 1766, at the ancient residence of Synithwaite, formerly a nunnery, about a mile distant from Wharton-Lodge, and which (with the lands connected with it) has been occupied by the Wilson family for five successive generations. When only twelve months old, he lost his mother, and was thus deprived of that early instruction and training so important in the formation of the character, which has usually to be imparted by the maternal parent. What education he received (and he often regretted that it had been so limited) was at a school at Bilton. From this he was removed very early, in order to be engaged in agricultural pursuits; but he took care not to lose the advantage of his elementary scholarship, by a diligent improvement of his leisure hours. Although his widowed father was to some extent influenced by the prevailing indifference of the age to the advantages of a more advanced education, he yet conscientiously endeavoured to train the members of his family in habits of morality, and, as far as he himself understood it, of religion. required their regular attendance at the services of the parish church, gathered his household together on Sabbath evenings for devotional exercises, restrained them as much as possible from vicious practices, and enforced the observance of every personal, relative, and social duty. Francis, from his youth, was preserved from all open immorality, and cherished a sincere respect for religion. But he was fond of dancing, racing, and hunting, (the evils of which were not, perhaps, so clearly understood then as at the present time,) and thus demonstrated that he was still under the influence of the carnal mind, a lover of pleasure more than of God. He and his brother William were fond of singing, and assisted in conducting this important portion of public worship at the parish church; and this led to the general regularity of his attendance there. It pleased God on one occasion to apply very powerfully to his conscience one of those solemn texts of Scripture with which the liturgical service opens. When the verse was read, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 3 к

VOL. IV.-FOURTH SERIES.

truth is not in us," he became awakened to a sense of his personal guilt and danger; but the means of maturing this conviction were very scanty. The way of a sinner's justification before God was not described in the discourses to which he was in the habit of listening, so that he remained for some time very unhappy, and to a great extent ignorant of the true method of deliverance. His sisters, Catherine and Isabella, were at this time deeply impressed with the necessity of obtaining the religion of the heart, in addition to the religion of form, and occasionally attended the religious services of the Methodists in the neighbourhood. Sometimes they had the opportunity of hearing the Methodist Preachers, and, more than once, Mr. Wesley himself. They sometimes prevailed on their brothers to accompany them; and notwithstanding Francis's strong attachment to the Church, and his prejudices against the Methodists, in consequence of the discreditable reports which were malignantly circulated concerning them, he was obliged to confess that, as far as he could understand, the sermons he heard were more in accordance with the New Testament than those which were preached at the church from Sabbath to Sabbath, and better calculated to point out the way of peace to all earnest inquirers. These visits, however, occurred but seldom; and the increasing desire felt by Mr. Wilson, and other members of the family, for the attainment of spiritual piety, led them to a frequent attendance at the church of Thorp-Arch, some little distance from their home, where they enjoyed an evangelical ministry, in the labours of the Rev. Mr. Sanderson, and his successor, the Rev. Mr. Emmington, with the occasional services of the Rev. Messrs. Stillingfleet, Atkinson, and Dikes.

About the autumn of 1792, Mr. Wilson became master of the household at Wharton-Lodge; and by this time his prejudices had been so far subdued, that he soon after permitted his sisters to invite the Methodist Preachers to his house. It was on a midsummer Sabbath evening, that the Rev. T. Harrison, one of the Ministers stationed at York, came and preached in a barn at Bickerton. It is not for the writer to conjecture the entire amount of good occasioned by this visit; but it led to the establishment of family prayer at Wharton-Lodge; and never since that time has morning or evening passed away without witnessing the offering of prayer and thanksgiving at the domestic altar. Mr. Francis Wrigley, after the Conference of 1793, was the Superintendent of the York Circuit; and my aunt went there to request that they might have "regular preaching" in their turn. He said to her, "We have only one night in twenty at liberty, and how can we give that up?" My aunt returned home with a heavy heart; but, in the course of a week or two, a letter was received from Mr. Wrigley, in which he said that they should have preaching on the 5th of November. On that day, Mr. John Brettell came. After the service, he produced a class-paper, and said that he would put down on it the names of all who desired truly to save their souls, and were willing to become members of the Methodist society. After fifteen had been enrolled, Mr. Brettell,

seeing Mr. Wilson standing by the door, attentively observing the proceedings, said to him pointedly, "Perhaps you will have no objection?" For the moment, he was somewhat startled; for though willing to entertain the Preacher, he had not intended to join the society. But he feared that, were he to refuse, he might discourage others, and thus hinder the advancement of religion in the neighbourhood he therefore consented; and I might almost say that I have heard him, times without number, express his thankfulness to God for the decision to which at that moment he was brought.

:

He was now earnestly seeking a present salvation. He saw that it was his duty as well as privilege to receive the Spirit of adoption, whereby he might cry, "Abba, Father." It was some time in the month of January, 1794, that through faith in Christ he first experienced the peace which passeth all understanding, and had a sense of the pardoning love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which was given unto him. By this was produced that love towards God which henceforth was the governing principle of his life, and furnished the more prominent features of his character. All fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness he renounced and reproved, and his whole behaviour declared that he had now attained the true power of the godliness, with the mere form of which he had too long satisfied himself. He viewed religion as imposing obligations to which he was to attend in all his domestic and social relations; and this was especially his feeling in the selection of a partner in life. On the 31st of December, 1794, he was married to one who was in every sense a help meet for him, and who, though removed from earth before him, has, no doubt, welcomed his sanctified spirit before the throne of God. The first Methodist Preacher who visited Wharton-Lodge after this event was Mr. James Ridall, who said, when he entered the house, "I wish you much holiness: you will then have much happiness." They were both, for a long period, eminently holy, and the domestic happiness which they enjoyed has rarely been exceeded.

