.'OIIX GRAY, 
 
 (Millies- ibm\ 
 
 6>9- J4 
 
 ^ PRINCETON, N. J. *j& 
 
 Presented by CJcAr^ G> & . ^YA <SuA s? * C/Vc 
 
 BX 9225 .H46 B34 1851 
 Baillie, John, 1816-1890. 
 Memoir of the Rev. W.H. 
 Hewitson 
 
itlut Clirfettim SStngropJ^ 
 
 RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY 
 
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fctf. M^*~~ 
 
M E M I 
 
 JUN 9 1914 
 
 .HEY. ¥. H. HEWITSON, 
 
 LATE MINISTER OF THE 
 
 FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 AT DIRLETON. 
 
 THE REV. JOHN BAIL LIE, 
 
 LINLITHGOW. 
 
 " As a fossil in the rock, or a coin in the mortar of a rum, 
 So the symbolled thoughts tell of a departed soul: 
 The plastic hand hath its witness in a statue, and exac- 
 titude of vision in a picture ; 
 And so the mind that was among us in its writings is 
 embalmed." — Proverbial Philosophy. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 285 BROADWAY. 
 
 1851. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1812-1837. 
 Boyhood — Early Aspirations — College Life 16 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1837-1840. 
 
 The Religionist and the Christian — Setting Out — Twilight Grop- 
 ings — Literary Tastes — The Unknown God — The Crisis ... 36 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1840, 1841. 
 
 Self-Dedication — First Fruits — Correspondence — Close of College 
 Course — Evangelistic Zeal — Personal Holiness 94 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1841, 1842. 
 
 Health giving way — Residence at Grangemuir — Conflicts — Symp- 
 toms of Consumption — Diary — Correspondence — License . . 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SUMMER 1842. 
 
 Residence at Bonn— German Society— The Sabbath in Germany 
 •—Spiritual Trials— Illness— Return to Dalraellington .... 77 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1842-1844. 
 
 Retirement at Dalmellington — Study of Prophecy — The Lord's 
 Second Coming — Rejoicing in Hope — Personal Holiness — 
 Health — Views of the Christian Life — Madeira 86 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Ordination — Leaving Home — Arrival in London 110 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1841-1844. 
 
 State of the Church of Scotland — Impending Crisis — The Con- 
 vocation — The Disruption 116 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 1844, 1845. 
 
 Lisbon — Diary — Correspondence — Popery and Infidelity — Divine 
 Training — Snares and Conflicts — The Armor of God — Spiritual 
 Analysis — The Word a Lamp — Way made plain — Sails for Ma- 
 deira 124 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 1844. 
 
 Madeira — Antichrist — Original Narrative by Dr. Kalley — His 
 Early Labors — Awakening among Portuguese — Open Air Meet- 
 ings — Effects of Reading the Bible — Persecution — Bible de- 
 clared " a Book from Hell" — Excommunication — Imprisonment 
 of Dr. Kalley — Gospel preached in Jail — Hatred of Bible — 
 Sentence of Death — Assassination recommended — Serra Prison- 
 ers — Singing Praises — Dr. Kally visits Lisbon — Meets Mr. 
 Hewitson 149 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 1845. 
 
 Arrival in Madeira — Meetings with Inquirers — Preaching in Portu- 
 guese—Baptisms—Position of Dr. Kalley— Progress of the Work 
 —Zeal of the Converts : their Sufferings, Faith, Patience— Com- 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 munions — Opposition of the Priests— Threatened Indictment — 
 Precautions — Imprisonments for Reading the Bihle — Extermi- 
 nating Warfare against the Word — Source of Converts' Joy — 
 Portuguese Imprisoned for Teaching to Read — Growing Thirst 
 for the Gospel — New Attempts to arrest the Work — Ohey God 
 rather than Men — Communion under Cover of Night .... 167 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Madeira — Illness — Consolations — Progress of the Work — Train- 
 ing of the Converts — Dangers — Secret Disciples — Theological 
 Class — Communions — New Conversions — Native Ministry — 
 Threat of Imprisonment, — Ordination of Elders — Outrages — 
 Dr. Kalley's Escape — Sufferings of Converts — Their Exile . . 192 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Ministry in Madeira — Source of its Power — Notes of Conversa- 
 tion — Daily Walk — Preaching of Christ — Pastoral Letter — 
 Notes hy Dr. Kalley— Review of the Work 216 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1846. 
 
 Return Home — Correspondence — Conversation — Tidings from 
 Madeira — Appointment to Trinidad — Arsenio da Silva — Char- 
 acteristic Incident — Departure for Trinidad 229 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 184*7. 
 
 Sails for Trinidad — Voyage — Madeira — Arrival — Joyful Meeting 
 ' — State of Portuguese — Their Hardships — Spiritual Condition 
 — Portuguese Hymn-Book — Thirst for the Word — His Self-for- 
 getting Zeal — Arrival of Arsenio da Silva — Church Organized 
 — Leaves Trinidad — Death of da Silva 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1847, 1848. 
 
 Voyage Home — Conversion of a Sailor — Death of Dr. Chalmers 
 — Labors — Singular Holiness — Correspondence — Call to Dir- 
 leton 268 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1848, 1849. 
 
 Ministry at Dirleton — Method of Preaching — New Scene of La- 
 bor — Expectation of Success — Prayers and Pains — Commu- 
 nions — Specimen of Ministrations — Simplicity of his Faith — 
 Trials and Consolations — Characteristics — Conversation . . . 284 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 1849, 1850. 
 
 Tenderness in visiting the Sick — Conversation in Heaven — Cor- 
 respondence — Ministerial Work — Church Courts — Visit to 
 Southampton — Growing Meekness — Sermons to Children — Ex- 
 ample — Increasing Weakness — Memorial of a Visit to Dirleton 
 — Last Communion Sabbath 308 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1850. 
 
 LAST PAYS. 
 
 Patience in Suffering — Invitation to Prayer — Letter from Rajah- 
 gopaul — Public Ministry closed — Conversations — Tenderness in 
 Preaching — Watchfulness over his Flock — Assurance — Visit — 
 Increasing Weakness — Blessed Hope — Dying Testimony — Calm 
 Peace — Silent Sabbaths — Familiarity with Greek Testament — 
 Moral Gravitation — Prayer — Spiritual Judgment — Expectation 
 of Success — Earnestness — Human Depravity — Divine Sov- 
 ereignty — Agonizing Sufferings — Parting Visits — Calm Tri- 
 umph — Concern for his People — Death — Funeral Sermon — Re- 
 flections ........ 346 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following Memoir lias been prepared for two 
 reasons ; the one, Mr. Hewitson's character — the other, 
 his ivork. 
 
 The singular elevation of his Christian walk, so far 
 surpassing what is ordinarily seen in this age of 
 dwarfed spirituality, is fitted to stimulate the people 
 of God to loftier attainments in holiness, and fitted 
 also to arrest and win to Christ those who " have a 
 name that they live, but are dead." 
 
 It is no mere sentimentalist whose character we 
 portray. Genius and high scholarship, dedicated to 
 the service of Christ, and laid " a living sacrifice" at 
 His feet, is the life sketched in these pages. The 
 reader will discover with how fascinating a charm that 
 element invests the man of God. 
 
 In this department the Author has found it no easy 
 
 task to make a fitting selection from the mass of Mr. 
 
 Hewitson's letters. The principle which has guided 
 
 him was. to select those which were properly biographi- 
 
 1* 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 cal, because exhibiting the writer's characteristic fea- 
 tures. The form of extracts, rather than of entire 
 letters, has been adopted, in order to allow room for 
 the more interesting and illustrative, as well as to af- 
 ford variety. It would have been less difficult to ex- 
 tend the Memoir two -fold than to compress it within 
 its present proportions. 
 
 The great work in Madeira, in which Mr. Hewitson 
 was privileged to bear so large a part, is here exhib- 
 ited, in its inner history, for the first time. Occasional 
 contemporary notices, and a pamphlet by Mr. Eoddam 
 Tate, E. N., have acquainted the British public with 
 certain flagrant proceedings of the Eomanists in Ma- 
 deira, and with not a little of the sufferings of the con- 
 verts. But the work itself which led to these pro- 
 ceedings has not hitherto been known, and for the ob- 
 vious reason, that to publish it at the time would have 
 been the sure method of arresting its progress, and no 
 opportunity has since arisen for laying it before the 
 public. 
 
 The details of that work are furnished from two 
 sources : — 
 
 From notes by Dr. Kalley, prepared by him for this 
 publication. These will be found to be singularly 
 fresh and graphic. 
 
 From Mr. Hewitson's letters, written on the scene, 
 and addressed to friends in Scotland. Among these 
 letters are some official, but private, communications 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 to the Committee at home, placed by the Committee 
 at the Author's disposal. 
 
 The reader is thus put in possession of a continuous 
 and authentic history of that very remarkable move- 
 ment. 
 
 What was that movement? Not a mere intellec- 
 tual revolt from the absurdities of Komish teaching, 
 but a wide-spread and palpable conversion of heart 
 unto God — a living scriptural Church called out of the 
 very midst of Papal darkness — a noble band of con- 
 fessors willingly forsaking houses, and lands, and 
 country, for Christ's sake. 
 
 The history of such a movement is not a little in- 
 structive at the present juncture. It tells once more, 
 in language which no sophism can mystify, that Rome 
 is the uncompromising enemy of an open and under- 
 stood Bible. It tells that, before such a Bible, Rome 
 cannot maintain her ground. It tells that nowhere 
 may not Christians go forth in hope and expectation, 
 if only they go forth in faith and prayer, proclaiming 
 the Lord's gracious call, " Come out of her, my peo- 
 ple." 
 
 It has been the Author's aim throughout the Me- 
 moir to allow Mr. Hewitson to speak for himself. 
 Viewing the task of a biographer to be somewhat 
 analogous to the setter of a precious stone, he has en- 
 deavored simply to set the pearl, not to overlay it. 
 The constant interruptions arising from the pressure 
 
Xll PKEFACE. 
 
 of necessary avocations during the few months which 
 have elapsed since Mr. Hewitson's death, must be 
 pleaded as an apology for any marks of crudeness 
 which deface the Memoir. 
 
 For the kind counsel of several friends — among 
 whom lie is constrained to name the Kev. Horatius 
 Bonar of Kelso, Mr. William ^Dickson, Edinburgh, 
 and the Eev. James Doclds, Dunbar, the last of whom 
 has contributed some valuable reminiscences — he feels 
 deeply grateful. He also begs to acknowledge the 
 cordial aid of the various other parties who have fur- 
 nished the letters of Mr. Hewitson, to which the Mc 
 moir is so largely indebted. His thanks are likewise 
 due to Dr. Baird of New York for the " Kecord of 
 Facts connected with the Persecution in Madeira," 
 published by the American Christian Union, and for- 
 warded to the Author. 
 
 " We are come," writes Isaac Taylor, "to no easy 
 and gentle mood of the world's history. This is no 
 hour of leisure, and facility, and soft persuasion. 
 Whoever dares not speak explicitly and boldly, had 
 better not speak at all. The adherents of the gospel 
 must either forfeit all chance of a hearing, or act with 
 a correspondent energy and promptitude. Whatever 
 overloads, encumbers, defaces, our faith, should be 
 thrown aside. Whoever is loaded with the stuff of 
 this world, whether interests or prejudices, will be 
 chased from the field, or fall there ingloriously." 
 
PKEFACE. XUl 
 
 The subject of this Memoir "dared to speak ex- 
 plicitly." He spoke by his holy life. A soldier unen- 
 cumbered by "the stuff of this world," here occupies 
 •the field, and he neither is chased away nor falls in- 
 gloriously. His watchword is, "We know that we are 
 of God, and that the whole world lieth in wickedness." 
 The watchword he can use without embarrassment, 
 for he himself consciously walks in God's fellowship. 
 
 What is it which so often evacuates of spiritual 
 power the most polished and accomplished ministry ? 
 " A man may preach," says Boston, "as an angel, and 
 yet be useless. If Christ withdraw His presence, all 
 will be to no purpose. If the Master of the house be 
 away, the household will loathe their food, though it 
 be dropping down about their tent-doors." And how 
 is the Master's presence secured ? Not by a sudden 
 transition from the bathos of a carnal, world-conform- 
 ing walk, to the altitudes of a professional earnestness 
 or the gravity of a pulpit hour, but by a habitual con- 
 secration of the soul to God — by the tender appeals 
 and the affectionate longings of one who abides in the 
 secret place of the Most High. 
 
 "Follow me," said the Master, "and I will make 
 you fishers of men." Is the maxim understood ? At 
 least, is it followed? " Meditate on these things," said 
 a disciple who had learned its meaning ; " give thyself 
 wholly to them." Paul could say, "Thanks be unto 
 God, which causeth us to triumph in Christ, and 
 maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 every place." And why? Because to him person- 
 ally "to live was Christ." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson, it will he seen, "followed Christ" 
 — followed Him everywhere — followed him as his alh 
 And what was the result ? "I have often since felt 
 the influence of that interview," is the testimony of an 
 English minister, after the lapse of three years from 
 the occasion on which they had once incidentally met. 
 " The hallowed pathos with which he uttered his views, 
 and the 'passion for souls' which he evinced, com- 
 pelled me to think — 'Here is one of those godly men, 
 whose holy fervor exceeds the endurance of their 
 bodily frames, whom God permits to shorten their 
 lives apparently by ardent desire and action, that a 
 half-worldly and lukewarm church may get a scriptu- 
 ral idea of zeal for God, through a living example 
 — an epistle known and read of all men." 
 
 Eebuked, and at the same time stimulated, by the 
 pattern of heavenly-mindedness and devotedness de- 
 lineated in these pages, the Author humbly commends 
 it to the notice of his brethren, praying that He who 
 fashioned this "vessel of mercy" may stir in many 
 hearts a holy ambition to be cast in the same heaven- 
 ly mould, and filled with the same Divine treasure. 
 
 April 29, 1851. 
 
Mtmm nf fjie %m. W. % 2^tmtentL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1812-1837. 
 
 Boyhood — Early Aspirations — College Life. 
 
 "To restore a commonplace truth," writes Mr. Cole- 
 ridge, "to its first uncommon lustre, you need only 
 translate it into action." Walking with God is a very 
 commonplace truth. Translate this truth into action, 
 how lustrous it becomes! The phrase — how hack- 
 neyed ! the thing — how rare ! It is such a walk — not 
 an abstract ideal, but a personality, a life — which the 
 reader is invited to contemplate in the subject of this 
 Memoir. The wilderness sojourn was, indeed, brief. 
 Like Martyn, and M'Cheyne, and Brainerd, and Neff, 
 he quickly reached "the city;" but, like them, he 
 lived long in a little time. "A man that is young in 
 years," says Lord Bacon wisely, "may be old in hours, 
 if he have lost no time ; but that," he adds no less 
 
16 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 truly, " happeneth rarely." It did happen with Mr. 
 Hewitson. Late in setting out, he had no sooner 
 taken his place in the Zionward course than his life 
 became not so much a walk as a race. 
 
 William Hepburn Hewitson was born at Culroy, 
 a small village in the parish of Maybole, in Ayrshire, 
 on the 16th September, 1812. His boyhood was not 
 marked by any peculiar trait. Of a delicate frame 
 — so delicate as to have often occasioned to his parents 
 no small anxiety as they looked on his pale coun- 
 tenance, — he never had any taste for those boyish 
 frolics in which the young tinker of Elstow so de- 
 lighted. But a spirit was in him which, though it 
 was not to be developed in the form of any glaring 
 enormity, was yet as essentially set on earth, and on 
 earth's things, as ever was Bunyan's in its darkest 
 days. The form which the boy's earthliness took 
 was ambition — love of praise. That fire which 
 afterwards threatened to consume him, body and soul 
 at once, was even now, at the age of five or six, send- 
 ing forth its scintillations. He used to say in his 
 boyish simplicity, he would either be a minister or a 
 king ; and he would often be asking, how long time 
 it would take to be a king, and how long to be a 
 minister. At times he would mount a chair, and 
 with one of his little sisters for precentor, and the 
 rest for audience, would strain his every effort, and 
 often not without success, to move to tears by his 
 
BOYHOOD. 17 
 
 words. "I remember," be bas been beard to say 
 long afterwards, "what a wicked little creature I was ; 
 I got Jane to weep at wbat I said ; I felt pleasure at 
 seeing tbe effect of my eloquence." 
 
 In 1825, after an absence in England, cbiefly in 
 tbe town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of five or six 
 years, tbe boy returned to Ayrshire, bis father 
 having been appointed parochial teacher of Dal- 
 mellington. " Yon hill to the north," is bis own 
 graceful pencilling (to a correspondent in 1840) of 
 that scene of so many of his after-struggles, " which 
 terminates so abruptly at its eastern extremity, runs, 
 you observe, westward in an undulating course, 
 studded here and there with farm onsteads, and capt, 
 at its highest point, with clouds. Its bold rocky 
 front, which first catches the rays of the rising sun, 
 was once gladdened with the sunlight of righteous- 
 ness, for in the clefts of that rock lay once concealed 
 some of the old saints of the covenant. That ridge 
 of hills, along with this other which you see to the 
 south, and which runs in a parallel direction, forms the 
 basin of the river Doon. The distance between the two 
 ranges is here so great, that between there is a large ex- 
 tent of level ground, partly wild, and partly under cul- 
 tivation ; and yonder the Doon expands into a lake of 
 the deepest blue, reflecting from its bosom green wood- 
 land and purple heath. Running eastward from the 
 loch, the hills tumble over one another in large and ir- 
 regular masses, screaming with curfew and lapwing, 
 
18 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWTTSOST. 
 
 and bubbling with brooks which hare in all direc- 
 tions scooped for themselves channels in the rocky 
 declivities. One of these brooks is the Muck, which 
 hurries down its tiny waters till it reaches the village 
 of Dalmellington — then, slackening its speed gradual- 
 ly, it is scarcely seen to move through the level 
 country to its place of confluence with the Doon. 
 Hence does the village derive its name ; for Dalmel- 
 lington is a Gaelic compound, signifying, the town of 
 the valley of still waters." In this "town of the 
 valley of still waters" was now fixed that " parental 
 roof, which my heart," as he himself writes in 1832, 
 on one of the earliest occasions of absence from it, 
 " tells me possesses, above every other, the interests 
 and attractions of home." 
 
 "Who is able," asks Goethe, in his Autobiography, 
 "to speak worthily of the fulness of childhood?" 
 "Growth, "he adds, "is not always merely develop- 
 ment : the child is not always the father of the man. 
 And yet, though on this account the most ex- 
 perienced observer cannot certainly, or even prob- 
 ably, predict beforehand what direction the child 
 shall take, it is easy afterwards to mark what has 
 pointed to a future." Hewitson's now known future, 
 as a natural man, has been already detected in the 
 child. The same future is seen indicated in the boy. 
 It manifested itself, during the years preceding 1825, 
 in that appetite for desultory reading which, so often 
 mistaken for idleness, is really nothing else than the 
 
BOYHOOD. 19 
 
 instinctive, though untutored, groping of an inquisi- 
 tive soul for the food which it craves, just as the 
 pent-up plant forces its way through every open 
 crevice in quest of that light whereon it so largely 
 lives. About the period in question, however, his 
 readings took a more systematic form. Stimulated 
 in part by a natural love of learning, and in part by 
 the prospect of university honors, which even thus 
 early began to loom indistinctly before him, and sus- 
 tained by that consciousness of power which, when 
 kept within due restraint, is the God-implanted 
 spring of effort, he now devoted his whole youthful 
 energies to a course of self-instruction, which, to such 
 as only know the stimulus of private tutorship, or of 
 a public school, might seem almost incredible. 
 
 "We first met," writes one who knew him then, 
 and on whose faithful sketching we shall have fre- 
 quent occasion to draw,* "in 1825, when I returned 
 to Dalmellington, previous to going to Ayr academy 
 that year. Immediately I was much interested in the 
 boy. There was something very pleasing in his 
 countenance and manners, and his English accent 
 had great attractions for me. There was altogether a 
 frankness and gentlemanly bearing about him which 
 at once drew me to him. He was always much 
 given to books. Some of my other companions used 
 to laugh at him as a book- worm, and considered him 
 very pedantic. In 1826-7 I attended Glasgow Col- 
 * The Rev. James M'Clymont, Free Church, Denholm. 
 
