consider the 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. One is our Master, even Christ. We desire to know and teach nothing but him crucified; to interfere in no contest, to disturb no government established, or to introduce any peculiar modes of worship, but to leave every man to the book of truth for his guide, in a 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 information, it is hoped, will dissipate every prejudice entertained against so benevolent an undertaking.

[For particulars as to the present state of the mission to the South Sea Islands, the reader is referred to the Appendix.]

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 excellencies concentrate, and shine in a pre-eminent degree, but out of which they often appear inferior to men of ordinary 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 Indian merchant, and Captain, he felt himself incompetent 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 prominent, and where they obtrude their opinions upon all subjects that come before them, with equal confidence and vociferation. He had not, perhaps, been sufficiently inured to the free discussions of voluntary societies, and the unrestrained animadversions of a body of independent individuals to feel, after the storms of a protracted debate, the serenity of a summer's even

ing, which thousands 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 himself prominent in the religious societies in London, yet his retirement arose principally from other causes.

He was chosen from time to time on the direction of the affairs of the Missionary 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 the superintendence of his domestic concerns. The effects of a sedentary life,after a long sea voyage, soon manifested themselves in a very serious bilious attack, 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.

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 mercantile engagements. The Captain out of pure kindness to his relative, advanced several thousand pounds in aid of his capital. This sum 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 advanced 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 benefit. 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 shipments 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 he from pure friendship most earnestly 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 mak

ing a respectable appearance in society, yet it was an event that tried his mind in a very considerable degree, not only on his own account, but also on account of his family and those relatives who had partaken of his kindness, but from whom he now thought himself called in a great measure to withhold his benevolence in future. 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 possessions are mutable. and uncertain. But it is mentioned principally because it appears 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 prominent and zealous friend, but it limited his ability for extensive benevolence during the greater part of his residence near London.

To describe a man without faults, is in the esteem of all that know human 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 reserved, and though softened and rendered affable by divine grace, yet at times, it partook of something bordering on hauteur. This as it was his fault, was to himself the cause of considerable suffering; 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