Mr. Wilson had now deliberately set his face towards Zion; and, laying aside every weight, he gave all diligence in inquiring his way thither. His heart and his house were alike the abodes of piety. God's Ministers and his people were always welcome guests. Their company and counsel were always gladly sought; and no fatigue was shunned, nor any cost spared, that he might enjoy the fellowship of saints, and the ordinances of pure and undefiled religion. Such public services as were adapted to nourish experimental religion were, at that time, and in that neighbourhood, very scanty. The harvest was great, but the evangelical labourers were few. Not unfrequently, as they had no regular Sabbath preaching from the Methodists, did Mr. Wilson travel twenty, and even fifty, miles in the course of the day, that he might attend the services of early Methodism. The Ministers from York, however, visited the congregation that had been collected, once a fortnight, on the week-day, and were received with thankfulness and joy. Some difficulty having occurred respecting

a place for public worship, and the usual services of Methodism, in the adjoining village, Mr. Wilson offered his own house; and for years this was the place where the various meetings were held. He always said that he considered this to be a privilege and an honour.

Thus associated with spiritual Christians, and diligent in the use of all the means of grace, public and private, his attention was directed at an early period to the doctrine of entire sanctification. When accustomed to attend the services of the Church, he had often repeated the solemn prayer, "Cleanse the thoughts of our heart by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name." After his own conversion, the strong language of this collect often returned to his recollection; and when he heard the subject from time to time mentioned in preaching, and accounts of persons were given who had attained this happy state of experience, he was led to search the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. He was convinced of the truth of the doctrine, and with much earnestness began to seek for the enjoyment of the blessing. Walking in the light, he saw many evils within which needed to be removed, many defects which required to be supplied. He desired to be sanctified throughout, and to have his whole spirit, soul, and body, kept blameless even to the end. He believed in the power and faithfulness of Him that had given the promise, and prayed that it might be fulfilled. And what he asked was given to him; and it is believed that through the fifty following years he lived in the possession of it, delightfully constrained by the mercies of God to present continually his body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable.

He was always ready for every good word and work. In 1795 he was made a Class-Leader, and sustained the office as long as he lived. In the earlier periods of his connexion with Methodism, there was little Wesleyan preaching on the Sabbath in the neighbourhood; but meetings for prayer and Christian fellowship were regularly held; and Mr. Wilson rendered great service to the infant cause by the zeal and propriety with which he assisted in conducting them. Some of his friends, observing this, were of opinion that he should likewise preach. To satisfy them, he made an attempt on one occasion; but it never was repeated. He believed that he was not called to engage in the duties of the pulpit. He never relaxed, however, in his earnest endeavours to promote religion among his neighbours; and to those who were called to preach he was always a kind friend, seeking, by helping them, to be a fellow-helper to the truth. His house was always open to them, and he freely afforded the use of his horses for some of the distant journeys they had to undertake. He endeavoured to encourage the young, and sympathized with them all in the labours and privations through which they sometimes had to pass. Some light on this part of his character will be furnished by an extract from a letter written by the Rev. W. Wilson, (3d,) of Yarmouth :-" Seldom has it been my happiness to be acquainted with so much Christian excellence, mingled with so little alloy, as appeared in the late Mr.

Wilson. During the thirty years that I knew him, nothing arose to alter the opinions which I formed in the earlier periods of my intimacy with him. My first appointment on the Circuit-Plan was at WhartonLodge; and never shall I forget the kindness manifested in my reception; nor, indeed, the blessed unction that rested on me and others, when the devoted family joined in praying that a rich baptism of the Holy Spirit might be vouchsafed, to fit me for the great work on which I was then formally entering. The high religious attainments of Mr. Wilson and his sainted wife had been mentioned to me, and made it, at first, a somewhat formidable task to preach before them. But their candour, kindness, and valuable counsels turned the trial into a blessing. And I soon found that this was only a specimen of the encouragement which he afforded to all in similar circumstances, and especially to the young and diffident.

"In all his temporal transactions he was fully governed by the great rule of the Gospel, Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.' I never heard that in any

of these matters he had come under even a suspicion of wrong. To the poor, he was merciful according to his power, not only to those who belonged to his own neighbourhood, but sometimes to persons from a distance. Indeed, he was so unwilling to refuse relief where it might really be needed, that, unusual as error on this side is, he perhaps was in some cases too easy, and allowed himself to be deceived by plausible but unfounded representations. To his own servants and labourers he stood almost in a paternal relation; cheerfully promoting their temporal, as well as their spiritual, interests, and being on all occasions their counsellor and friend. And he seldom missed of his reward. They were for the most part gratefully attached to him; and his religious persuasions had the more influence upon them, because they were convinced of the sincerity of his regard for them. No one will wonder at hearing that many owed, under God, their conversion to their residence under his roof.

"The instruction and salvation of his children he sought to promote and secure, with untiring zeal and unwavering faith in the promised grace of God. Many persons appear to feel a difficulty in speaking to the members of their own families on the subject of their personal religion. There was nothing of this in him; and while he was always serious and earnest in his references to it, yet such was his kindness, and such the confidence in his affection entertained by his children, that they not only heard him readily, but felt the utmost freedom in speaking to him, and laying open the very thoughts of their heart to him.

"As a Class-Leader, he always acted with fidelity and affectior. His close walk with God, and the care with which he cultivated the inward life of piety, rendered him a valuable servant of the church, in this important department of labour, while his kindness and simplicity endeared him to all. He sustained the office of Circuit Steward, and so attended to its duties as to give general satisfaction. Loving the Ministers for their work's sake, he studiously sought to promote