20 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 lege, and on my return to Dalmellington during the 
 summer of 1827 his inquiries were innumerable, in 
 our walks, about the whole system of college educa- 
 tion — the books we had read in Latin and Greek — 
 the examinations, translations, verses, &c. All this 
 was just in order to apply vigorously and inde- 
 fatigably, in private, to a course of study preparatory 
 to going to college himself. Whatever assistance he 
 might at first receive from his father, he was a person 
 of such an independent spirit, that he would be in- 
 debted to no one for his acquirements. All he 
 wanted to know was, that such and such things 
 should be done ; and he set himself in right earnest to 
 do them, scorning all extraneous aid." 
 
 His progress was quite remarkable. In 1828 we 
 find him engaged with Homer, Cicero, Horace, and 
 Virgil. And in the following year, in a letter dated 
 " Kal. Jan.," he writes to his early friend: — "I have 
 commenced learning the Hebrew language, and am at 
 present translating some of the Psalms. I am reading 
 Herodotus, Livy, the History of Charles XII. in French, 
 Porteous' Lectures, the History of Greece, Eollin's 
 Ancient History, and I have also begun to scale the 
 huge column erected by Hume and Smollet, the His. 
 tory of England." No difficulties could damp his ar- 
 dor in these his self-imposed duties. " During 1828-9," 
 continues the same associate of his early days, " he 
 translated difficult Latin and Greek authors into good 
 English, laid them past, and after a time re-translated 
 
EARLY ASPIRATIONS. 21 
 
 them into the original. Alone and unaided, he attain- 
 ed to greater knowledge and skill in languages than 
 most boys do in the best academies, with all the help 
 of tutors and teachers of first-rate accomplishments. 
 There the foundation was laid of his future eminence 
 as a scholar, and thinker for himself." 
 
 " Earnestly and anxiously I wish," wrote Mr. Hewit- 
 son some years afterwards to a lagging fellow-student, 
 " that you would disentangle yourself from all impedi- 
 ments that lie in the way of your studies, and that you 
 would, by vigorous exertion, prepare yourself, while 
 it is still the time for preparation, for making a dis- 
 tinguished appearance when you enter upon the prac- 
 tice of your profession. Before exertion there must 
 be energy ; and before you can be stirred to energy 
 it is necessary for you to ' wake the strong divinity of 
 soul' that overcomes all the temptations to present 
 ease and indulgence. If you have the velle, I am as- 
 sured you have the posse. It is easy to intend and to 
 form resolutions — the difficulty is to carry them into 
 fulfilment ; and it is this difficulty which puts into re- 
 quisition the mind's strongest nerve, and gives disci- 
 pline to the brave and pure energies of reason." 
 These words reflect, as in a mirror, the writer's own 
 inner life, during this Avhole season of nature's wrest- 
 lings. That "strong divinity of soul" was, in him, 
 thoroughly awaked. True, it was little better, when 
 viewed in God's own light, than a mere noble ruin, 
 like some Baalbec column, rearing amidst surrounding 
 
22 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 desolation its lofty and imposing shaft, at once the re- 
 membrancer and the wreck of a former glory. Still, 
 the "divinity of soul" was there. In him, nature was 
 to know at once her power and her impotence — her 
 power to discipline the " brave energies of reason," 
 but her utter and hopeless impotence to render a God- 
 alienated soul happy. 
 
 A parallel here presents itself, to which we shall 
 have occasion more than once to advert — the brief but 
 brilliant career of Henry Kirke White. The same 
 consuming ambition, coupled with a like devotedness 
 to learning for its own sake, animated the two boys, 
 and carried them through difficulties in their earlier 
 course by which ordinary minds would have been 
 crushed. Hewitson, indeed, had made attainments in 
 classics, previous to entering the university, compared 
 with which White's were trivial. But both hastened 
 forward to the scene of expected triumphs, not doubt- 
 ing that the shadow they were pursuing would fill 
 their vacant hearts. 
 
 The parallel of Kirke White suggests another mark- 
 ed characteristic of young Hewitson, which we must 
 notice ere we leave these his boyish days. Both alike 
 shrank with intensest sensitiveness from even the sem- 
 blance of untruthfulness, and that not merely in speech, 
 but in action. Their whole life was one undimmed 
 transparency. And in one special feature, the paral- 
 lelism was most striking. Kirke White, though, like 
 Hewitson, with the ministry in prospect from his ear- 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 23 
 
 liest years, used to declare that lie never would enter 
 it unless lie should previously be converted — such was 
 his thorough natural loathing of hypocrisy, for beyond 
 this mere natural feeling he was at the time incapable 
 of penetrating. " Even in his walks with me as a boy," 
 writes He witson's early friend, "he showed the lofti 
 ness and purity of his aims, in declaring to me that he 
 never would be a minister unless he were first a 
 Christian ; and by ' a Christian' he meant, thus early, 
 not professing religion, but being a converted man — a 
 new creature in Christ Jesus. He scorned the mock- 
 ery of setting up to preach what he did not thorough- 
 ly believe, and feel, and live upon, himself. Of every- 
 thing that had the shadow of untruthfulness, he had 
 the most perfect abhorrence. Everything must be re- 
 ality with him, without and within. You saw just 
 what he was." 
 
 The youthful aspirant now entered college. Detain- 
 ed in his distant retreat year after year by feeble health, 
 but at length so greatly invigorated as to have been 
 able, during the six or eight months immediately pre- 
 ceding, to fill a temporary vacancy in the assistant- 
 mastership of a commercial academy in Castle-Douglas, 
 he reached the scene of his long-cherished ambition 
 only in November, 1883. That scene was the Uni- 
 versity of Edinburgh. In its Senior Humanity Class, 
 there commonly meet, in competition for the gold 
 medal annually awarded to the best Latin scholar by 
 the Society of Writers to the Signet, all the more dis- 
 
24 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 tinguished alumni of the two great Edinburgh schools, 
 as well as many from other quarters both in Scotland 
 and in England. As it is usual for these to remain 
 two years, there thus assemble each year on the field 
 of conflict two successive arrays of tested scholarship. 
 On this trying arena the rustic youth appeared. So 
 new was the whole scene to him, and so untried his 
 weapons, that only the urgent representations of the 
 professor, guided by the result of a brief examination, 
 dissuaded him from his previously formed resolution 
 of joining the junior class. But scarcely had he entered 
 the lists when it speedily became apparent that the 
 self-taught country lad would have few compeers. The 
 competition, begun by a selection of five candidates, by 
 the votes of the class, is conducted by written exam- 
 inations. On the vote being taken in the class towards 
 the close of the session, he was placed, by a poll of 
 139, at the top of the list of competitors — the secoud 
 being a highly accomplished English student, Mr. 
 Charles Morrison, son of James Morrison, Esq., M.P., 
 of Fonthill Abbey, who had already attended the class 
 for no fewer than three sessions. The examination 
 now proceeded. Betwixt these two — for all the rest, 
 though including several duxes of the public schools, 
 were left far in the rear — there was an intense struggle. 
 "The first examination," writes his early associate, 
 who that year lodged in the same rooms with him, 
 " passed over, and they were pronounced equal — the 
 professor could not decide betwixt them. A second 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 25 
 
 examination was instituted. William came home from 
 it to our room in anxiety. During the evening his 
 mind had been going over all the exercises, and he sud- 
 denly exclaimed that he had made a mistake and lost 
 the prize. But though he gave it up at once, he said 
 the professor should know, before he entered the class 
 to announce his rival's victory, that he knew his only 
 mistake as well as the professor himself. He wrote a 
 note, correcting the blunder, but acknowledging that 
 it was now too late. The professor's announcement of 
 the decision was accompanied by the note, and though 
 the medal was lost that year, the students themselves 
 made it up by a subscription to purchase the ' Attic 
 Orators' for him, which equalled in value the lost 
 prize." The next session he again, at the professor's 
 solicitation, engaged in the contest, and came off facile 
 princeps. . And on the morning of 81st March, 1835, 
 as the gold medal was hung around his neck in the 
 presence of the assembled students, he was, with an 
 enthusiasm almost unparalleled, hailed the first man 
 of his year. Nor was it only in classics that he thus 
 easily bore off the palm. In the Logic class, the same 
 session, he no less easily conquered, on a field of forty 
 competitors. 
 
 " Were I to paint," said Kirke White to an intimate 
 friend, after a similar triumph at Cambridge, " a pic- 
 ture of Fame, crowning a distinguished under-graduate 
 after the senate-house examination, I would represent 
 her as concealing a death's-head under a mask of 
 2 
 
26 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSOX. 
 
 beauty." The Cambridge wrangler had come to the 
 scene of his conflict with the seeds of death already- 
 sown in him through protracted hours of study,* and 
 had found (writes his biographer), in the place to which 
 he had so long looked forward with hope, " only a 
 hot-bed to ripen them." That light, which had shone 
 so brightly, went out in sudden darkness. The hon- 
 ors won by Hewitson had nearly proved as fatal. The 
 studies of these two winters laid the foundation of a 
 disease which ultimately cut him off. " His study," 
 says his college associate, " was intensely eager — his 
 application prodigious. Night could scarcely stop him 
 above a very few hours. , He seldom, I believe, retired 
 to rest before three or four o'clock in the morning, and 
 rose again by seven or eight. Eemonstrance with him 
 was vain. He evidently injured his health the very 
 first winter. I remember well the feeling of anxiety 
 I had about him, as he came in from his classes, pale 
 and exhausted, laying his hand upon his breast, and 
 drawing a long breath with evident pain." Such was 
 the fruit he had of those things whereof he was soon 
 to be ashamed. 
 
 Prize-men are often barren, stunted, mechanical. 
 The mind, instead of being trained into that vigorous 
 
 * He would study till one, two, or three in the morning, and then 
 be awoke by an alarum at five. In a clever jeu-d 'esprit, lately pub- 
 lished in Germany, entitled the " Dance of Death," there is given, 
 among other scenes of the destroyer's triumph, one representing a stu- 
 dent with his midnight lamp, and behind him the hideous shape grinning 
 complacently over his victim. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 27 
 
 tone which shall fit it for future conquests, is render- 
 ed feeble and ineffective. This is not education : it is 
 the twisting of the sapling into the soil, of which 
 
 " The scarr'd and crooked oak will tell for centuries to come." 
 
 Hewitson was a prize-man of another stamp. He 
 was a thinker, not a mere plodding drudge. " The 
 mind," it has been said, " is made wealthy by ideas, 
 'but the multitude of words is a clogging weight." This 
 great maxim was before him in all his studies. And 
 the result was a precision — a mental self-reliance — a 
 steady reflectiveness, which enabled him to grasp 
 every theme he handled, dealing with it, not as a child, 
 but as a man. 
 
 Even in his classics, his great aim was to " reap the 
 wisdom of books." His essays on the poetry of 
 Horace, Pindar, and JEschylus — the last written in 
 Greek — indicate a mind wealthy, not in words, but in 
 thoughts, and these no common thoughts. For meta- 
 physical speculation also, he early imbibed a taste re- 
 tained by him to the last. " It exhibits," was the 
 judgment pronounced upon one of his essays by the 
 late Dr. "Welsh, than whom few men were more com- 
 petent to speak authoritatively on such a subject, or 
 more cautious in awarding praise, " as continuous and 
 striking a train of self-thinking as I have ever come 
 into contact with." His mind was characterized, per- 
 haps, by fineness — subtle acumen — rather than by co- 
 lossal strength. But in correct discrimination of men- 
 
28 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. IIEWIT30N. 
 
 tal states and habitudes, and generally in an exact ap- 
 preciation of the precise value of the various elements 
 in any complex question, he possessed a rare skill. A 
 single specimen is given below.* 
 
 Nor was he without that " eye in fine frenzy roll- 
 ing," which, had it been educated steadily, might have 
 made him no mean poetic interpreter of nature. His 
 papers discover not a few projected efforts in this di- 
 rection — among others, the partly executed frame- 
 work of an epic poem. But his desire was, that none 
 of these poetical productions should see the light ; and 
 that desire we hold sacred. 
 
 * " Imagination : What is it ? — The mind's energy in discovering in 
 one object of thought the image of another — in external tilings and 
 processes the images or types of mental energies and operations — in 
 all earthly things, material or spiritual, the images or shadows of 
 heavenly things — in all the truths of physical and intellectual science, 
 a reflection of the features of God's character. How does imagination 
 ■promote the studies of the philosopher ? — By suggesting hypotheses 
 from analogy — that is, arising from the discovery of an image of things 
 known in things uncertain, — which hypotheses, being subjected to ob- 
 servational and experimental test, are verified, or, being proved false, 
 repudiated. How does imagination, avail for the production of poetic 
 ecstacies ? — By exhibiting the family likenesses, as it were, which per- 
 vade all the objects of the universe, — by sounding in the soul's fine ear 
 the synchronism or harmony of all the silent melodies of things. Im- 
 agination finds in the combinations of materialism images of thought 
 and feeling, and thus gives vividness and animation to nature's forms, 
 and converts them into objects of human sympathy : it finds in the dark 
 struggling of emotion, and the dark intricacies of thought, the clear 
 bright images of outward things, and thus enlightens and illustrates 
 what is dark, gives form and color to what is fugitive and evanescent, 
 in the shining spirit, — and, by opening up to us clear visions of a friend- 
 ly soul, quickens and invigorates our social sympathies and loves. 
 Why does an idea of imagination afford pleasure ? — Because the im- 
 age in which it consists is either beautiful or sublime. The beautiful 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 29 
 
 But one culminating effort of the ambitious student 
 remains to be noticed. After having completed, in 
 April, 1837, his University course of Arts, he, instead 
 of immediately entering the Divinity Hall, went with 
 a family in the capacity of private tutor, to Leaming- 
 ton, where he spent the winter. That winter was a 
 momentous era in his life. It witnessed at once the 
 ascending smoke of the most grateful incense which 
 self had yet offered at Fame's golden altar, and the 
 rude dashing by a gracious God of the censer from the 
 
 is the shadow of God's loveliness; the sublime is the shadow of God's 
 majesty. But what is God's loveliness 1 — Either, generally, the har- 
 monious union and agency of all His attributes, or, particularly, the 
 harmony of each of His creative conceptions, and of His universal crea- 
 tive plan. What is God's majesty ? — The greatness, exceeding thought, 
 of any one of His attributes, viewed apart from the rest ; or the great- 
 ness, exceeding thought, of His whole character and being, considered 
 as an indivisible whole. Imagination pleases by discovering a secret 
 harmony, or ravishes by bodying forth an idea of greatness. Is the im- 
 aginative energy, then, in metaphysical truth, creative ? — By no means ; 
 its object and its act is the discovery of a harmony established by Him 
 who alone is Creator. Why is man endowed with imagination — why 
 made susceptible of poetic rapture? — That he may discover God in all 
 things. — God's image in his own soul, God's image in the hosts of 
 heaven, God's image in the creations of earth, God's greatness in all 
 that is great, God's loveliness in all that is lovely, God's glory in all 
 that is glorious. That poetry is most worthy of the name, because 
 most .true to nature, in which imagination has fulfilled its destiny." 
 
 " Philosophy, as distinguished from poetry, discovers the various or- 
 ders of God's creatures, and generalizes God's mode of action, whether 
 in the astronomy of the heavens, or the physics of earthly materialism, 
 or the psychology of spiritual being. Poetry, as distinguished from 
 philosophy, discovers in one object the reflection of another, and in 
 every object alone, and all objects as a whole, the reflection of God. 
 The philosopher coolly reduces his generalities to system ; the poet, 
 with ' eye in fine frenzy rolling,' beholds harmonies, over which his 
 heart burns with rapture, and pours forth the flood of song." 
 
30 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 offerer's hand. There had been proposed, in the pre- 
 ceding spring, a University prize, open to all students, 
 for an essay " on the Nature, Causes, and Effects of 
 National Character." This had stirred once more his 
 old ambition. He wrote the essay ; and on 27th De- 
 cember, 1837, the Senatus Academicus adjudged to 
 him the prize. In the following January, the essay 
 was read in presence of the whole professors and stu- 
 dents. "I well remember," writes the Kev. James 
 Dodds, " the first two occasions on which I saw one 
 who afterwards became my dear and intimate friend. 
 When Mr. Hewitson received that distinguished hon- 
 or, the gold medal in the Humanity class, I was pres- 
 ent in the class-room as an interested and admiring 
 spectator. Though I had heard not a little of his 
 scholarship, it was only then that I saw him for the 
 first time. I was struck with the delicacy and severe 
 application to study indicated by his slender and 
 slightly bent form, his pale and somewhat wasted 
 countenance, and the fine but ominous brilliancy of 
 his eye. His character among his fellow-students for 
 talent and acquirements, for energy of mind, and a 
 certain severe dignity of deportment, stood very high ; 
 and by general consent, he was set down as the most 
 promising student of his year. The next time I saw 
 him was when he read in public his essay on ' Nation- 
 al Character,' which gained the prize open to all the 
 students of the University. Along with all present, I 
 listened with pleasure and admiration to a production 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 31 
 
 which, for acuteness of analysis, power of generaliza- 
 tion, force and precision of language, and, above all, 
 for a lofty tone of moral sentiment, struck me as far 
 superior to the ordinary run of prize essays. The ap- 
 plause bestowed upon it was ample and well-deserved, 
 more than sufficient to feed and inflame the literary 
 ambition of a less aspiring mind than that of Mr. Hew- 
 itson. A friend and fellow-student sitting next to 
 me, whom I may name, Mr. James Hamilton, now 
 Dr. Hamilton of Kegent Square Church, London, at 
 that time unacquainted with Mr. Hewitson, as well as 
 myself, but afterwards his loved and valued friend — 
 exclaimed, when the reading of the essay was finished, 
 'What a fine sense he has of the sublime!' This re- 
 mark struck me at the time, and afterwards I had fre- 
 quent opportunities of perceiving its truth. In mat- 
 ters of literature, and in things concerning Divine 
 truth, my friend uniformly showed a delicate percep- 
 tion of the beautiful and the pure, of the lofty and the 
 noble, of the exalted in sentiment, and the generous 
 in character, which I have seldom found in other men, 
 and which I have always considered a leading feature 
 of his mind." 
 
 The essay was a noble production, embodying in 
 one masterly work the accumulated resources of his 
 entire past studies. Professor "Wilson, among others, 
 anxiously pressed its publication ; and not long ago, 
 no proposal could have been more grateful. But 
 now — all is changed. 
 
32 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "I obtained my highest wishes," writes Henry Mar- 
 tyn, on being crowned with the Academic laurel, 
 "but was surprised to find that I had grasped a shad- 
 ow." Not less, but even more withering, was the ex- 
 perience of William Hewitson. He had grasped, not 
 a shadow, but a stinging serpent. " Ambition," we 
 find him writing, " is a devil — and public praise is a 
 syren, which soothes while it destroys." Hitherto 
 that devil — that syren — had been leading him captive 
 at its will. Let his own graphic pen portray the 
 scene. " I was burning," are his words, as, in Octo- 
 ber, 1840, from the refuge into which he had by this 
 time fled, he looks back on his "first academic cam- 
 paign" — "I was burning to enter the arena of learned 
 competition, and thought life without fame not worth 
 the having. For a while the demon of ambition was 
 lord of the ascendant, and baleful was the influ- 
 ence which it shed upon my character : it was work- 
 ing so effectively the ruin of my soul, that Satan ceased 
 to harass me with fears, as he had done for years be- 
 fore : he deemed it then his most subtle policy to lay 
 to my soul a flattering unction, and, with the bland 
 flapping of a vampire's wings, to lull me into perfect 
 security. He succeeded in his stratagem for a while ; 
 and, but for the interposition of a gracious Providence, 
 he had accomplished my final destruction." 
 
 " My internal history," he again writes — and the 
 words are written on the very scene of desolation, 
 " may be generalized by the remark, that, around my 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 33 
 
 heart's fixed centre, there has been revolving in pano- 
 rama a wide circumference of change. The autumnal 
 leaves are now sere and sallow ; they tell, with pro- 
 phetic significancy, of the blight and shrunkenness of 
 youthful hopes ; — the wind is now passing with fitful 
 and melancholy howl ; so, too, there is a stir and a 
 rush, as it were, of winds in the atmosphere of the 
 soul ; there are, as it were, sighings around the door- 
 ways of the heart." 
 
 No words can tell the misery of that now vacant 
 and aching heart. "The stricken warrior," it has 
 been written, "is glad that his wounds are salved 
 with glory." Not so this stricken warrior. The glory 
 he has won on the academical arena is not a salve, but 
 a " centaur's maddening tunic." A pang more appal- 
 ling than mere felt emptiness now rends him. The 
 pang is twofold. 
 
 His own personal eternity trembles in the balance. 
 "The darkening of the understanding!" he writes at 
 this period to his early associate — " the influx of un- 
 holy thoughts that come uncalled, and fill the soul 
 with horror — the difficulty of realizing ideas of God's 
 presence and holy character — the agitation of doubts 
 and fears, and darkness, and of a heart that seems to 
 grieve for sin, but yet is so hard that its grief looks 
 not like the grief of repentance ! and then the prayer 
 of that hard heart — the unprofitable prayer — and the 
 grief that it has been unprofitable ! Can you form any 
 
 9* 
 
34 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 idea of that condition ? Such a state resembles a state 
 of madness or of demoniacal possession." 
 
 And now, scarcely less intense is his soul's agony, as 
 another question arises, demanding solution. " Since 
 the third year of my life," he writes in the same letter, 
 "my thoughts have been directed, through the dark- 
 ness of futurity in the same straight and unchanging 
 channel, invariably to the attainment of that object of 
 noblest ambition, the ministry of the gospel. That is 
 the grand object of my existence — the motive of all 
 my exertions — identified with all my hopes and fears — 
 the centre of my very soul. If it be not gained, a 
 dark cloud will settle all around my path — a blight- 
 ing chill will benumb all my faculties, and make me 
 useless to myself and others." And what is it that 
 now creates the alarm ? Let his own words tell. " If 
 IT he not gained! So far as the attainment of it is a 
 matter of secular interest, I should have no cause to 
 despair. But so far — and this is the great considera- 
 tion — so far as the success of my ambition is connect- 
 ed with God and heavenly things, I cannot say that I 
 look on the achievement of it without frequent de- 
 spondency. To become a minister of Christ! that pre- 
 supposes the having become a disciple of Christ, and 
 like Him in the holiness of a regenerated heart and sanc- 
 tified imagination. God alone can give the spirit of 
 discipleship, and resemblance to Christ, and He will 
 give it to those only who believe." 
 
 The twofold pang is almost more than he can bear. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 35 
 
 " How miserable a state of mind," he exclaims out of 
 the depth of his harrowed bosom, " is that, in which 
 sorrow, like a heavy load, weighs and weighs upon 
 the heart, and tries to find relief in tears, but cannot 
 find it ! How miserable above all that is most miser- 
 able, to wish that the heart was full of love towards 
 its God and Saviour, and, after all, to feel that it is as 
 cold as ice, and as hard as adamant!" 
 
 Such, Nature ! is thy blank helplessness in meeting 
 the wants of the human soul. Like another Marina 
 sitting among the ruins of Carthage, thy votary is left 
 by thee a poverty-stricken castaway even on the very 
 scene of his most splendid triumphs. 
 
 But nature's castaway the gracious Lord is now to 
 take up. The " prodigal," " come to himself," is to 
 be welcomed home. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 1837-1840. 
 
 The Religionist and the Christian — Setting Out — Twilight Gropings 
 — Literary Tastes — The Unknown God — The Crisis. 
 
 There is a vast and vital difference betwixt the 
 Christian and the mere religionist, though the two 
 are so often confounded. Each revolves round his 
 own centre. The religionist's centre is self; hence 
 his cheerless gloom. The Christian's centre is Christ; 
 hence his light and genial warmth. In these two cir- 
 cles Mr. Hewitson successively moved. 
 
 "The Christian pilgrim," says Coleridge, "sets out 
 in the morning twilight, while yet the truth (vo/jog ri. 
 Istog 6 irj? HevdtQiag*) is below the horizon." It was 
 at the commencement of the epoch embraced in this 
 chapter that our pilgrim set out. 
 
 The most trivial incidents often decide the life. 
 One day, as Napoleon was crossing the Alps on his 
 march to Italy, his foot suddenly slipped on the 
 edge of a tremendous chasm, — death seemed inevi- 
 table^ — at the critical moment his personal attendant 
 
 * "The perfect law of liberty." 
 
THE SETTING OUT. 37 
 
 caught him by the skirt of his coat — Napoleon was 
 saved. How trivial the incident, yet what results ! 
 Bunyan, in- one of his visits to Bedford in pursuit of 
 his calling as a tinker, marked three poor women on 
 a door- way engaged in earnest converse. Slackening 
 his pace as he neared them, he overheard a discourse 
 which arrested his whole soul. The discourse was on 
 the new birth, the hidden life, the heart's awful de- 
 pravity, the amazing grace of God ; and withal there 
 was written on the pilgrims' countenances a calm, 
 chastened gladness, which told the formalist there was 
 a secret in the Christian life which he did not know. 
 To that trivial incident Bunyan owed his all. An in- 
 cident in itself not less trivial presented to Mr. Hewit- 
 son the " living epistle" which was to startle him into 
 the pilgrim-path. 
 
 The incident we find narrated by himself, six years 
 afterwards, thus: — 
 
 "At Leamington, in the month of November, 1837, I hap- 
 pened one clay to turn up to the mineral spring. A young man 
 entered the building, whose appearance at once attracted my 
 observation ; his coarse linen frock contrasted with the gay ap- 
 parel of the groups before me. He was emaciated, and walked 
 forward with a feeble step. After drinking of the water out of 
 a vessel of earthenware, which was placed beside a number of 
 tumblers, he, without having apparently observed any one, 
 again slowly withdrew. After a little, I began to descend the 
 hill, in the middle of which the spring was situated, and found 
 the young man sitting at one of the bends of the winding-path 
 which slopes gently down the declivity. I spoke to him. His 
 diffident tone of voice and his modesty of manner at once enlist- 
 
38 MEMOIR OF REV- W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ed my sympathies. During several weeks afterwards I fre- 
 quently visited his father's lowly cottage. My intercourse 
 with the young man soon gave me ground to conclude, that, if 
 my theoretic knowledge of gospel truths was greater than his, 
 he, unlike myself, had experienced their sanctifying power. 
 Truly his was the better portion. When he spoke of the 
 Saviour's love to sinners, and His obedience unto death for their 
 redemption, he at times gave vent to his gratitude by tears of 
 joy. Pointing to his clothes, on one occasion, he said, address- 
 ing his father, ' These will be no more needed :. I wish you to 
 sell them ; the price of them will be enough to pay for my 
 coffin.' He seemed like one who had obtained 'everlasting 
 consolation and good hope through grace' — to have not a shad- 
 ow of doubt or anxiety on his soul as to the prospect of eternal 
 glory. One evening, about sunset, he fell asleep." 
 
 The student was stricken by the arrow of God. 
 That peasant, he felt, had been tutored in a school to 
 whose lessons he was as yet himself a stranger. The 
 question flashed on him, " Could / thus calmly pass 
 into the .immediate presence of the holy and just 
 Jehovah? Am I, like him, sheltered from the 
 terrors of 'the wrath to come?'" The question, too 
 plain to be evaded, and too urgent to be postponed, 
 constrained the earnest inquiry, " What must I do to 
 be saved?" The sentences quoted at the close of the 
 preceding chapter reveal the misery of his now tem- 
 pest-shaken spirit. Their date is 23d November, 1837. 
 
 The twilight gropings were not soon ended. 
 
 "To Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Malvern, September 14, 1838. — 
 . . . There is a weather of the soul, diversified as variously in 
 it* phenomena as is the external atmosphere by meteorological 
 
TWILIGHT GROPINGS. 39 
 
 changes ; and there are states of mind incident to my charac- 
 ter, which being accompanied with irrepressible melancholy, 
 and a feeling of wretchedness, utterly disqualify me for any 
 other sort of exertion than that which a sense of duty renders 
 indispensable. In such states of feeling, I never can, without 
 the greatest difficulty, prevail on myself to write a letter, even 
 
 though there be urgent occasion At such seasons I doubt 
 
 of my being ever capable of undertaking the ministrations of 
 the gospel; but God dispose of me for time and for eternity so 
 as most to show forth His glory ; if it be His dispensation that 
 I am to be a minister of Christ, blessed be His name ! if He 
 disposes of me otherwise, His will be done." 
 
 " To J. Loftus Marsden, Esq., M.D. — Dalmellington, Oc- 
 tober 11, 1838. — The period of my sojourn in England is past; 
 and, now released from every kind of engagement, I am once 
 more occupying a place in the family circle of Dalmellington. 
 Having left Malvern early on Monday morning of last week, I 
 reached "Worcester before eight o'clock. I strained my eyes in 
 the direction of Kempsey, if perchance I might discover some 
 object in it round which I might assemble the recollections of 
 happy hours spent with your family, as well as the valedictory 
 feelings of the moment ; but, like the scenes of untried futurity, 
 
 all was buried in haze and darkness By the stage-coach 
 
 I reached Liverpool, sailed from that to Glasgow, and reached 
 Dalmellington on Friday. I have three or four weeks to spend 
 
 at home I now resume my own studies at Edinburgh. 
 
 My curriculum is too long a one to admit the sacrifice of a 
 
 session That friendship may be indestructible, it must 
 
 needs be founded on an indestructible basis ; not on the physi- 
 cal sympathies of convivial excess, but on the congenialities and 
 the pleasures of intellectual and religious intercourse. The 
 hours when such congenialities were developed, and such pleas- 
 ures enjoyed, are those on which the mind loves most to an- 
 chor its memories." 
 
 In November, after having, the previous winter, en- 
 
40 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 rolled as an irregular and non-resident student, he en- 
 tered the Divinity Hall of Edinburgh, then presided 
 over by Dr. Chalmers, and formally commenced his 
 theological studies. 
 
 "It was towards the close of 1838," writes Mr. 
 Dodds, "that I first became acquainted with Mr. 
 Hewitson ; and from that period dates a friendship on 
 which I look back as on one of my greatest earthly 
 blessings. We were first introduced to each other at 
 a meeting of a 'preaching society,' of which we were 
 both members. I had been a member for some years ; 
 he had just entered. When called upon to give his 
 opinion of the discourse which had been delivered by 
 one of our fellow-members, he rose, and with some 
 hesitation of manner, yet with real confidence in his 
 powers, uttered a criticism distinguished for great fe- 
 licity of language, and a rare acquaintance with the 
 Scriptures. I saw at once that his scholarship had al- 
 ready been largely exercised in the study of the 
 Greek Testament, and that the Word of God by that 
 time had become the subject of his earnest and as- 
 siduous examination. I was struck also with his un- 
 common command of elegant and classic language, 
 which a slight hesitancy of utterance did not percepti- 
 bly impede. 
 
 "In the course of a long walk and conversation 
 which we had together, when the meeting of the so- 
 ciety was over, I got a view of his mind and charac- 
 ter which won my affection and admiration. He was 
 
LITERARY TASTES. 41 
 
 full of literary enthusiasm ; he talked like a scholar 
 of the Greek and Roman classics ; yet he seemed ar- 
 dently devoted to his theological studies, which he 
 was then pursuing under the tuition of Dr. Chalmers 
 and Dr. Welsh. I could easily see that he had a 
 strong consciousness of mental power, a decisiveness 
 in the formation and expression of his opinions, and 
 a lofty scorn of what was low-toned in feeling or in 
 conduct, which might well wear an aspect of pride 
 and austerity to the eye of those who do not know all 
 the elements of his character. There was, no doubt, 
 a certain haughtiness at times evident in his manner, 
 and a sensitiveness, allied to self-esteem, which did 
 not long escape my observation, and to which he after- 
 wards frankly confessed. But I was charmed and 
 carried away with his genuine warmth of feeling and 
 nobleness of sentiment, which, though conjoined in 
 him, as often in others, with considerable impetuosity 
 of temper, showed him formed for the highest style 
 of friendship. 
 
 " From that day forward we became friends. 
 I always hailed his visits as times of intellectual and 
 literary enjoyment, and of profitable converse on 
 theological subjects. And well do I remember the 
 nights I spent in his lodgings in 1839, when, con- 
 versing on metaphysics and classical literature, we 
 were often startled by the midnight clock as we dis- 
 cussed the doctrines of Butler, or expatiated on the 
 genius of Aristotle. At that time he was, like most 
 
42 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 young men of his stamp, full of literary projects. 
 His knowledge and admiration of tlie ancient classics 
 were also daily on the increase, and he delighted to 
 discuss subjects of classical philology, for which he 
 had a peculiar taste and aptitude. The beauty and 
 originality of many of his translations and etymologi- 
 cal definitions — though he was by no means free from 
 that fanciful ness to which all philologists are so prone 
 — gave a great value and charm to the classic talk in 
 which we too often indulged. 
 
 "But studies of a higher kind had begun to occupy 
 his energies, and give a new impress to his character. 
 That great and decided change of heart, without 
 which there is no entrance into the kingdom of God, 
 had not then been experienced by him, as I after- 
 wards learned from himself and others ; but, as far as 
 I could judge, he was behind none of his fellow- 
 students in seriousness of disposition and gravity 
 of deportment. He even seemed more advanced 
 than many in the knowledge and love of Divine 
 things." 
 
 At the close of the college session he went to reside 
 for the summer in the family of General Sir David 
 Foulis, at Oairnie Lodge, Fifeshire. 
 
 "To Rev. J. Dodds. — Cairnie Lodge, October 16, 1839. — 
 .... My classes open on the 6th proximo, but I shall not 
 
 leave Cairnie till the 12th or 13th A fortnight since I 
 
 compeared before the Presbytery of Cupar, to undergo exam- 
 ination, and was examined before the whole body on the sub- 
 
LITEKARY TASTES. 43 
 
 ject of last session's prelections. I enjoy the intellectual gladia- 
 torship of such a questioning, particularly when the onslaught 
 
 is made by five or six well-appointed examinators I 
 
 shall regret my leaving the home of one who has done towards 
 me the office of a friend, by telling me, suaviter in modo, when 
 
 and wherein I have been in fault The remembrance of 
 
 her, I hope, will bless me, and be to me itself a friend and a 
 monitor This is the season of the faded leaf and melan- 
 choly fancy ; rife in parables, written on the trees, and read 
 aloud by the passing wind : it is a season of sad delight — of 
 beauty in decay. I expect soon to have the pleasure of seeing 
 you, and of having my mind ventilated by the circulation 
 throughout its chambers of a fresh current of thoughts and 
 feelings." 
 
 A glimpse into those seasons of mental "ventila- 
 tion" his friend enables us to give, through the me- 
 dium of a private diary, in which Mr. Dodds recorded 
 at the time the impressions left by successive inter- 
 views. " Due allowance," says the writer, " must be 
 made for the sanguine hopes and affectionate ardor of 
 youthful friendship, but I may be permitted to affirm 
 that what follows is an honest record of my impres- 
 sions and convictions." 
 
 " July 4, 1839.— To-day my old friends, B , T , and 
 
 Hewitson, took a run out of town, and spent a few hours with 
 me. The conversation was of a most instructive quality, and 
 embraced some of the highest Christian topics. Hewitson as 
 fond of metaphysical speculation as ever." 
 
 " Dec. 6. — II. and I carried on our conversation into the 
 middle of the night. H. is full of philosophy and wisdom, and 
 has a fine vein of fancy and eloquent expression." 
 
 " Jan. 13, 1840. — B and I adjourned for a part of the 
 
44 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 night to Hewitson's lodgings, where we had worship as a fam- 
 ily. We had much converse together, chiefly on the subject 
 of the Jews, and the prophecies relative to their future conver- 
 sion aud restoration. B maintained that there will be 
 
 some extraordinary and exclusive manifestation of the Divine 
 power to the Jews as a nation, which shall lead to, or at least 
 complete, their conversion ; and he seemed to verge towards 
 the doctrine of the personal reign. H. and I held an opposite 
 opinion, though believing that God's ancient people shall yet 
 be gloriously and nationally restored to their own land." 
 
 "Jan. 25. — My dear and excellent friend Hewitson came 
 
 here from Edinburgh to-day He is evidently subject to 
 
 fits of depression, and he confesses to frequent despondency. 
 His is a rich and rare mind." 
 
 " March 5. — Dined and passed the night with Hewitson. I 
 had much pleasant, and trust profitable, conversation with him 
 on various subjects, chiefly biblical and religious. In several 
 expositions of difficult passages of Scripture, H. showed great 
 critical acumen, and much sound knowledge of the Word of 
 God. I am convinced he would make an admirable professor 
 of biblical criticism." 
 
 Ee verting to the momentous question of his per- 
 sonal reconciliation to God, he continued month after 
 month under the power of guilty unbelief. "I cried," 
 he writes about a year afterwards concerning this sad 
 season, " I cried to the unknown God with my voice 
 [the italics are his own], and often cried in despair. 
 The cry seemed never to reach His ears, and then 
 I was so ' troubled that I could not speak.' At such 
 a time would I pour forth to God such lines as 
 these : — 
 
THE UNKNOWN GOD. 45 
 
 O wherefore hast Thou left me now 
 
 In desp'rate struggle all alone ? 
 What tempest hides Thine awful brow ? 
 
 What horror girds Thy gracious throne ? 
 
 Thou art my Father — deign to look 
 
 Upon the anguish throbbing here, 
 And not regard with stern rebuke 
 
 The scorching agony of this tear." 
 
 Mere religiousness never can have any other issue. 
 "I lived," are his own emphatic words in the same 
 letter, explaining the now detected cause of his misery, 
 "not among things without so much as among things 
 within." Dwelling amidst the dark recesses of his 
 own heart, he had left unexplored " the glory of God 
 in the face of Jesus Christ." And not knowing God 
 — not understanding His heart towards him, he had 
 not dared to " come nigh." 
 
 But the spring of 1840 brought the burdened pil- 
 grim to the Cross. The ro/jog jiXetog 6 rrig ikevdegiag 
 at length rose above his horizon, and illumined, his 
 hitherto shadowed path. 
 
 Faith is the soul's outward, not inward, look. The 
 object on which faith fixes its eye is, not the heart's 
 ever-varying frames, but the never-varying Christ. 
 Beholding, in Christ crucified, God's manifested love, 
 and believing that love undoubtingly, the sinner is 
 thrilled by that "perfect love" which " casteth out 
 fear." This simple, yet all-important, secret of peace 
 and joy Mr. Hewitson was now to learn, and to learn 
 
46 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 at the lips, not of a human teacher, but of that Sa- 
 viour at whose feet he was to find repose. 
 
 An affecting episode intervened. It was the final 
 struggle of self-righteousness. Having in the early 
 part of the winter visited Dundee, where the Lord 
 was working so marvellously in the congregation of 
 the late Mr. M'Cheyne, he had returned to Edinburgh, 
 stirred into new earnestness. The earnestness found 
 expression thus : — 
 
 " Lord Jesus Christ, shed abroad the love of God in my 
 heart by Thy Spirit given unto me this week, and I shall dedi- 
 cate myself this week to Thy service, entering into covenant 
 with Thee, my strength and Redeemer. I shall seek to crucify 
 my flesh with its affections and lusts, — to subdue the mo- 
 tions of pride, vanity, revenge, worldly-mi ndedness, — and to 
 glorify thee in my heart and life. That I may keep this cove- 
 nant inviolate, give me, O Lord ! the spirit of grace and suppli- 
 cation, of purity and watchfulness ; and to Thee, at the end of 
 this week, if Thou preserve me till then, I shall ascribe all the 
 praise. Amen. 
 
 " Sabbath-day, December 29, 1839." 
 
 There are works which the Scriptures designate 
 " dead works" because the doer of them is not himself 
 accepted with God or not realizing his acceptance. 
 Such a work, notwithstanding its deceptive guise, was 
 this "Covenant." For in what state had it left the 
 man subscribing it? 
 
 "To Dr. Marsdex. — Edinburgh, January 30, 1840. — I 
 look back often on the past with regret, and forward into the 
 future with despondency. Another winter after this one, and 
 
THE CRISIS. 47 
 
 my college course is finished. What shall I do then ? The 
 responsibilities of the ministry are awful ; and unless I be 
 changed much for the better, though I am not outwardly 
 wicked, I shall not dare to approach the sacred office." 
 
 At last, however, a new scene opens : — 
 
 To the same. — Edinburgh, May 4, 1840. — .... My 
 mind is composing itself under the solemnizing influence of one 
 vast, overwhelming, all-absorbing idea, — that of the responsi- 
 bilities belonging to the ministry of reconciliation. When I 
 wrote you last (30th January), that idea was oppressive — it 
 sank me into despondency. For two months past, however, I 
 have been all but settled in the determination to go forward, in 
 the strength of the Lord, as a laborer into his vineyard ; and so 
 much are my feelings changed, that, whereas I was before 
 afraid to intrude myself into the work of the gospel ministry, I 
 am beginning to be afraid to hesitate, or to draw back. ' If 
 any man draw back, saith the Lord, my soul shall have no pleas- 
 ure in him.'" 
 
 These words announce the crisis of his personal 
 history. The sunshine is reached. The burden is 
 henceforth gone — not, indeed, the burden of corrup- 
 tion, but the burden of unforgiven sin. " There is 
 now no condemnation." 
 
 The reconciled man thus describes the source of 
 his Christian liberty : — 
 
 To his Father. — . ..." I am now convinced that, after 
 hearing it preached a thousand times over, we still remain 
 ignorant of the gospel, unless we see clearly, and feel joyfully, 
 that Christ is offered to us, wretched, lost sinners, in all His 
 fulness, as the free gift of God. I am sure of this, that for a 
 long, long time I have been deceiving myself, and making my- 
 
48 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 self miserable every day, through ignorance of the free, glorious 
 gospel, while I imagined that I clearly understood its gracious 
 character. For long the painful feeling still preyed upon my 
 mind, that I must do some good works myself, or God would 
 not accept me in Christ Jesus ; and my misery was, that while 
 Satan thus blinded my eyes, I found myself unable to do the 
 good works that I would. Now I see that the gospel is quite 
 different, — that it is free, and full, and wholly of grace." 
 
 And does he well to rejoice ? There is a counter- 
 feit joy into which Satan cheats the soul. That joy 
 eschews the tear, and the inward warring, and the hill 
 Difficulty, and the Apollyon conflict, as only the beg- 
 garly elements of bondage. Not so the joy now 
 vouchsafed to Mr. Hewitson. His joy — ending the fear 
 which hath torment, and ending it through simple be- 
 lieving — melts him into a hitherto unknown tenderness, 
 and nerves him with a hitherto unknown strength. 
 
 " You wrote that sometimes, when you look at the sin which 
 still lives in your flesh, you can hardly imagine that Christ dwells 
 in you : but, in the first place, though sin still lives in your flesh, 
 you do not now live in sin ; in the second place, though sin still 
 lives in your flesh, you do not now recognize its sovereignty ; it 
 lives in your flesh, as a messenger of Satan, and cleaves to you as 
 a body of death ; but you hate it — flee from it — pray against it. 
 
 It is your enemy, not your sovereign My prayer for 
 
 you, my dear friend, is, that your comforts in the Lord may al- 
 ways be greater than your distresses in the flesh, and that 
 through Divine grace you may be able, in the darkest hour, to 
 say, What time I am afraid, I will trust in God : in God I have 
 put my trust ; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me' — ' I 
 am persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of 
 God, which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord."' 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 1840, 1841. 
 
 Self- Dedication — First Fruits-Correspondence — Close of College Course 
 — Evangelistic Zeal — Personal Holinoss. 
 
 Does the reader remember the "picture" in the In- 
 terpreter's private room? "It had eyes lifted up to 
 heaven, the best of books in its hand, the law of truth 
 was written upon its lips, the world was behind its 
 back; it stood as if it pleaded with men, and a crown 
 of gold did hang over its head !" Mr. Hewitson 
 might have sat for that picture. 
 
 "Don't you think," asks Mr. Hewitson, "that in the 
 case of many Christians regeneration is followed by a 
 considerable period of — not darkness, but — obscurity 
 (such as that of the understanding in childhood), un- 
 fitting the soul to take in a whole Christ, and conse- 
 quently to enjoy a perfect peace? Such Christians 
 live far below their privileges, as accredited children 
 of adoption, born to an inheritance not in themselves, 
 but in Christ." In Mr. Hewitson himself, the child- 
 hood is seen only in his single-hearted sincerity ; in 
 understanding, he is already a man. 
 3 
 
50 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSOK. 
 
 Dr. Payson lias supposed the various classes of 
 Christians to be ranged in different concentric circles 
 round Christ as their common centre. " Some," he 
 says, " value the presence of their Saviour so highly 
 that they cannot bear to be at any remove from Him. 
 Even their work they will bring up, and do it in the 
 light of His countenance, and, while engaged in it, 
 will be seen constantly raising their eyes to Him, as 
 if fearful of losing one beam of His light. Others, 
 who, to be sure, would not be content to live out of 
 His presence, are yet less wholly absorbed by it than 
 these, and may be seen a little further off, engaged 
 here and there in their various callings, their eyes 
 generally upon their work, but often looking up for 
 the light which they love. A third class, beyond 
 these, but yet within the life-giving rays, includes a 
 doubtful multitude, many of whom are so much en- 
 gaged in their worldly schemes that they may be seen 
 standing sidewaj^s to Christ, looking mostly the other 
 way, and only now and then turning their faces 
 towards the light." In the innermost concentric cir- 
 cle Mr. Hewitson now took his stand. "From the 
 time," writes his earliest friend, "that he was brought 
 clearly to see Christ as his ( all in all,' his soul was filled 
 with His glory, as a present Saviour and ever-living 
 Friend ; his communion with Him became more like 
 that of one friend with another, who are personally 
 near, than of a distant correspondence." His holy 
 ambition now was to "follow the Lord fully. " "A 
 
SELF-DEDICATION — FIRST-FRUITS. 51 
 
 blessing it is beyond every other, "are bis own expres- 
 sive words at this period, "to have an ear 'deaf to the 
 world's music, but all awake to the voice of LTim who 
 is "the chief among ten thousand, and altogether 
 lovely.'" 
 
 In May he returned to Dalmellington for the sum- 
 mer. His relatives at once marked the great change. 
 The very night he arrived he spoke to all the family 
 most solemnly on the concerns of eternity. And the 
 whole village soon saw that he was another man. He 
 had been known hitherto as the great scholar, and the 
 exemplary divinity student; but now, they "took 
 knowledge of him that he had been with Jesus." 
 
 "That," said he, one day soon after his return, 
 laying his hand upon the open Bible, — "that shall 
 henceforth be my daily study ; I desire to converse 
 through it daily with God. The purpose was not un- 
 accomplished. The Bible may be said to have thence- 
 forth become his library. No longer regarding it as a 
 mere hieroglyphic to be curiously examined by the 
 eye of the scholar, he came to it with the heart of a 
 child, to listen to the voice of his Father. And out 
 of it he learned that living and fresh divinity which 
 impregnated with its savor his whole future conversa- 
 tion, and correspondence, and ministry. 
 
 The man in the picture "stood as if he pleaded 
 with men." Ere Mr. Hewitson had left Edinburgh, 
 his "pleading" had been instrumental in the conver- 
 sion of a soul. The case was remarkable. It was an 
 
52 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSOX. 
 
 aged formalist on her death-bed. With a tender ur- 
 gency he 'had preached to her Christ, and he had 
 preached in faith and expectation. The woman's 
 heart had been opened. Not long after, she had died 
 "in the Lord."* And now, in his native village, a 
 still more striking case occurred. It was a woman 
 above eighty, also on her death-bed. Awakened 
 within a week of her decease, she welcomed the tid- 
 ings which he brought to her of " free grace to the 
 chief of sinners." Her distress gave place to a deep 
 and calm peace. 
 
 Were not these two earliest sheaves of his coming 
 harvest, cases of so marked a type, that the laborer 
 might learn to expect great things, and never to limit 
 the Holy One of Israel ? 
 
 Did they not furnish, besides, an instructive com- 
 mentary on his own two years of unbelief? Know- 
 ing now that that long interval of groping had in no 
 way qualified him for coming to the Lord, but that at 
 its close he had come, not pleading the two years of 
 anxiety, but simply as a sinner, he never sanctioned, 
 in his dealings with others, a day's or an hour's delay 
 in coming to Christ, but demanded, in his Master's 
 name, immediate and undoubting faith in his message, 
 and held out, as the result, immediate and perfect 
 peace. The success here vouchsafed to such dealing 
 was to him an experimentum crucis — a crucible-test, 
 
 * We have this incident from two eye-witnesses, whose judgment is 
 worthy of implicit confidence. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 53 
 
 proving what was the Lord's way in the conversion of 
 the sinner. 
 
 He established that summer, in the village, a week- 
 ly prayer-meeting, in which he ever afterwards took 
 the deepest interest. Years afterwards, when Mr. 
 Hewitson was away in a distant land, and engrossed 
 by almost overwhelming labors, he used to remember 
 the little Dalmellington meeting, regularly suggesting 
 suitable exercises, and urging on its members to pray, 
 and not to faint. The plant bore not a little fruit. Of 
 that meeting we have reason to believe, it has been 
 written on high — " This and that man was born 
 there." 
 
 The following fragmentary extracts will indicate his 
 views and feelings at this period : — 
 
 To a Friend in Edinburgh. — "Dalmellington, June 15, 
 
 1840. — Yesterday I heard two sermons, as dry, 
 
 and general, and unedifying as might be. They were preached 
 away from, and not to the congregation. An abstract, and 
 what I should call an impersonal sermon, has a chilling and 
 deadening effect upon the soul. It seems strange that the 
 Word of God, which is quick and powerful, should, in the 
 hands of different preachers, produce effects so different — but so 
 it is :' the same waters of life (for the sermons I heard yesterday 
 were evangelical) passing through one channel, quicken and re- 
 fresh the hearer ; and passing through another channel, deaden 
 
 and petrify The Evangelical is ' of the heart, in the 
 
 spirit, and not in the letter — whose praise is not of man, but 
 of God.' .... If Christ dwell in us, the evidences of His 
 gracious presence are not indistinct and illegible. The faith 
 which quickens enlightens likewise, for faith is just the grace of 
 
54 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 an indwelling Saviour ; now the Saviour is life, and ' the life is 
 the light of man.' .... Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 W. H. H." 
 "To the same. — Dalmellington, July 13, 1840. — . . . . 
 Don't you sometimes experience the effect which the sight and 
 the conversation of Christian friends have in adding to the iu- 
 teerst which you feel in their well-being, and to the fervency 
 with which you pray on their behalf? .... In Scripture 
 there is frequent allusion made to this influence of face-to-face 
 communion. .... Paul, writing to the Roman converts, says, 
 ' I long to see you, that I may be comforted together with you 
 by the mutual faith both of you and me.' And in concluding 
 his letter to the ' elect lady,' John says, ' I trust to come unto 
 you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.' 'Tis 
 well that, since in this world Christians have to walk ' by faith 
 and not by sight,' as regards their Lord, they have frequent 
 opportunities afforded them by Him of walking by sight and 
 not by faith, as regards one another. Yesterday I again com- 
 municated in a neighboring parish, and it was to me, blessed be 
 
 the Lord ! a comfortable communion Experience has 
 
 taught me, however, that in my journey heavenward I must 
 
 pass through much tribulation On Saturday night I 
 
 was hard beset by Satan ; I was afflicted so that I durst not 
 pray ; ' I found trouble and sorrow ;' I went to bed, despairing 
 of relief, almost resolved not to communicate. I awoke in liko 
 manner, desponding and irresolute, but, God be thanked ! I 
 was encouraged to say to the principalities and powers that 
 sought my destruction, ' If the Lord ever will be able and 
 willing to save me, He is able and willing now — yes, this very 
 day.' .... Then did I feel that I was running the risk of 
 denying Christ before those very devils whom he had vanquish- 
 ed on the cross, and of giving them occasion for temporary 
 triumph ; therefore I resolved to present myself before the 
 Lord, and to confess Him in the presence of both men and 
 devils. Satan bears a grudge to the commemorative ordinance 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 55 
 
 of the supper, for it is commemorative of his overthrow as well 
 as of the Redeemer's triumph." 
 
 " To the same. — Dalmellington, September 26, 1840. — 
 Since I wrote my last letter to you, I have been ten days or so 
 absent in Galloway, on a round of visits among relations and 
 friends. A day and night I spent pleasantly with a friend in 
 Dairy, which is, by the good people of thereabouts, called 
 ' The Clachan ;' or, in consequence ofca tradition that the Be- 
 loved Disciple himself instructed its rude occupants of the first 
 century in the doctrine of Jesus, ' St. John's Clachan.' The 
 finger of credulity still points to the stone bench on which the 
 
 apostle sat, with his dear barbarians around him My 
 
 friend carried me to an eminence over-looking the village, and 
 commanding an extensive view of ' mosses, moors, and falls ;' 
 ' of mountain, valley, and resplendent river.' He showed me 
 the spot where the persecution commenced under the auspices 
 of the Jeroboam of our country — the perjured, rollicking, reck- 
 less Charles II. Beginning with Kenmure Castle, he pointed 
 out on every side, both near and in the distance, houses, not 
 few nor far between, where dwelt saints of the second Refor- 
 mation Almost every house is a martyr's monument. 
 
 " How sensitively afraid of being selfish you are ! . . . . 
 Self-love is from heaven, heavenly ; it is ' an ingredient in the 
 compound man, infused at the creation of the kind.' It is not 
 selfishness. Selfishness belongs to devils, but self-love to the 
 angels of light. In evincing due self-regard, you will not be 
 guilty of selfishness any more than Timothy, in drinking ' a 
 little wine for his stomach's sake, and his often infirmities,' was 
 chargeable with intemperance. Some virtues very much, in 
 the face, resemble their correspondent vices." 
 
 "To the same. — Dalmellington, October 8, 1840. — .... 
 I have been enjoying an almost uninterrupted serenity of mind ; 
 my peace has been greater than usual, not because I imagined 
 I was increasing in holiness, but because my view of the all- 
 sufficiency and freeness of Christ's righteousness has been, by 
 
56 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the grace of God, more enlarged and consolatory The 
 
 moon was an hour ago shining beautifully in a dark blue sky : 
 ever and anon would a cloud come between, and each cloud as 
 it came seemed to be the last; but scarcely the moon had 
 peered from behind it, when the vapor, before scarcely visible, 
 condensing into another cloud, floated on, and of a sudden 
 dimmed her light again. Of like kind are the phenomena by 
 which ' the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Christ' 
 
 is now brightened and now obscured in the soul The 
 
 clouds which hide the moon rise from the earth, and, in like 
 manner, that spiritual darkness which seems to arise from the 
 withdrawal of the light of God's countenance, has its origin in 
 the state of our own souls." 
 
 He devoted himself that summer to his preparatory 
 studies with, an ardor which the feebleness of his al- 
 ready shattered frame could with difficulty restrain 
 within due limits. He writes : — 
 
 " August 31, 1840.- -I am not troubled now either by ' the 
 indolence of genius' or the genius of indolence. I was out of 
 bed this morning by four o'clock, and 'tis not yet time for 
 breakfast. I wish I could keep ' MinshulP hours regularly ; I 
 dare say such hours were kept by Adam and Eve in Eden, 
 when they were wont to close their eyes in faith, and to ODen 
 them in prayer." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — September 2, 1840. — Tis now 
 ripe time for me to cast off the negligenza which characterized 
 my preparations for Dr. Brunton, and to aim at something 
 more than a mere dash of Hebrew literature. Meantime I de- 
 vote three hours a-day to the reading of the Hebrew Psalter, 
 and have reached, I think, the 75th Psalm. The delights of 
 classic and vernacular poetry are forgotten amidst those of the 
 
CLOSE OF COLLEGE COURSE. 57 
 
 loftier than Maeonian strains of Judah .... Though I have a 
 presentiment that my sphere of duty may be assigned to me 
 within the bounds of Scotland, I am nevertheless desirous of 
 mastering the Hebrew tongue, as that would enable me, in 
 some measure, if requisite, to declare ' the glad tidings' to some 
 or another portion of God's ancient people ; and as, at all events, 
 an acquaintance with the original language of the Bible is the 
 best and most to be relied on commentary upon our English 
 version." 
 
 And on returning to Edinburgh in November, " for 
 the last time in the capacity of a student," the same 
 indomitable energy characterized him as in his earliest 
 student-days. With his college studies that winter he 
 combined the regular visitation, twiie a-week, of a dis- 
 trict in a very destitute part of the city, followed up 
 by a not less regular Sabbath evening service. He 
 likewise discharged the weekly duties of the chair of 
 the University Missionary Association, from which he 
 delivered several addresses, at once adorned by classic 
 elegance, and imbued with a heavenly fervor. His 
 academic course was finished in March, 1841.* The 
 illustrious man whose pupil he had been, never ceased 
 to regard him with affectionate esteem, as one of the 
 most scholar-like and accomplished students who had 
 ever passed out of his hall. 
 
 "We want public souls — we want them," are the 
 words of Bishop Hacket, enshrined by Coleridge in 
 
 * Mr. Hewitson did not take any degree at College. Little value 
 was then attached to it. The standard of examination has since been 
 raised. He passed his trials for license before the Presbytery of Ayr, 
 on 24th January, 1841. 
 
58 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 his Aphorisms ; "I speak it with compassion ; there 
 is no sin and abuse in the world that affects my 
 thoughts so much. Omnes quce sua qucerunt — all seek 
 their own." Never had there entered a college one 
 more set on self- — never had there left it one more 
 truty a " public soul." " I shall now," he writes, " be 
 careless that my name pass away from the earth along 
 with this mortal body, if only it be written in the 
 Lamb's Book of Life in heaven. God will not suffer 
 me to be ambitious now." " TVe knew him," is the 
 testimony of an Indian missionary,* in the hey-day of 
 his intellectual vigor, and remember well how he read 
 his prize essay, iit the Edinburgh University, to the 
 admiring assembly of his fellow-students. We knew 
 him also after the love of Christ had touched his heart, 
 and given a purer and more divine direction to all 
 his powers. His fine genius was turned to the cross, 
 and he became a little child, f 
 
 A little incident strikingly illustrates the intensity 
 of his devotedness. The gold medal — once the idol of 
 his heart — he forwarded from Dalmellington to a friend 
 in Edinburgh, to be sold, and the proceeds put into 
 the Lord's treasury. His friend, deeming the idol 
 harmless, laid a plan for sparing it : he sent him a 
 cheque for its full money- value, and craved leave to 
 retain the medal itself as an in memoriam. Mr. Hew- 
 itson thus replied : — 
 
 * The Rev. John Braidwood of Madras, 
 f Madras Native Herald. Oct., 1860. 
 
CLOSE OF COLLEGE COURSE. 59 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq. — My mind is made up as to 
 devoting it to the object which I mentioned. This may weigh 
 with you in counterbalance to the feelings which have influenced 
 your — shall I call it ? — condemnation of the act. It was only 
 natural that, at first, my reluctance to parting with an object 
 which I once regarded as a trophy of praiseworthy ambition, 
 <ind round which many once-pleasing associations were gathered, 
 should be almost unconquerable ; but, by the grace of God, I 
 have got the victory over my natural feelings of reluctance, and 
 most grievous it would be to find them again rising to the as- 
 cendant. If the gaining of the prize was a trophy of nature, 
 the parting with it will be, in some measure, a trophy of grace. 
 Your own feelings in the matter will enable you to appreciate 
 the force of what I say. In the meantime, while you keep the 
 medal in retentis, it will be my part to keep in rctentis the 
 cheque which you so kindly transmitted. The medal is to you 
 not of the slightest intrinsic value ; it is only th.epretium affec- 
 tionis which it can have in your own eyes .... I shall be 
 glad to learn by your next that your difficulties have given 
 way, and that you have succeeded in effecting the sale." 
 
 Some may not sympathize with this iconoclasm. But 
 whatever may be thought of the act, the motive is like 
 the man. " Behold, this self-same, thing," writes Paul, 
 " that ye sorrowed after a godly sort ; Avhat careful- 
 ness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of your- 
 selves, yea, wjiat indignation, yea, what revenge !" 
 Words like these betoken a zeal against idols, with 
 which another than the convicted and pardoned idola- 
 ter may not intermeddle. When Mr. Cecil broke the 
 strings of his once-loved violin, and cast away his brush 
 and palette, he felt that not only must the heart be 
 dissevered from the idol, but the idol itself must be put 
 
60 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 out of sight. It is the Lord's own way. " I will take 
 away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they 
 shall no more be remembered by name." 
 
 " When I look back upon the past eight years," we 
 find Mr. Hewitson writing at this period, " I see them 
 as if they were a waste howling desert, in respect of 
 my own barrenness." And how shall the desert be 
 now clothed with verdure ? How shall that Saviour, 
 — who is now, not " alter ego" simply — his other self, 
 but " unions ego 11 — his one and only self, — receive the 
 homage of his life ? 
 
 Felix Neff, in describing his feelings, as, from the 
 lofty summit of Monte Yiso, he caught his first glimpse 
 of the mighty country stretched out at his feet, thus 
 wrote : — " How little did I think at this time of the 
 Caesars, the Brutuses, and the Virgils of ancient times ! 
 One consideration absorbed all my thoughts, spread- 
 ing, as it were, a dark veil over this otherwise smiling 
 Italy. I was now surveying the dark empire of the 
 Beast ! ' Jesus'! thou Divine Sun !' I exclaimed, 
 ' wilt Thou never again enlighten this unhappy peo- 
 ple?'" With such a heart Mr. Hewitson now con- 
 templates, not a dying Italy, but a dying world. He 
 thus appeals to a little band of fellow-students : — 
 
 "You will see them — old and young, rich and poor, lettered 
 and ignorant — perishing through lack of knowledge, — given up 
 to delusion, to helieve a lie, — living in bondage to the powers 
 of darkness, — yielding themselves as instruments of unright- 
 eousness unto sin, — and hurrying onward, one by one, without 
 
EVANGELISTIC ZEAL — PERSONAL HOLINESS. 61 
 
 God and without hope, to the valley of the shadow of death, 
 to the place of the undying worm, and the unquenchable fire. 
 Oh ! what can ye do, ere their doom be sealed, to pluck them 
 like brands from the burning ? Will ye not spend days of 
 anxious toil, and nights of watching unto prayer, if, peradven- 
 ture, one of them, at least, may be spared from ruin ?" 
 
 For is not he in possession of the inestimable secret 
 — that secret " hidden from the wise and prudent, but 
 revealed unto babes" — whereby the dying may have 
 life ? " Necessity," he feels, " is laid upon him ; yea, 
 woe is unto him, if he preach not the Gospel ;" and 
 that, be it marked, not because he is professionally a 
 minister, but because he is personally a Christian. 
 With what boldness of faith and yearning of affection 
 does he breast the mighty enterprise ! 
 
 " Such is the expansive energy of Christian love, that 
 wherever it sees a brow like that which was mocked with a 
 crown of thorns, it will not be satisfied till on that brow there 
 be engraven the name of Jesus . . . . ' I am a missionary' is a 
 thought which we should frequently — every day that passes — 
 entertain in our minds : whenever a new face of circumstances 
 presents itself, — whenever a change in our position occurs, — 
 we should ever be ready to put the question, ' What, as a mis- 
 sionary, ought I now to do V . . . . As to Peter, so to every 
 Christian is the question put by Jesus, ' Lovest thou me ?' As 
 on Peter, so on every Christian is the commandment laid by 
 Jesus, ' Feed my sheep.' .... Were we — were all believers 
 — in point of spirituality of mind, and in point of zealous co- 
 operation with Jesus in his missionary work, what it behoves 
 them to be, — were they to give the men of the world occasion to 
 say, not only, ' See how these Christians love one another,' but 
 likewise, " See how these Christians work for their Lord,' — 
 
62 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 then, by good token, the time were not far distant when tho 
 gospel shall be preached literally to every soul under heaven." 
 
 His eye, besides, is on the stealthy movements of 
 that canker-worm which so often blights into impo- 
 tence an orthodox and even active ministry, — a world- 
 conforming walk. 
 
 " How the sinews of evangelistic labors are relaxed by a 
 want of habitual prayerfulness, and by occasional relapses into 
 secularity ! So universally diffused, and so contagious is the 
 element of worldliness, that, owing to our want of guardedness, 
 it often steals in upon us imperceptibly, and, diffusing its virus 
 through our souls, prostrates for a time our spiritual energies. 
 When we descend into and inhale that element, we are imme- 
 diately paralyzed, and rendered unable to co-operate with God, 
 till again we have been elevated by His hand into the region 
 and element of spirit." 
 
 And his own holy walk is to prove impressively 
 that not in vain has he gotten insight into this most 
 momentous of all " furnishings" of the " man of God" 
 — a single-hearted, self-denying life. 
 
 What then ? Shall he now enter the vineyard as 
 one of the Master's commissioned laborers? Man 
 would have pronounced him duly "furnished." But 
 He who conducted Paul into Arabia to complete his 
 preparation for the ministry, takes aside Mr. Hewitson 
 for further training. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1841-1842. 
 
 Health giving way — Residence at Grangemuir — Conflicts — Symp- 
 toms of Consumption — Diary — Correspondence — License. 
 
 " I now am beginning to feel that relaxation for 
 both mind and body is imperatively requisite. I have 
 been jaded beyond my powers of endurance, and long 
 for a season of rest — of bodily as well as mental quiet, 
 as much as ever poor mariner longed for his expected 
 haven." 
 
 So wrote Mr. Hewitson on 24th March, 1841. 
 Friends had been warning him, for months, of the 
 danger and sin of persisting in his protracted hours 
 of study. Several times that spring he had fainted 
 away. He was evidently sinking into a state of de- 
 bility and emaciation, which, unless arrested, must 
 speedily hasten his days to a premature close. On a 
 careful examination, his chest had been ascertained to 
 be as yet unaffected, but his nervous system so thor- 
 oughly enfeebled, that only a season of entire rest 
 opened up any prospect of its repair. 
 
 He who leads His own " by a way which they know 
 
64 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 not" prepared a rest for His servant. He agreed to 
 become for eight months tutor to a family in Fife — 
 hoping that he might then be able to preach the gos- 
 pel. To this "mountain apart" he now betook him- 
 self. 
 
 " With characteristic energy and decision," says 
 Mr. Dodds, alluding to this Fifeshire residence, "he 
 carried out his new views and convictions, even in his 
 familiar letters. No more letters did he write merely 
 as the friend or scholar. Every production of his pen 
 showed the Christian. Not that he gave up the gra- 
 ces of classic allusion, or never indulged in the play- 
 fulness of friendship ; but he mingled with all he 
 wrote that salt and savor of Christianity, that scriptu- 
 ral illustration and experimental feeling, which gave 
 such a distinctive character to his future life." 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, Pittenweem, 
 May 19, 1841. — .... I'm getting into a moderate atmos- 
 phere. To breathe in the atmosphere of the world is one 
 thing ; to breathe it is a thing quite different. Breathe in that 
 element I must, else I should not be in the world ; but breathe 
 it, O that I never may ! else I should be of the world. Be it 
 my spirit, and be it the spirit of all my friends, to live ever 
 content toith the present lot, but content in it never, — at the 
 same time never to live either content ivith, or content in the 
 unholiness, whether of our own hearts, or of the hearts of them 
 
 that are around us As to the church-bells, why should 
 
 you think that your Father in heaven should be angry with 
 you when, standing on your hill Mizar, you wept at the thought 
 of His holy temple ? Was He angry when His people by the 
 rivers of Babylon sat down, yea, and wept wheu they remem- 
 
CONFLICTS. 65 
 
 bered Zion ? God has too much of a father's heart to be an- 
 gry when His dear children toeep, without repining, under the 
 rod. O yes, conscience does not bid you weep, but when sane- ' 
 titled nature weeps, conscience cannot frown." 
 
 Like Bunyan's pilgrim, he descends into the " Val- 
 ley of Humiliation." 
 
 "To the same. — Grange?nuir, July 26, 1841. — . . . With 
 regard to my own health for some time past, that of my soul 
 has been so afflicted that I have not much thought or care to 
 
 speak about the health of my body, in comparison The 
 
 Lord's dealings with me have been in faithfulness ; and from 
 what I have seen of His ways, as a God of judgment, I ought, 
 like the Psalmist (Ps. cxix. 120), to tremble and be afraid. 
 Never was I more able to say of myself than now, ' The Lord 
 hath filled me with bitterness ; He hath made me drunken 
 with wormwood.' " 
 
 " To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Grangemuir, July 26, 1841. 
 — I may say of my sufferings under the faithful chastisement 
 of the Lord, who is ' terrible out of His holy places,' that ' I 
 am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.' 
 .... It seems to me that, while the ministers of the Church 
 and elders have committed to them the keys of discipline for 
 the correction of open and outward delinquencies, the great 
 Head of the Church himself administers directly and immedi- 
 ately discipline, in the way of suspending from, not the out- 
 ward use, but the inward enjoyment of gospel ordinances, and 
 thus, in dreadful reality, inflicting the sentence of excommuni- 
 cation for a season, in the case of those who may have in- 
 curred the unseen guilt of hardness of heart, stiffness of neck, 
 
 murmuring, and other inward spiritual offences O that 
 
 I were a minister of the gospel ! I don't mean ordained of 
 man — for it is a little thing to be judged of man, or of 
 man's judgment — as fit for the pastoral office ; but I mean, 
 
66 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ordained by the Spirit of Christ. The time may come — God 
 knoweth !" 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, Aug. 9, 1841. 
 — .... To-day has been a gala-day to me ; for my dear 
 friend M. has written to me a letter, which I received to-day, 
 penned under the influence of Divine grace ; he is henceforth a 
 friend dearer than ever. I had observed in him glimmerings 
 and traces of the day-spring ; now — God be praised, yea, and 
 God is praised for it ! — the day-star has arisen brightly in 
 M 's heart : he has had ministered to him an abundant en- 
 trance into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. His letter 
 is that of a dear child of God." 
 
 A new affliction visits him, and the sufferer learns 
 new lessons. 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq., Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, 
 Sept. 23, 1841. — Thanks to God, in the name of Christ, I am 
 
 recovering. I'm able to sit up awhile to-day As for 
 
 company, I had, during the fever, the presence of Jesus — the 
 blessed, precious Jesus ! and there was none upon earth that 
 I desired besides Him. But oh, how He has shown me fear- 
 ful things in my own soul ! Since my beginning to recover, I 
 have been in the state well described in the psalm of to-day. 
 I have seen great and sore troubles, but blessed be God ! they 
 came not on me till the fever was gone off. ' The Lord hath 
 chastened me sore, but He hath not given me over unto 
 death.' " 
 
 " To the same. — September 29. — .... Many a time, 
 when my soul, like a silly dove too long wandering abroad, too 
 long on the wing over the flood of Divine wrath, has found its 
 way back again to the ark of safety, Jesus has, with sweet con- 
 solations and notices of His blessed presence, kept me from 
 wearying. I have been dealt with by the Lord in tender mer- 
 cy, and it lias been good for me to be afflicted. The Lord has 
 
SYMPTOMS OF CONSUMPTION. 67 
 
 taught me that to lie patiently on the bed of languishing is as 
 acceptable with Him as to work zealously in His \ineyard. 
 He has taught me more than I knew before of the grace of 
 God the Father. He has taught me more of Paul's meaning 
 in the words — ' The love of Christ constraineth me.' He has 
 taught me more of the impossibility of serving God aright and 
 with joyfulness, except from a motive of love to God. He has 
 taught me more of the impossibility of my loving God, except 
 under a conviction and firm belief of the definitive reality of 
 God's love to me. He has taught me more of the holiness — 
 more of the freeness — more of the fulness — more of the trust- 
 worthiness of the gospel — more of the necessity of serving God 
 with fear, and of rejoicing with trembling He has ena- 
 bled me to look up to God with more confidence as to a father. 
 ' I have sat under His shadow with great delight, and His 
 fruit has been sweet to my taste.' He has shown me more 
 clearly the evidences in my state of mind of a self-righteous 
 spirit, and shown me more clearly, likewise, that He is all in 
 
 all I am, my dear friend, yours affectionately in the 
 
 Lord, W. H. H." 
 
 The fever gave place to a complaint more alarming. 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, October 23, 
 1841. — . . . . I am still w r eak ; every new day convinces me 
 that my almost shattered condition needs a longer season than 
 I anticipated of repose. To gather strength for the work of 
 the ministry must be for a while my chief object in living, next 
 to the all-important object of learning to die daily. During 
 the summer I have not studied for myself, except by way of 
 preparing my presbyterial discourses, and still I am resolved 
 to abstain entirely from all avoidable study. I should rather 
 say I am compelled by necessity to abstain. The doctor tells 
 me that in my present state some other disease may easily, 
 without my taking care, come in upon me, and perhaps prove 
 
68 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 fatal .... Behold, we count them happy which endure .... 
 Your very sincere and affectionate friend in the Lord, 
 
 W. H. H." 
 
 The " other" disease did appear. 
 
 "To his Father. — Grangemuir, Nov. 8, 1841. — Lord 
 W and I, according to his proposal, went over to Edin- 
 burgh last week, and the doctors (Dr. Henderson and Dr. 
 Moir) ascertained that there was disease beginning in the 
 lungs, though at present not in an active state .... I am 
 forbidden to study, or do anything requiring effort for the space 
 of a year .... With love to you all, and especially your im- 
 mortal souls, and praying that the Holy Spirit of promise may 
 come forth from the Lord our Saviour, to sanctify wholly you 
 and mother, and all the family, I am, my dear father, your very 
 affectionate son, W. H. H." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Grangemuir, Dec. 11, 1841. — 
 .... I am shut up within house, except on days when the atmos- 
 phere is dry .... As yet I am not an evangelist, and, till my 
 health be in some measure re-established, it may be a duty to 
 remain unlicensed. I had been asked to become M'Cheyne's 
 (of Dundee) assistant, and glad would I have been to labor in 
 the vineyard alongside of one so eminent for zeal and godli- 
 ness ; but the medical veto put an insurmountable barrier in 
 the way." 
 
 He had been looking forward to the beginning of 
 1842 as the time when he should be associated with 
 the true yoke-fellow named in the last extract. Again 
 and again Mr. M'Cheyne had applied to him in the 
 hope of securing him as his assistant, but Mr. Hewitson 
 still was detained under the preparatory training. 
 
 Not, as before, in " the spirit of bondage," but in 
 
DIARY. 69 
 
 the spirit of adoption and of liberty, we find him anew 
 consecrating himself to the Lord : — 
 
 " Saturday, December 4, 1841. — On this day I have sol- 
 emnly, at the throne of grace, subscribed the everlasting cove- 
 nant of grace which was entered into before the foundation of 
 the world between the Father and Son, persons of the Holy 
 Trinity. I have solemnly engaged, by the grace of God, to 
 receive Christ as my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctijica- 
 tion, and my redemption. My prayer has been, that the Fa- 
 ther will set the seal of the covenant, even the seal of the Holy 
 Spirit, upon my heart. As a memorial of this engagement, I 
 have chosen the following Scripture, which may the Lord my 
 Saviour hide in my heart, and make the motto of my future 
 life : ' I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not 
 T, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in 
 the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, 
 and gave himself for me.' — (Galatians ii. 20.) 
 
 W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 In a note-book of this period occur the following 
 jottings. They are interesting as indicating the godly 
 jealousy wherewith he watched over his secret walk, 
 and also as indicating his one steadfast aim — the look- 
 ing outward at the face of God : — 
 
 " 1841. Saturday, Dec. 25. — Detected spirit of self-right- 
 eousness — Satan in form of an angel of light, calumniating 
 God. Resolved to oppose such a spirit henceforth in God's 
 strength. 
 
 " Sabbath, Dec. 26. — Communicated at Pittenweem ; during 
 part of the services enjoyed sweet communion with Jesus ; 
 during part, harassed with temptations to unbelief; in the 
 evening, strange and painful hardness of heart. ' The heart is 
 deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' 
 
70 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Monday, Dec. 27. — Hardness of heart still continued ; 
 occasionally in prayer obtained relief, but all day long tormented 
 with unbelieving thoughts, — the cause of them evidently an 
 inordinate desire of enjoying sensible comfort. 
 
 " Tuesday, Dec. 28. — The day brightened now and then 
 with cheering glimpses of God in Christ Jesus ; the struggle 
 with temptation to doubt still to be maintained ; sore appre- 
 hensions lest in a day of hot trial I should fall away : God 
 forbid ! 
 
 " Wednesday, Dec. 29. — Enjoyed more peace in believing; 
 reflected that it was as sinful to doubt God's willingness to save 
 me, as to doubt his existence. — (Ezek. xxxfii. 11.) How good 
 is the Lord, who has become partaker of my nature, that I 
 might be made partaker of His divine nature I" 
 
 "With increasing emphasis he urges the paramount 
 importance of the outward looking, as the source of 
 spiritual health. 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, January 5, 
 1842. — . . . . ' ye of little faith !' This tender rebuke is 
 administered to you — to me — to every one who ever is oppress- 
 ed with doubt. If I am sometimes disturbed suddenly with 
 the thought, ' Surely I am not yet born again ! Such hideous 
 things I still find to have a place in my soul ! Are God's chil- 
 dren — His really regenerate ones — are they such as I am ?' — 
 then it is not gospel wisdom to brood over the disquieting 
 thought, — I ought to flee for my life to Jesus, knowing, on the 
 authority of God's Word, that the blood of Jesus cleanseth 
 from all sin, and that if I go to Jesus, He will in no wise, on 
 no account whatever, cast me out. Dwelling with sorrow on 
 the sins which I have committed, whether they be sins of back- 
 sliding or of some other description, dwelling on them, and on 
 the apprehensions which they stir up, that I am still in danger 
 of the wrath to come, will never do me any good — never set 
 
HOLY WALK. 71 
 
 me down on safe ground ; but fleeing to Christ's blood will : 
 let me dip myself in the fountain of Calvary, I am purged from 
 an evil conscience." 
 
 His was a temperament which presented no ordinary 
 barrier to this triumph of faith. He thus detects at 
 once the peril and the safeguard : — 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Grangemuir, January 26, 1842. 
 — Imagination degrades us, and dishonors our Lord, when it 
 works as the handmaid of slavish fear ; but when it waits upon 
 hope, and scatters along her path the amaranthine flowers of 
 Bible truth, it gives to the Lord the glory due to his faithful- 
 ness, and elevates our souls to that tone of high spiritual feel- 
 ing which ought to characterize the children of God. Those 
 whose imaginations are not lively and ever astir, know little, 
 experienced though they be in the hardships and adversities 
 of spiritual life, what a sura of peculiar sufferings an imaginative 
 temperament entails on its possessor. Bunyan knew ; Cowper 
 knew likewise ; nor was Milton ignorant of these peculiar suf- 
 ferings. Shakspeare, had he been a converted man, would 
 have known them ; if he was at length a converted man, he 
 did know them : the deep philosophizing pathos of his mind, 
 impressed on many pages of his works, and forming the most 
 deeply marked lineaments of his genius, shows that he endured 
 much solitary suffering, and that often in his moods of most 
 boisterous merriment. Laughter, indeed, and sorrow are near 
 akin. It is mighty that power of grace, which gives to such 
 as are of imaginative temper much joy and peace in believing." 
 
 " The life of a ministry," it has been said, " is the 
 minister's life." And well it may. The sermon 
 preaches on the Sabbath — the life preaches all the 
 week. Into Mr. Hewitson's "life" a little glimpse 
 
72 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 here opens. He refers to a scene of so-called harmless 
 amusement into which he had accidentally been 
 thrown : — 
 
 "January 28, 1842. — .... Immediately afterwards I 
 made my escape with pleasure. No amusement is innocent 
 which takes away the soul from Jesus, or does what it can to 
 take it away." 
 
 "February 9, 1842. — .... How often have I fallen by 
 little — apparently very little sins ! These very little sins have 
 often bound my soul in affliction and iron ; they have grown 
 up often into awful bulk before the eye of conscience, and 
 covered all the coming eternity with their shadow of death. 
 After such a season of terror, amazing seems the long-suffering 
 of God, when at last the rising Sun of Righteousness scatters 
 the darkness, and effuses from his wings healing into the 
 wounded spirit. Never did any one so try the forbearance of 
 God as I have done. Oh, if He would henceforth ever keep 
 me from falling !" 
 
 This is not sanctimoniousness, but sanctity. The 
 "perfect love" that cast out the " fear which hath tor- 
 ment" has brought in another fear — the fear of offend- 
 ing so holy and so gracious a Lord. Hence the 
 " beauty of holiness" — not the hypocrite's assumed 
 garb, but the real sanctity — which now adorns him. 
 The life of his ministry is indeed to be the minister's 
 life. 
 
 We next find him adoringly contemplating God's 
 electing love : — 
 
 "To A Friend in Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, February 24, 
 1842. — If I love God in Christ, I am assuredly one of His 
 elect people, for the fact of my eternal election is the source 
 
HOLY WALK. 73 
 
 whence the fact ot my loving God originates. Thus am I en- 
 abled to make my calling and election sure : I have only to 
 make sure of the cognizable fact that I love God, — then, by an 
 inference of scriptural warrant, I become sure of the fact, not 
 directly cognizable, that I am elected and called of the Father. 
 The scriptural warrant, the seal of the Spirit alluded to, is di- 
 rectly given (Rom. viii. 28), when God identifies the character 
 of Christians as drawn by the description, ' Them who love God,' 
 with the character of Christians, as described in the words, 
 ' Them who are the called according to His purposes.' " 
 
 This consciousness of God's special electing love he 
 feels to be the believer's sheet-anchor amidst the tem- 
 pest. To a deeply afflicted disciple he writes : — 
 
 " Grangeniuir, February 10, 1842,-t- .... From all eter- 
 nity it was the Father's will to strengthen you during your 
 present trial. If an earthly king should spend one whole hour 
 in prayer on my behalf, I should adore the grace which had 
 melted his heart into such tender brotherly-kindness. Oh, 
 then, how amazing this love of the King of kings, in looking 
 forward from the depths of eternity upon my present struggle, 
 and purposing thus at length, when the struggle came, to place 
 gently underneath me the everlasting arm ! ' Blessed be the 
 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us 
 with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, accord- 
 ing as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the 
 world.' " 
 
 And the bearing of the doctrine on the uncon- 
 verted ? — 
 
 " February 10, 1841. — In the parched desert does the thirst- 
 ing Arab hear in the distance the Euphrates pouring down its 
 sea of waters ? He is a firm predestinarian ; but he does not 
 say, ' Oh, what if these waters were not destined ever to quench 
 
 4 
 
74 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWITSON. 
 
 my thirst !' No, he makes haste — he comes to the river brink — 
 he drinks, and goes away refreshed, while the stream flows on 
 as full and free as ever. As the parched Arab to the 
 Euphrates, so to the ' river of the water of life' come whosoever 
 uill, whosoever thirsteth. Do I feel my heart to be as hard as 
 the flinty rock ? — then I am athirst : this river is flowing for 
 me." 
 
 Whither shall he now be led ? His own longings 
 and the Lord's leadings are thus indicated : — 
 
 "To his Mother. — Grangermiir, February 9, 1842. — .... 
 My health continues nearly at the same point ; occasionally I 
 have slight pain in the chest, directly above the region of the 
 heart ; but no cough, no expectoration. If it be the Lord's 
 will, I should like much to be spared awhile for the work of 
 the ministry." 
 
 "To Dr. Moir, Edinburgh. — Grangemuir, March 14, 1842. 
 — Lord W wishes me to accompany him to Bonn in Ger- 
 many, and stay there from the beginning of June till the month 
 of October. Myself I should be disinclined to go, if my state of 
 health were such as to admit of my engaging in the work of 
 an evangelist. Now, dear sir, do you think that ray staying at 
 home for the purpose of doing work in the Lord's vineyard 
 (were He to give opportunity) would be a safe and justifiable 
 course in my present state of health ? I wish to adopt that 
 course which may be most for God's glory, but as yet I have 
 obtained not a ray of light to guide me to a decision. Your 
 communication I shall regard as an element of the counsel and 
 direction vouchsafed to me in this matter. A residence of four 
 months in Germany would be attended with some advantages, 
 one of which would be the acquisition of the German language 
 — a language which, if ever I should think of becoming a mis- 
 sionary to the Jews, it would be important to have in some 
 measure acquired." 
 
LICENSE. 75 
 
 "To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Grangemuir, April 13, 
 1842. — A week or two since, I crossed the Frith to consult rny 
 kind medical adviser in Edinburgh, who told me that the af- 
 fection in my lungs has made no progress during winter (for 
 which God be thanked !), but that, in my present state of 
 health, I could not engage in the regular work of preaching, 
 without completely shattering my already debilitated system, 
 till at least a year more has elapsed. I relish exceedingly the 
 gospel views of Christ which your letter so markedly bring out, 
 and in such broad contrast to the law views of a Judaistic 
 spirit, which, for want of clear discernment of Christ, pervades 
 the preaching of many even of regenerated ministers." 
 
 On 30th April he left Grangemuir for Dalmelling- 
 ton, having now resolved on going to Germany. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dalmcllington, May 10, 1842. — 
 .... I appeared before Ayr Presbytery last Wednesday 
 [May 4], and, after reading all my discourses, or rather a part 
 of each and all, I was licensed to preach the gospel. Next 
 Sabbath I shall very probably preach in the forenoon here. 
 Will you specially remember me in prayer in connection with 
 this my first appearance in the pulpit ? Will you pray that I 
 may go forward to preach, not with the enticing words of man's 
 wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power ?" 
 
 . He preached his first sermon on the following Sab- 
 bath. 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dalmellington, May 18, 
 1842. — .... On Sabbath I was, in answer to prayer, 
 strengthened both in body and soul : the Lord bless the seed 
 sown ! Beyond the shedding of tears by some, / know not of 
 any effect produced : the Lord knoweth — that is enough. The 
 exertion of preaching, in a church not easy of command, 
 
76 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. IIEWITSON. 
 
 fatigued me somewhat for a time, but has been followed by no 
 bad effects : the Lord sustained me !" 
 
 After preaching on the succeeding Sabbath at Troon, 
 he set out for Germany, painfully feeling that " at 
 present his strength was quite unequal to the work of 
 preaching frequently ;" but not less trustfully hoping 
 that, " by the grace of God, he might be laying up in 
 heaven by prayer, and in his own heart by reading of 
 the Word and meditation, the elements of future 
 ministration in the pulpit." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Summer 1842. 
 
 Residence at Bonn — German Society — The Sabbath in Germany — 
 Spiritual Trials — Illness — Return to Dalmellington. 
 
 " I saw Mr. Iiewitson on his way to Germany the 
 other day," wrote Dr. Chalmers on 11th June, 1842, 
 " and was much pleased with the miction of spiritual- 
 ity that savored his whole conversation." On 6th 
 June he reached London — his " health better, by God's 
 mercy, than when he had been in Edinburgh ;" and on 
 the 9th he sailed for the Rhine. A new and testing 
 scene now awaited him. The first impressions of the 
 Christian scholar are thus recorded : — 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Professor IJrandis' — Bonn, 
 Germany. Monday, June 27, 1842. — . . . . My journey to 
 London was pleasant. At Rotterdam I spent Thursday night; 
 on Friday night I slept at Emmerich, about 111 miles up the 
 Rhine, and on Saturday evening reached Dusseldorf, where, 
 with my young friends, I stayed till Monday morning. We 
 attended divine service in a Lutheran chapel at Dusseldorf, 
 where a AVelsh clergyman officiated — one who, I suppose, hap- 
 pened to be for a short time on a visit to that town. On Mon- 
 day afternoon we reached Bonn. We succeeded in arranging 
 
78 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 to go as boarders into the family of Professor Brandis, one of 
 the distinguished philosophers of Germany. 
 
 " You have no idea how much reason we have to be thank- 
 ful for the privileges and the blessings which belong to us as 
 Britons, and especially as Scotchmen. Scotland is, indeed, as 
 compared with this country, a highly favored land — a land of 
 valleys, and well-springs, and fountains of water. This is a 
 very Catholic country, and the Protestant population, though 
 considerable, seems to be deeply tinctured with an evil spirit of 
 conformity to the prevailing customs. The Sabbath-day is not 
 to be found here, or identified, except by a small round of cir- 
 cumstances — the suspension of some kinds of common day- 
 work — the going to church once in the day ; but scarcely any- 
 thing besides that speaks of Sabbatic sacredness. The Roman 
 Catholics, who greatly preponderate in numbers, have their 
 shops all open, as usual ; and I am afraid that not only with 
 Roman Catholics, but likewise with most of the Protestant pop- 
 ulation, the Sabbath is make a day of physical recreation and 
 festive enjoyment. Even among the reputedly religious Prot- 
 estants there is, so far as my opportunities of observation go, a 
 prevalence of lax notions, not only with regard to the observ- 
 ance of the Sabbath, but likewise with regard to the duty of 
 
 general conformity to the world. Mrs. , who, with her 
 
 husband, belongs to the class of religious professors, makes a 
 practice of sewing on the Sabbath evening ; and this practice, 
 1 fear, is generally prevalent, of occupying that time in secular 
 employment, which it is an inestimable privilege to have set 
 apart by God for the purpose of religious exercise, and of prep- 
 aration for the Sabbath-day of eternity. 
 
 " To read of such things at a distance does not bring them 
 close to our minds as living realities, and impress us, through 
 force of contrast, with sentiments of profound gratitude to God, 
 who has, according to the eternal purpose of His grace, made 
 our own land to differ so widely from such lands as this. To 
 see the difference — to observe the tyrant power of custom actu- 
 
THE SABBATH IN GERMANY. 79 
 
 ally working, and carrying adrift from Bible practices the mass 
 of a population — to hear this and that other departure from 
 living godliness vindicated on the plea of custom — general cus- 
 tom, — that gives feeling and life to our apprehensions of an or- 
 der of things to which, happily, by the goodness of God, we 
 ourselves are not subject. My remarks apply only to the nar- 
 row circle of my observations and hearsays. I ought, there- 
 fore, in all fairness, to make them with a caveat against the re- 
 ceiving of them as a description of the general aspect of Ger- 
 man society in this neighborhood. They may, however — there 
 is some reason to believe that they do — apply to a far wider 
 range than that of my actual observation, for the mildew of ra- 
 tionalism has been long on the religion of Germany." 
 
 With the paragraph which follows the Christian 
 traveller will sympathize. We see the needle trem- 
 bling aside, but trembling steadily back again to its 
 attracting pole : — 
 
 " There is a line in one of the classic poets, to the purport, 
 that ' he who passes into a distant land undergoes a change, 
 not of feeling, of character, but only of climate.' Here, as in 
 Scotland, my enemies are keeping up against me their old war- 
 fare, and continuing to teach me the lesson that the way of life 
 is truly narrow, and that it is a difficult achievement to be a 
 Christian — to follow in the footsteps of the Holy Jesus. Amidst 
 the things which we see, it is not easy to look away with stead- 
 fast eyes to the things unseen of eternity. Amidst so many 
 little ends and aims which we must have while we are in the 
 body, it is no easy work to shoot over, and, in all things, be- 
 yond these, at the great end and aim of every work — God him- 
 self. To rest in God without ever leaving that home, without 
 ever venturing out of doors, and away from under the roof of 
 God's covenant love — to have our hearts balanced on God as 
 their centre, and so balanced that, under the ruder touches of 
 
80 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEW1TSON. 
 
 temptation, they may be moved to and fro, like the nicely- 
 poised stones of the Druids, but, like these stones, always re- 
 turn again to their rest, — that is to be blessed indeed — to be 
 blessed, like the Psalmist, who said, after some rough onset of 
 Satan, ' I shall not be greatly moved.' When we have in some 
 measure yielded to the impulse of carnal feelings coming in 
 upon us suddenly like a flood, or imperceptibly like the stealthy 
 fall of dew, — and when the good spirit of the Lord has lifted 
 up His banner, calling us to come back under the shadow of 
 its protection, — and when we have hastened back at His call, 
 humbled and sorrowful, and when, taking courage to look up 
 into the face of our heavenly Father, we see not the frown that 
 would rebuke us away, but the smile that bids us welcome ; — 
 Oh, then we find, by sweet experience, how blessed a thing it 
 is to have God for our habitation, to which we may continually 
 resort, and to be able to address our souls in the language of 
 the Psalmist, ' Return unto thy rest, my soul, for the Lord 
 hath dealt bountifully with thee : for thou hast delivered my 
 soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from fall- 
 ing.' " 
 
 The invalid's enervated frame slowly recruited its 
 strength. " I had the pleasure," writes Mr. T. Con- 
 stable to Dr. Moir on 24th June, " of seeing our friend 
 Mr. Hewitson in Bonn about ten days ago. He con- 
 siders his health much improved, but still looks very 
 delicate." The results of further observation and ex- 
 perience on the new scene Mr. Hewitson gives in a 
 later communication : — 
 
 " To his Parents. — Bonn, July 12, 1842. — .... The heat 
 has not been greater than it is in the south of England. Some 
 days the weather is very mild, and sometimes it is even coldish. 
 I agree apparently well with the climate, and hope that my 
 
SPIRITUAL TRIALS. 81 
 
 stay here may have a beneficial effect on my system Re- 
 ligion seems to be here, even among the best Protestants, in a 
 very backward and dull condition. Not only do they dese- 
 crate the Lord's day in their practice, but they likewise at- 
 tempt to defend the desecration of it on the plea of Scripture — 
 Scripture of course being wrested into an accordance with their 
 own lives and liking. Altogether, if parents who are acquaint- 
 ed with the irreligious character of German society send their 
 children from Britain to be educated here, without employing 
 all possible means of guarding their children's minds against 
 the evil influences that are at work, they take the best way of 
 destroying the souls which should be as dear to them as the 
 apple of the eye." 
 
 The letter which follows is instructive : — 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — Bonn, July 18,1842. — 
 .... Since I left you, my dear friend, I have had sharp con- 
 flicts in the inner man — sore business in the furnace of spiritual 
 trial. The Lord's goings are in the dark, and hidden from 
 those who have no pleasure in searching them out ; but His 
 secret is with those who fear Him — to His people He gives 
 wisdom and spiritual understanding. He has shown to me — 
 blessed be His name ! — the reason why He smote me, and 
 gave me up for a while to the buffetings of Satan. He has 
 also shown me that it is good to suffer affliction, and to bear 
 the yoke. During my journey, many circumstances combined 
 to prevent my regular approaches to the throne of grace ; and 
 for a fortnight I had, I may say, no savor of heavenly things, 
 — leanness came into my soul — I was miserable. Till now, I 
 never knew what infinite comfort there is in the eternal decrees 
 — the everlasting covenant purposes of our God and King. 
 Till now, I never knew how much comfort is to be found in 
 crucifying the self-will of the carnal mind, and lying pros- 
 trate at the feet of Jesus. Happy was the woman who had 
 4* 
 
82 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 such access to Him that she could wash His feet with her 
 tears, and wipe them with the hair of her head !" 
 
 "July 20. — An unexpected incident prevented me from 
 concluding my letter yesterday. I must let you know what are 
 the fountains which the Lord has opened up for my refresh- 
 ment in this place. Philosophy is the Dagon of many here, 
 who, but for it, might become zealous Christians : and I am 
 afraid that a sickly every-thing-praising and every-sort-of-per- 
 son-approving sentimentalism has too much influence over others 
 in the religious community — if religious community I may call 
 that which is in almost everything conformed to the surround- 
 ing world. The emotions of a religiously affected imagination, 
 how different from the feelings of a religiously affected heart ! 
 There is a place of worship here for the English Episcopalians : 
 I have attended it ; the ministrations are often very dry and 
 sapless. I have, however, become acquainted with a pious 
 family from Glasgow. "We have commenced a prayer-meeting, 
 which is attended by two families of Episcopalians among other 
 persons. The meeting is held on Sabbath evenings. Last 
 Sabbath was the day of its commencement. The prayer-meet- 
 ing is a great source of refreshment, or rather a means of bring- 
 ing refreshment to the soul, from the only source and well- 
 spring of spiritual blessing, the love of God in Christ. I do 
 not, therefore, feel so intensely as I did after my first arrival in 
 Germany, that I am not in Scotland — not under the shadow 
 of Christ's vine-tree in the covenanting land of my fathers ; but 
 still, as the unsabbatized Sunday comes round — a day trampled 
 on alike by Protestants and Romanists — I do feel, and that 
 sometimes painfully, that I am not living in the land of Sab- 
 baths. Alas for Sabbath-travelling in Scotland ! Germany 
 tells me that, if Scotland lose her Sabbaths, she will lose along 
 with them her religion and her God. How is the beloved 
 Church of Scotland faring ? O that the eyes of her enemies 
 were opened to see that Christ is and must be her only King ! 
 The Protestant Church in this province is Presbyterian like- 
 
SPIRITUAL TRIALS. 83 
 
 wise ; but it does not hold many of the great gospel principles, 
 such as Christ's kingship over the body of the Church, which 
 characterizes the Kirk of Scotland. Remember me in prayer, 
 for I am weak, and often sore vexed in spirit. Grace be with 
 your soul. I am your very affectionate friend, 
 
 W. H. II." 
 
 Himself " comforted of God," how tender and fresh 
 the consolation he administers to a companion in 
 tribulation ! — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Bonn, Augusts, 1842. — 
 .... I have been very much grieved to learn that your suf- 
 fering since I left Scotland has been greater than formerly. 
 My dear friend, let patience have its perfect work. The furnace 
 is hot ; but Christ is with you in the midst of it, and not a 
 hair of your head shall be harmed. It is the portion of His 
 saints to have evil things here, and to be comforted hereafter. 
 You go by a rugged way of suffering, but always, as you go, 
 you see the track marked out by the blood-drops of your cru- 
 cified Lord. You are tried with sore pain in the morning : at 
 nine o'clock in the morning Christ was nailed to the cross. All 
 day long you are afflicted with pain : Christ hung on the cross 
 in an agony till three o'clock in the afternoon. ' Behold the 
 Lamb of God,' and, amidst your sufferings take comfort from 
 the sight of His wounded, bleeding body. The Lord give you 
 grace to fight against all your enemies — all doubts, and fear, 
 and unbelief — with that sword of the Spirit, ' It is finished.' 
 Since I came here, God has been very gracious to me, and has 
 pardoned me many sins, and often made me to cry out after 
 greater holiness. In this wilderness the Lord has prepared 
 for me a table in the midst of mine enemies, and given me 
 still more and more to know that, amidst all outward disad- 
 vantages, He is able to make a channel by which His grace 
 may flow down into the soul. My kind love to my young 
 
84 MEMOIR OF IlEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 friend Susan ; she must be like Christ — the child Christ Je- 
 sus : here is a verse for her — Luke ii. 40. My health is pretty 
 good. I hope to be the better of the climate. God's grace 
 be with you ! — Your very true and affectionate friend, 
 
 W. II. II." 
 
 Farther discipline awaited him. In the course of 
 this month of August, he was suddenly prostrated by 
 an inflammatory attack, which brought him to the 
 very verge of the grave. He writes : — 
 
 "To his Parents. — Bonn, September 20, 1842. — I am 
 sorry for having been so long of writing to you. The doctor 
 has been attending ma almost daily till now : the disease was 
 inflammation of the windpipe, with slight inflammation in the 
 right lung. It has been the Lord's will to lift me again from 
 the bed of languishing, and to enable me, though still very 
 weak, to undertake to commence to-morrow my homeward jour- 
 ney. You need not be alarmed or anxious now on my ac- 
 count, for the symptoms of the disease have all disappeared, 
 with the exception of painfulness in drawing a full and pro- 
 longed inhalation, and to that the doctor (Professor Alberti) 
 who attended me does not attach much importance. This time 
 last year the Lord smote me; again He has laid on me the 
 rod of chastisement : this ought to humble my soul, and lead 
 me to walk softly before Him, in bitterness and contrition of 
 spirit, all the days of my life. I intend, if the Lord will, to go 
 to Edinburgh, and to spend a few weeks there ; afterwards to 
 come home to Dalmellington." 
 
 The second half of the letter is written on his way 
 homeward : — 
 
 "London, September 26, 1842. — By the good hand of the 
 Lord upon me, I have been wonderfully strengthened and up- 
 held under my journey to London. God mercifully gave a 
 
ILLNESS. 85 
 
 very calm passage. I look to Him for a similar mercy on the 
 occasion of my voyage to Scotland. Be not at all anxious, for 
 I continue to have all the symptoms of convalescence." 
 
 The result of a medical examination on his arrival 
 in Edinburgh he thus intimates : — 
 
 "To his Sister. — Edinburgh, October 13, 1842. — .... 
 I still continue weak. I cannot walk more than two or three 
 hundred yards without tottering of the knees. The fatigue of 
 my long journey has now worn off, and left me in a state of 
 convalescence, nearly such as I was in when I left Bonn. Dr. 
 Alberti at Bonn discovered — and, since I came to Edinburgh, 
 Dr. Henderson has likewise discovered — that a considerable 
 portion of the right lung has become hardened, or hepatized, 
 since the first detection of weakness in the chest. There is, 
 however, no ulceration as yet ; but the greatest care is neces- 
 sary to guard against colds, for I am given to understand that 
 the contraction of a cold might, in my present state, easily bring 
 on ulceration. Using the means of healing recommended, with 
 prayer for God's blessing on the use of them, I must submit 
 myself in patient resignation to His will : He does all things in 
 tender mercy, and He is able yet to heal me." 
 
 It had been recommended that lie should repair that 
 winter to Madeira. But the Lord's time was not yet 
 come for that. The alternative suggested was, that 
 he should " keep within doors all winter" at Dalmel- 
 lington. To this alternative his own inclination 
 strongly leaned. It was adopted. After another 
 medical examination, by which it was ascertained that 
 the disease in the lungs had made no progress for two 
 months, he returned home in the beginning of De- 
 cember, 1842. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1842-1844. 
 
 Retirement at Dalmellington — Study of Prophecy — The Lord's Second 
 Coming — Rejoicing in Hope — Personal Holiness— Health — Views of 
 the Christian Life — Madeira. 
 
 " Solitude," it has been said, " made a Cincinnatus, 
 ripening the hero and the patriot." In a loftier sense 
 was Mr. Hewitson again taken into solitude, to be 
 ripened, not into a hero, but into a meek, God-trusting 
 missionary. The process extends over a period of 
 nearly two years. A series of touches from his own 
 expressive pencil will bring out the more salient fea- 
 tures. 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dalmellington, December 
 15, 1842. — Since I came home, the time I devote to reading 
 has been chiefly given to prayerful examination of the word of 
 prophecy regarding the blessed hope of the glorious appearing 
 of the great God and our Saviour. The result is, that I am 
 fully convinced of the nearness of the time when the Lord shall 
 come with His saints to reign over the earth. This conclusion 
 I have reached, after having been long bound down, by pre- 
 judice and inattention to God's prophetic word, under the yoke 
 of what I now see to be unscriptural and ill-founded opinions. 
 The rest of God's people is near at hand : faint not now that 
 
PROPHETIC STUDIES. 87 
 
 you are chastened of the Lord ; for yet a little while, and the 
 enemies which you see this day, you will see no more forever. 
 Read, for consolation, Rev. i. 7 ; 2 Pet. iii. 14 ; and Rev. vii. 
 13-17." 
 
 The decision here intimated had not been arrived at 
 hastily. Ere the doctrine of the Lord's pre -millennial 
 appearing took its place in his creed, he had had, as 
 he intimates, not a little to unlearn. In passing 
 through London on his way to Bonn, he had been 
 urged by various friends to the study of the "sure 
 word of prophecy, " specially in its bearing on the Ad- 
 vent. But, established in an opposite view — not in- 
 deed as the result of any careful Bible study, but 
 rather as a mere hereditary belief — he had resented 
 the urgency with a certain impatience and irritation. 
 In his solitude at Bonn, however, and afterwards at 
 Dalmellington, the "light shining in the dark place" 
 had at length attracted his eye ; and to that "light" he 
 never again ceased to feel that he " did well" to " take 
 heed." " How many," we find him afterwards writing, 
 " think that prophecy unfulfilled is a dark place, in- 
 stead of looking to it as to 'a. light shining in a dark 
 place P " 
 
 The passage in the Bible which first decided his 
 judgment, he thus expounds : — 
 
 " To Rev. J. Dodds. — Direct your attention to the argument 
 in favor of the pre-millenuial advent of the Lord afforded in the 
 prophecy which he delivered on the Mount of Olives respecting 
 
00 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWITSON". 
 
 the destruction of Jerusalem and ' the end of the age' (toS 
 dicavog}. 
 
 "In Luke xxi. there is contained a prediction (v. 8-22) of 
 what should happen before the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 (v. 23, 24) of the vengeance which should be poured out on 
 the Jews at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and after- 
 wards during the interval that was to elapse between that 
 event and ' the fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles.' Jeru- 
 salem is still ' trodden clown of the Gentiles,' for as yet ' the 
 times of the Gentiles' have not been fulfilled. In tbe two fol- 
 lowing verses (25, 26) it is predicted that the point of time 
 fixed for the restoration of Jerusalem and the ruin of Gentile 
 power, is to be accompanied or preceded by general ' distress of 
 nations,' political dish-ess, and perplexity — by ' roaring of the 
 waves,' clamor and anarchy of famished, ungodly multitudes — 
 by desponding fears and anxious expectations — by 'a shaking 
 of the power of heaven,' or convulsion of civil and ecclesiastical 
 institutions. ' And then (v. 27) the Son of man shall be seen 
 coming in a cloud with power and great glory.' These words 
 are quoted from the language in which Daniel describes (vii. 
 13, 14) the destruction of the fourth beast or Roman mon- 
 archy, and the solemn investiture of the Messiah with the gov- 
 ernment of the world. A similar quotation or allusion is made, 
 Matt. xxvi. 64 ; Acts i. 9, 1 1 ; Rev. i. 7. It has been alleged 
 by some interpreters — on what ground of analogy, or criticism, 
 or sound judgment, I cannot imagine — that the coming here 
 spokgn of (I mean in Luke) means the coming of Titus to de- 
 stroy Jerusalem. Against an allegation so groundless, I need 
 only remark, that the coining of Titus to Jerusalem was before 
 ' the great tribulation ;' for it was the beginning and first cause 
 of ' the great tribulation ;' whereas the coming of the Son of man 
 in the clouds of heaven, here spoken of, is to take place after 
 that tribulation, as is manifest from Matt, xxi v. 29, 30, and 
 Mark xiii. 24, 26. Thus, while the analogy of scriptural ex- 
 pression, and the analogy (even more to be attended to) of the 
 
PROPHETIC STUDIES. 89 
 
 degree of Uterality in which, not as man thinks prophecy ought 
 to be fulfilled, but in which prophecy has hitherto actually been 
 fulfilled, go to establish that ' the coming of the Lord in the 
 clouds of heaven,' spoken of in the prediction referred to, is a 
 personal coming, the subsequent context in Luke, Matthew, 
 Mark, makes the fact, I think, indisputable ; and the time of 
 'the coming' is '■immediately after the great tribulation (Matt, 
 xxiv. 29)." 
 
 His calm and prayerful study of the "Word gradual- 
 ly evolved, we shall find, confirmatory proofs. One 
 occurs in the next letter : — 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — Balmellington, January 10, 
 1843. — I should like you to consider the following scriptural 
 facts, and to communicate to me your opinion as founded upon 
 them. In 2 Thess. ii. 1-8, the inspired apostle speaks evidently 
 of the personal coming of our Lord. He mentions a circum- 
 stance which must precede that event (verse 3), and then a 
 circumstance which is to accompany or happen contempo- 
 raneously with it (verse 8). The former circumstance has al- 
 ready, according to the prediction, taken place, and the latter 
 circumstance — the one which must synchronize with our Lord's 
 coming — is about to be fulfilled, at all events will, without 
 shadow of doubt or controversy, be fulfilled before the com- 
 mencement of the ' thousand years.' No one doubts, or can 
 doubt, that ' the Man of sin' is to be destroyed before the king- 
 dom be given ' to the people of the saints of the Most High.' 
 Now, according to the prophecy in question, the coming of the 
 Lord is contemporaneous, or rather, in strict language, antece- 
 dent, for it is by the brightness [Imcpavsiu) of His coming 
 (nagovaiag) that the man of sin is to be destroyed. I shall 
 expect your opinion." 
 
 The "blessed hope" took its place thenceforth, not 
 
90 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 only in his understanding, but in his heart. He not 
 only believed in the speedy " appearing" — he loved 
 it — waited for it — watched for it. " Faith," we find 
 him saying, "looks back to the cross, and is at peace ; 
 it looks forward to the crown, and pants for glory. O 
 to have more of the life and power of such a faith!" 
 So mighty a motive-power did it become, that he used 
 to speak of it ever afterwards as bringing with it a 
 kind of second conversion. It is inwoven with the 
 texture of his whole future life. 
 
 " Love of theory," he writes, " should have no exist- 
 ence in the mind of a disciple, whose single aim is to 
 know the mind of Christ, as it is embodied in the Holy 
 Scriptures. Nothing but this — we have the mind of 
 Christ — can enable us to mould and regulate our 
 thoughts as we ought ; and prophecy is the only — the 
 divinely-appointed — means of forming our hopes ac- 
 cording to the mind of Christ. Our part, therefore, is 
 to be ever ready to admit fresh light as it is given 
 from above, and ever ' taking heed to the sure word 
 of prophecy,' that more light may be given." His 
 attitude, intellectually and spiritually, in relation to 
 this great theme, could not be more graphically por- 
 trayed. 
 
 We have a glimpse of the invalid that winter, given 
 by one who visited him. " The first time that I met 
 and conversed with Mr. Hewitson," writes the Eev. 
 Mr. Stevenson of Ayr, " was on the evening of Fri- 
 day, 13th January, 1843. A meeting was held that 
 
KEJOICING IN HOPE. 91 
 
 evening m the parish church of Dalmellington, with a 
 view to the approaching disruption of the Church of 
 Scotland. After the meeting was closed, the mem- 
 bers of the deputation — the Eev. Dr. Henderson of 
 Glasgow, Eev. Mr. Dickie of Beith, and myself — called 
 on Mr. Hewitson. I have a vivid remembrance of his 
 appearance that evening. His emaciated frame, and 
 the hectic flush on his cheek, seemed to mark him out 
 too plainly as destined to be a victim of consumption. 
 But the ardent spirit within nerved his feeble frame 
 with a surprising energy. His whole heart was in our 
 movement. He spoke with great animation of the 
 prospects of the Church, and the days of darkness 
 which we might anticipate before the time of millennial 
 glory. We were much struck with his fervency of 
 spirit, and left him, deeply regretting that, in the mys- 
 terious providence of God, the Church was apparently 
 to be so soon deprived of the services of one so re- 
 markably qualified by his gifts and graces for laboring 
 successfully in the vineyard of the Lord. For when 
 we bade him farewell, we all believed that his days on 
 earth were numbered and nearly finished, and that we 
 should probably see his face no more. 
 
 " On the preceding Monday," continues Mr. Steven- 
 son, " I had the high privilege of spending an evening 
 in the company of the Eev. Mr. M'Cheyne of Dundee. 
 It was a night much to be remembered. He was 
 looking forward with delight to the precious opportu- 
 nities which he should have after the Disruption of 
 
92 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 preaching tlie gospel without let or hindrance in many 
 dark places of the land. Little did I think that his 
 race was so nearly run, and that the days of Mr. Hew- 
 itson were to be prolonged. But the one, who was 
 then so vigorous, and preparing for arduous labors, 
 was soon after taken ; while the other, whose recovery 
 appeared hopeless, was left, and enabled to render sig- 
 nal services to the cause of Christ, after he had been 
 thus ' brought nigh unto death.' " 
 
 Another member of that deputation was not less 
 struck by the buoyant and joyful tone of the invalid. 
 Imagining that he was entering the chamber of a dy- 
 ing man, Dr. Henderson expected to hear only of the 
 solemnities of death. Instead of this, his eye was only 
 on the glories of resurrection, and the appearing of the 
 Son of man. 
 
 "We resume the extracts : — 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dalmcllincjton, January 
 12, 1843. — .... Shake off self-rigliteous dependences and 
 legal fears. Legality poisons faith, and neutralizes its pacify- 
 ing power. If I be in Jesus, then I am pardoned and accepted : 
 ' He is near that justifieth me ; who will contend with me ? 
 Let us stand together' before the throne of God, at the bar of 
 His infinite justice. I plead guilty, but has my adversary 
 therefore a plea against me ? I plead not guilty, for I am in 
 Jesus, and He has redeemed me from the sin to which I plead- 
 ed guilty before. My adversary's plea therefore falls to the 
 ground, and my faith in Jesus is counted to me for righteous- 
 ness. If sin sometimes prevail, I must not indulge in legal 
 fears, but go closer to Jesus, and get more of the Spirit of adop- 
 tion, that I may be able to work more from a principle of faith 
 
THE NIGHT FAR SPENT. 93 
 
 and love, and less from a cold, carnal, bondage-gendering, sin- 
 multiplying sense of legal duty." 
 
 " To the same. — February 23, 1843. — .... Though dan- 
 gers be thickening around the walls of Zion, yet the bars of her 
 gates are strong, and a bright prospect is breaking upon the 
 sight of God's elect people ; — the night is far spent, and the 
 day is at hand. After a brief time of trouble, such as never 
 has been, and never again will be, the Church of Christ will 
 shine forth like the stars of heaven, and the whole earth will 
 be filled with the knowledge of God's glory. The great and 
 terrible day of the Lord will be attended, I fully believe, by the 
 appearing of the Son of man in His kingdom, and by the res- 
 urrection of the just In Isaiah xxvi. 20 the Holy Ghost 
 
 gives a sweet and precious invitation to the Church, intimating 
 the approach of the day of wrath ; then, verse 21st, He de- 
 clares, ' For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to pun- 
 ish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,' &c. In 
 illustration of this last verse, will you read Rev. xix.? In the 
 following verse the Holy Spirit prophesies vengeance on Satan 
 (Isa. xxviii. 1), of which vengeance the 1st, 2d, and 3d verses 
 of Rev. xx. more fully expound the nature : then it is declared, 
 that after the infliction upon Satan of this vengeance, the earth 
 shall be filled with universal holiness. — (Isa. xxvii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) 
 The last of these verses (the 6th) determines the precise time 
 referred to in the prophecy — the time when the Jews shall be 
 restored. ' He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take 
 root ; Israel shall blossom and bud,' and (this is again declared 
 to be the consequence which shall follow) '■fill the face of 
 the world with fruit? Here, then, we find prophesied, in or- 
 der — 1st, The security of God's elect people ; 2dly, The com- 
 ing of Christ ; 3dly, The punishment of Satan ; Uhly, The res- 
 toration and replantation of the Jews in a state of holiness ; 
 bthly, The universal blessedness and fruitfulness of all the Gen- 
 tile nations." 
 
 " To the same. — April 13, 1843. — .... Owing to bodily 
 
94 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 weakness, you, as well as myself, are more exposed to the fiery 
 darts which Satan is ever seeking to cast through the arrow- 
 slit of imagination into the citadel of the heart — doubts, fears, 
 anxieties, misgivings, despondencies — than if you were enjoy- 
 ing vigor of bodily health and buoyancy of animal spirits. In- 
 valids, and especially those laboring under diseases which have 
 the effect of depressing the mind — an effect not to be removed 
 wholly by anything but the removal of the cause itself — these 
 seem to be the forlorn hope of the Redeemer's army, set for- 
 ward to the endurance of greater spiritual hardships, and to 
 more desperate encounters with the enemy of souls, than other 
 soldiers of the cross. But ' this is the victory which overcom- 
 eth the world, even our faith ;' and our faith overcomes by iden- 
 tifying us with the Son of God. Faith stands in the battle- 
 field and cries, ' Jesus, the Son of God, anointed Saviour — He 
 who knew no sin — was made sin for me, and I am the right- 
 eousness of God in Him !' This is at once the armor, the war- 
 cry, the battle, the victory, and the triumph. Resisted in this 
 gospel spirit, Satan is turned to flight, and the believer remains 
 master of the field : he sits down, still watchful and in arras, 
 but full of peace with God, under the shadow of his vine, 
 
 Christ's righteousness Dear Mr. M'Cheyne ! his death 
 
 was a trying dispensation." 
 
 Three days previously we find him writing, — " Dear 
 Mr. M'Cheyne ! his departure was a great affliction to 
 me, as well as to all who knew him. The beauty of 
 the Lord was upon /wk" No wonder the news of his 
 removal struck a chord in Mr. Hewitson's heart. " He 
 was the likest to Eobert M'Cheyne," writes that holy 
 man's biographer, "of any I knew." 
 
 " One thing," adds Mr. Bonar, " often struck me 
 in Mr. Hewitson. He seemed to have no intervals 
 
MEEKNESS — WHAT IS IT? 95 
 
 in his communion with God — no gaps. I used to 
 feel, when with him, that it was being with one who 
 was a vine watered every moment." Mr. Hewitson in- 
 directly depicts that marked characteristic of his life 
 thus : — 
 
 " Many think that God is only to be worshipped upon their 
 knees in the closet, around the family hearth, and in the place 
 of public worship ; but, if we think like them, we shall not live 
 godly lives in Christ Jesus. We ought to worship God when- 
 ever He is present, and that is always, at all times. We ought 
 to worship Him wherever He is present, and that is everywhere, 
 in all places. Whoever is in our company, we ought to keep 
 company more with God than with them. Whatever we say 
 to others, we ought to say it more to God than to them. It is 
 our privilege, and our calling as Christians, to strive by all 
 means to keep up constant fellowship with God, and to walk in 
 the light of His countenance. We do so when, like the 
 Psalmist, we can say truly, ' / have set the Lord always before 
 me? " 
 
 The following letter touches on a favorite theme — 
 the grace of Christ-like meekness : — 
 
 " To ONE WHO HAD BEEN A COLLEGE FRIEND. June 10, 
 
 1843. — .... Symptoms, on the whole, are improving ; and, 
 by the Lord's good hand upon me, I expect yet to be, though 
 not immediately, furnished with bodily strength enough to 
 preach the gospel. 
 
 " The great lesson which chastisement is the means of 
 teaching God's people is to be ' meek and lowly in heart,' that 
 is (for I take meekness chiefly to mean this), to be in God's 
 hand as clay in the hand of the potter — to will and to work 
 only as God will have us — to do or to suffer just as He thinks 
 good — to ' lie on our face' before Him, like Abraham (Gen. 
 
96 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 xvii. 3), while God ' talks with us,' either out of the place of 
 thick darkness, or amidst the bright shillings of His counte- 
 nance ; thus being in perfect subjection to His absolute sove- 
 reignty and lordship over us. This is no easy thing to do, 
 for this is the perfection of holiness in man." 
 
 In the Lord Jesus there was a reality of human 
 feeling and sympathy — an absence of the transcen- 
 dental in sentiment and affection — which is often not 
 enough contemplated. The meekness of the " Holy 
 Child" was peculiarly human. With that nice spir- 
 itual discernment which so eminently characterized 
 him, Mr. Hewitson detected the grace in its exact 
 Christ like mould. The theoretical and the actual are 
 touchingly blended in what follows : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. DoDDS.^-Dahncliington, September 8, 
 1843. — You may easily suppose that I am anxious to embark 
 in the ministry of God, for which I have gone through so long 
 a course of academic preparation, and the duties of which I 
 have been taught, I trust, in some measure, by the Spirit of 
 Jesus, to delight in ; but it is my part to humble myself under 
 the mighty hand of God, and submit meekly to His dispensa- 
 tions, if these should still be adverse to the fulfilment of my 
 desires. 
 
 " Don't you agree with me in thinking that it savors of an 
 impracticable stoicism to say, ' / desire nothing but what God 
 ordains for me ;' and that the true characteristic of Christian 
 meekness is to say, ' / desire, if it be possible, that this affliction 
 pass from me ; nevertheless, heavenly Father, not my will, but 
 thine be done V If we had not even a desire of freedom from 
 chastisement, then, contrary to the declaration of Scripture, all 
 affliction would seem to be not grievous but joyous, or at least 
 indifferent. Some time ago, I had a kindly altercation on this 
 
WAITING OX THE SPIRIT. 97 
 
 point with a Christian more experienced than mj'self in the 
 ways of God, but through a mistaken zeal, as I judged, reso- 
 lute in holding that the Christian ought, in the strength of the 
 Lord, to realize and exemplify, under all afflictive dispensations, 
 the influence of only one desire, that, namely, of glorifying 
 God by submission to His will. This is what I regard as 
 stoicism ; but to be influenced by that desire in such a degree 
 as to — not certainly extinguish — yet certainly triumph over the 
 opposition of every other, is what I regard as Christianity. 
 Don't you agree with me in my judgment ?" 
 
 Here there is no over-drawing, no straining. It is 
 not man unhumanized, but man in the highest sense 
 Christianized. 
 
 This " ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" became 
 daily the object of an intenser longing. Naturally 
 proud and self-willed, he felt how needful for that end 
 was the sharp discipline through which he was pass- 
 ing. He writes : — 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq. — Dalmelliriffton, September 
 20, 1843. — .... It is, as you say, a blessed thing to have 
 our inmost thoughts brought for judgment into the light of 
 God's pure Word. One mark of a believer's simplicity and 
 godly sincerity is, that he can, without reservation, offer up the 
 prayer to God, ' Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my 
 reins and my heart.' .... The great and deep spring of all 
 the influences which work in our souls against grace, and ren- 
 der the progress of sanctification so slow, so painful, so inter- 
 rupted with falls into sin, seems to be that remaining guileful- 
 ness of heart, that will not let us, at all times, on all occasions, 
 in all companies, submit ourselves humbly to be ruled by the 
 Spirit of Jesus. We hold the Head, and yet we seek often to 
 speak, and work, and perform duty in our own strength ; we 
 5 
 
98 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 do not wait for the Spirit — we make haste, like unbelievers — 
 we are impatient, and go to work too fast ; — hence loss of com- 
 fortable communion with the Spirit, hence from the Head we 
 have not nourishment so abundantly ministered to our souls, 
 and, consequently, not receiving ' the increase of God,' we do 
 not increase in spiritual stature. No small part of meekness 
 lies in waiting on the Spirit for strength to perform all our 
 works unto the Lord." 
 
 "-He came to Edinburgh in the end of September, 
 and was again examined medically. The result he 
 thus states : — 
 
 " To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — .... My medical friends 
 have declared the case to be now a favorable one, only de- 
 manding great care and delicacy of treatment. To preach for 
 at least six months yet is out of the question. The fact is, that 
 though without injury to my lungs I could preach, yet I have 
 not strength sufficient for the work. You will guess the amount 
 of my strength when I ^mention, that I can walk about two 
 miles in the day without over-fatigue. This is a considerable 
 
 increase Yesterday I worshipped in the congregation 
 
 of my old pastor, Dr. Candlish. The ministrations were of a 
 most awakening and refreshing kind. His preaching is better 
 suited to my spiritual condition than that of any other preacher 
 I have ever heard declaring the Word of God. I speak, of 
 course, in reference not so much to particular instances, as to 
 the general character of suitableness." 
 
 A visit which he paid to his friend Mr. Dodds in 
 October, the latter thus describes :—r- 
 
 " He was now somewhat improved in health, but still much 
 of an invalid. I shall draw from my diary in relating the im- 
 pressions he made upon me at that time : — ' October 10. — My 
 
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 99 
 
 dear friend H. arrived to-day to pay us a visit. He looks thin 
 and pale, and is very weak ; but his eye is lighted up with the 
 fire of heavenly hope. He has recently been directing much 
 of his attention to the study of prophecy, and has arrived at 
 the conclusion that our Lord will come and reign upon the 
 earth before the millennium. He is one of the acutest and 
 most spiritual expositors of Scripture I ever met with. He is 
 an accomplished scholar. His whole walk and conversation 
 seem seasoned with the Spirit of his Master. We have greatly 
 enjoyed his rich and spiritual converse. Alas ! I fear that the 
 hand of death is upon him.' At this distance of time, what I 
 chiefly remember of this visit is the great advance my friend 
 had evidently made in spirituality of mind, and in acquaintance 
 with the Word of God. Already there was around him that 
 fragrance of the divine life, that atmosphere of holiness, which 
 ever afterwards attended him, breathing more sweetly, and 
 spreading more widety, till the day of his death." 
 
 In a letter of this period, we find him indicating 
 his view of the signs of the times : — 
 
 "To Dr. Moir. — I don't know, my dear friend, whether 
 you sympathize with me in my fears, or agree with me in judg- 
 ing, from the signs of the times, that those prophecies of ven- 
 geance upon all the Gentile nations, which must needs be ful- 
 filled before a period of universal blessing dawn on the world, 
 will have their destined time of fulfilment in the present age ; 
 but, for my own part, whatever degree of skepticism on the 
 •subject may be occasionally produced in me by the subtle in- 
 fluence of present things, I am always again aroused from it, 
 as from a slumber, by looking at the progress of events in the 
 light of prophecy, and constrained, to pray that 'we may be 
 counted worthy to escape those things which are coming to 
 pass, and to stand before the Son of man.' May we, like Ra- 
 hab of Jericho, hang out ' the scarlet thread' in the sight of 
 the Lord, and, like her, be delivered, through faith in Jesus, 
 
100 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 from ' the overflowing scourge, when it passes through, that it 
 may not come unto us.' " 
 
 After another medical report, "as favorable as in 
 the former instance," lie once more returned to Dal- 
 mellington, on the last day of the year. Ere another 
 year closed, he was to be on his way to the scene of 
 his future labors. A few of the more characteristic 
 features we select from the mass of manuscript before 
 us : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dalmellington, January 
 24, 1844. — .... Christ is now our 'life' and our 'hope of 
 glory.' ' When he shall appear, we shall likewise appear 
 with him in glory.' ' To rejoice in hope of the glory of God,' 
 is that which enables us to ' glory in tribulation also ;' and by 
 means of working ' patience and experience,' tribulation leads 
 us to greater confidence of ' hope.' ' Now abide these three, 
 faith, hope, and love ;' and though ' the greatest of these be 
 love,' yet, while we are in the wilderness, faith and hope have 
 momentous functions to perform. Without these three is no 
 Caleb-like ' following of the Lord fully' — no ' bunches of grapes 
 from the brook of Eshcol' — no earnest of the promised fulness 
 of blessing — no Mount Pisgah views of the purchased inherit- 
 ance — no glorifying of God, who has promised, and is able to 
 perform. Faith and hope are the Hur and Aaron who hold 
 up the hands of Moses in the mount of prayer, and make 
 Israel victorious over Amalek." 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — February 1, 1844. — .... 
 
 My bodily health is as usual How little I am like Jesus, 
 
 who, when he walked on earth, 'was in heaven;' who, as has 
 been beautifully said, 'always repelled sin, but touched it at 
 every point !' We live in a mephitic air, and, but for the re- 
 freshing supplies of the wind which blows from heaven upon 
 the soul, we should soon be deprived of spiritual sensibility, if 
 
THE LAMB — LORD OF ALL. 101 
 
 not of spiritual life ^Sensitiveness and quick-working im- 
 agination are apt to throw around the throne of our Father in 
 heaven, and the presence of our gracious Lord, an atmosphere 
 of feelings too much akin to those which are excited by un- 
 pleasant contact with the world, or sometimes even with Chris- 
 tian friends. Such feelings form a perverting and painted 
 medium, which turns awry and discolors the beams of light 
 and love that come down from ' the Father of lights and mer- 
 cies.' They penetrate, by a subtle influence, all our thoughts 
 of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ ; and, till they subside, 
 the soul is cast down and disquieted. The only remedy is, I 
 find, simple, child-like, believing, implicit confidence in the 
 Word of God, which is the sole object of saving faith. To see 
 Christ our righteousness, and in Him our righteousness accept- 
 ed already (for He is raised from the dead), and glorified (for 
 He is at God's right hand), — that is a panacea for every soul- 
 disease, that gives comfort to our heart, and glory to the grace 
 of God." 
 
 "To A. A. Walker, Esq. — February 14, 1844. — .... 
 You have referred to the 4th and 5th chapters of Revelation as 
 containing severally ascriptions of praise to God as Creator and 
 as Redeemer. In the 4th, He who sits on the throne is God, 
 with the rainbow round His head ; that is, God in covenant 
 with the earth — God in Christ, reconciling man and new-creat- 
 ing all things. He is praised as Creator. The question is, 
 Who is worthy to undertake, as covenant-surety, and as federal 
 Head of new creation, the work of recovering the earth, with 
 its inhabitants, from ruin, and of bearing the government upon 
 his shoulders ? None is found worthy but the Lamb ; and He 
 is worthy, because He was slain. He is worthy to be made 
 heir and lord of all — ' to receive power, and riches, and wis- 
 dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.' Ac- 
 cordingly, in the 5th chapter, He who sits on the throne is 
 praised for the Lamb, the Head of new creation ; and the Lamb 
 is praised for the work of redemption, by performing which He 
 
102 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWITSON. 
 
 has redeemed His church unto Goo, and redeemed likewise the 
 
 lost creation The prince of this world is already judged, 
 
 and condemned by the death of Christ, though he be still in an 
 attitude of rebellion. Accordingly, in the symbolic vision of 
 5th chapter of Revelation, the Church, which is now ' in heaven- 
 ly places in Christ,' and all the angels of God, and all the crea- 
 tures, are seen declaring the Lord's right and worthiness to 
 reign. It is when we are in the scene of the vision, in the 
 heavenly places, near the throne of the Father, on which Jesus 
 sits — it is when we are there in the spirit of faith — that we see 
 the right of Jesus, and hear, as it were, the whole world lifting 
 up its voice to declare His right to hold the reins of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 " It is a blessed thing, my dear friend, to be out of this re- 
 bellious world, and safe in Christ. Those who are in the world 
 are rebels against the King. Those who are in Christ have a 
 warfare to wage against the world and its rebellious prince. 
 The warfare is often hot ; we need God's armor always, and 
 all God's armor. There is much evil daily manifesting itself 
 within me ; I never gain a victory over it but when. I simply 
 believe in Jesus. When we are restless and impatient, we 
 sink into deep waters. When we lie in the hand of Jesus, as 
 clay in the hands of the potter, we are enlarged and filled with 
 peace. The flesh within us cannot rest — the spirit within us 
 seeks to repose in the bosom of Jesus. As has been well said, 
 that is ' the evangelic posture.' — Your very affectionate brother 
 in the faith of the gospel, W. H." 
 
 "To Dr. Moir.— February 21, 1844.— 'The man of God' 
 keeps the vineyard of others best when he has least cause to 
 complain ' Mine own vineyard have I not kept.' If, as the say- 
 ing goes, ' charity should begin at home,' there is no doubt 
 that godliness should do so likewise. The Lord has given me 
 a long time for the cultivation of personal godliness, before it 
 has pleased Him to call me to the work of ' planting and water- 
 ing' in His fields. Still I have to mourn my barrenness, the 
 
THE GENTILE CHURCH. 103 
 
 small measure of my attainments ; but I have cause to thank 
 Him who has chastened me, for the experience of Divine 
 things he has given me during the time of my chastisement." 
 
 Solemn and suggestive are the thoughts which fol- 
 low. They read a lesson which it were well to pon- 
 der : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — February 28, 1844. — Are these 
 not days of Sardian imperfection — of lingering about the thresh- 
 old, instead of ' drawing near with true hearts and full assur- 
 ance of faith into the Holiest of all V Do we not feel lament- 
 ably, and mourn over, in our own souls, the freezing influence 
 of that cold night which has overtaken the churches ? 
 
 " The Church of Christ, as it is visible in the world, exhibits 
 npw-a-days much of the aspect worn by the nation of the Jews 
 in the time of our Saviour : there is, with an almost universal 
 profession of Christianity, much Sadducean infidelity and licen- 
 tiousness, as well as much Pharisaic display and outside-godli- 
 ness. It is only a few who, ' in the hope of being like the 
 Lord at His appearing, are now purifying themselves, as He is 
 pure.' There has been a great ' falling away from the faith,' 
 from the living, world-overcoming faith. The nut-shell of or- 
 thodoxy remains unbroken, but the kernel of vital godliness 
 has shrunk almost into 'a thing of naught' Individual and 
 local revivals testify that the gift of the Spirit has not been 
 withdrawn from the Church ; but that gift was made to the 
 •Church as a whole, and has not the Church as a whole resist- 
 ed, and grieved, and well-nigh quenched the Spirit ? 
 
 "These words are addressed to the Gentile Church, as a 
 body, and they lay the axe to the root of the expectation that 
 the Gentile Church will be employed in the ministry of convert- 
 ing the world : ' If God spared not the natural branches, take 
 heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the good- 
 ness and severity of God : on them which fell, severity ; but 
 
104 MEMOIR OF KEV. W. II. IIEWITSON. 
 
 toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness, other- 
 wise thou also shalt be cut off? Has the Gentile Church con- 
 tinued or not in the goodness of God ? The words quoted tell 
 how much depends on the answer to this question. The ban- 
 ner of Protestantism, which at the Reformation from apostasy 
 was lifted up on behalf of the abandoned faith, had too legibly 
 blazoned on it the humbling confession, that the Gentile 
 Church had not ' continued in the goodness of God,' but ' fall- 
 en by unbelief.' Is there hope, nevertheless, that because of 
 the Protestant Reformation the sentence — <xnoTOfiia (cutting 
 off) — will be suspended ? The question finds its emphatic an- 
 swer in the word of the Lord to Josiah. Josiah was the Luther 
 of the»Jewish Church : his reign was the era of, by analogy, a 
 Protestant Reformation : he brought to light the Word of God, 
 after a long period of entombment : he read publicly the Book 
 of the Covenant, and made a covenant to walk after the Lord 
 with his whole heart. But did this avert the judgment which 
 had already been incurred by apostasy? 2 Kings xxiii. 26, 
 27 contains the sentence of the Lord. But 'if the foundations 
 be destroyed, what shall the righteous do ?' ' Wait for the 
 consolation of Israel, and enter into their chambers till the in- 
 dignation be overpast.' Do you agree with me in these 
 views ?" 
 
 There is profound Christian philosophy in the 
 following extract. It is a specimen of his skill in the 
 application of his taste for metaphysics to the solution 
 of a problem with which the Christian invalid is 
 often called to deal : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — March 28, 1844. — . . . . 
 Wonderful is the reciprocation of influence that is constantly 
 passing between the mental and material parts of our nature. 
 Body and soul at all times mutually sympathize. The Chris- 
 tian should not forget this. So long as Job was in a state of 
 
"pray without ceasing." 105 
 
 bodily health, his soul was as cloudless as the sky above him, 
 and Satan could not find any door of entrance for his blasphe- 
 mous suggestions ; but whenever Job's body became the prey 
 of disease, then ' the thing which he greatly feared came upon 
 him,' — then his soul was laid bare to the assaults of the wick- 
 ed one, and his spiritual conflicts became so desperate, that 'his 
 roarings were poured out like the waters.' The reason of our 
 being spiritually depressed, in consequence of such a bodily con- 
 dition, is, that whatever anxious or melancholy feeling is exci- 
 ted in our minds by any foreign cause so affects the mind as to 
 bring all our thoughts and affections into a congenial mood ; 
 and then we naturally imagine that we have undergone some 
 change for the worse in regard to spiritual objects, in conse- 
 quence of which our spiritual affections have become so sadly 
 changed ; whereas the original cause of change lies wholly 
 without the soul, in something not at all connected with 
 spiritual things When we are depressed by bodily dis- 
 ease, we should endeavor to occupy our thoughts with the 
 most joy-inspiring portions of Scripture, and not suffer them 
 for a moment to brood over the gloomy feelings that prevail 
 within. If ever we should look away from ourselves, it is when 
 we are cast down and disquieted; for in ourselves there is noth- 
 ing but what will, if looked at, serve to deepen our distress, and 
 to make us sink from disquietude into despondency." 
 
 A touching feature of Mr. Hewitson's spiritual life 
 is indicated in the next extract. The words may be 
 taken as a transcript of his own daily walk. Like the 
 man in the " picture," his " eye was lifted up to heav- 
 en." 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — May 21,1844. — . ... As 
 the bee is ever on the wing between the flowers and its honey- 
 cells, so should our affections ever be going forth in prayer to 
 God without, and returning to God within. In our mutual 
 
 5* 
 
106 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 intercourse and conversation — amidst all the busiest scenes of 
 our pilgrimage — we may be moving to and fro on the rapid 
 river of prayer, of mental prayer — that prayer which lays the 
 whole burden of the heart on a single sigh. A sigh breathed 
 in the spirit, though inaudible to all around us but God, may 
 sanctify every conversation, every event in the history of the 
 day. We must have fellowship at all times either with ' the 
 spirit of the world' or with 'the Spirit of God.' There is no 
 neutral ground between fleshliness and spirituality of mind. 
 There is greater need, therefore, of watchfulness and prayer, if 
 we would ' keep ourselves so that the wicked one may touch us 
 not.' 
 
 "Prayer will be fatiguing to flesh and blood, if uttered aloud 
 and sustained long. Oral prayer, and prayer mentally ordered 
 in words, though not uttered aloud, no believer can engage in 
 without ceasing ; but there is an undercurrent of prayer that 
 may run continually under the stream of our thoughts, and 
 never weary us. Such prayer is the silent breathing of the 
 Spirit of God who dwells iu our hearts (vide Rom. viii. 9, and 
 1 Cor. iii. 16) : it is the temper and habit of the spiritual mind: 
 it is the pulse of ' our life, which is hid xoith Christ in God :' 
 it is the consciousness of 'the Divine nature' communicated to 
 us in regeneration. Prayer of this kind may be breathed 
 ' without ceasing.' I am convinced that the spirit of such men- 
 tal prayer alone can maintain in our souls an uninterrupted 
 'assurance of hope,' and give us to enjoy unbroken 'fellowship 
 with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.' It alone can 
 secure to us the enjoyment of liberty, power, and holiness. 
 
 " It is an unprofitable thing to hunt after frames and feelings : 
 these are very good and precious, but they are only creatures 
 — not God himself, but only God's work. The staple of spir- 
 itual life and godliness consists in a sense, ever-abiding, of our 
 dependence upon God's indwelling Spirit, combined with a 
 prayerful panting of soul after larger and larger manifestations 
 of the Spirit within us. We tarry on the threshold of our 
 
THE EVANGELICAL UNION. 107 
 
 most holy faith, until we enter into Jesus, and live upon His 
 breath.' 1 ' 1 
 
 At the close of this letter he adds : — 
 
 " Are you aware that Mr. Morison of Kilmarnock, &c, have 
 formed themselves into a new communion, denominated the 
 Evangelical Union ? They are running headlong into all the 
 errors of Pelagiauism. How subtle the workings of Satan are 
 in our day ! We have all need to watch and pray, and sit at 
 Christ's feet with the Bible in our hands. According to Pu- 
 seyism, a human priesthood gives saving faith to man ; accord- 
 ing to the Pelagianism of the Evangelical Union, men give 
 saving faith to themselves. All the errors and heresies of this 
 day aim at the dethronement of God from His eternal sove- 
 reignty — of the Sou of man from His mediatorial dominion — 
 of the Holy Ghost from His place as Deputy of Christ in the 
 hearts of His believing people. A subtle Atheism pervades 
 them all. I am not accusing Mr. Morison, but I am express- 
 ing my own deep-seated conviction as to the nature and ten- 
 dency of the opinions in which he partici pates." 
 
 The heresy here referred to he used often to lament 
 and condemn. " Calvinism," he said on one occasion, 
 " is, ' Glory to God in the highest ; on earth, peace ; 
 good- will towards men :' Morisonianism is, ' Glory to 
 men in the highest ; on earth, peace ; good- will towards 
 .God.'" 
 
 In the beginning of August, he returned to Edin- 
 burgh, and was again examined by his physician. 
 Though the disease in the lungs did not appear to 
 have been making progress, there was discovered a 
 tendency to ulceration, rendering still dangerous any 
 attempt to preach. 
 
108 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Various plans for the future were now suggested. 
 One of these he notices thus : — 
 
 "To A. A. Walker, Esq. — Edinburgh, September 30, 
 1844. — .... There is a probability of my going out to the 
 south of France, and afterwards to other places along or on the 
 Mediterranean, in connection with several of the Foreign and 
 Missionary Schemes of the Free Church. My object will be, 
 if the Lord call me to go forth to the work, to make inquiries, 
 in some places, as to the welfare and prosperity of the breth- 
 ren ; and in other places, as the Lord enables me, to encourage 
 by means of sympathy and fellowship those who are, amidst 
 difficulties, engaged in the good work of the Lord. If I go, I 
 shall have to leave this in about nine or ten days." 
 
 But another work awaited him : — 
 
 "To the Rev. John Baillie. — Edinburgh, October 15, 
 1844. — This morning I met Dr. Cancllish and Mr. Sym, ex- 
 pecting to be able afterwards to leave this for France, at my 
 earliest convenience. It has been suggested, however, by Mr. 
 Sym, that it would be of much more consequence to go out to 
 Madeira, than to Malta or any of the other places formerly 
 mentioned. It is, I understand, at present most desirable that 
 a minister should be sent ont to Madeira to acquire the Portu- 
 guese language (which one might acquire so as to be able to 
 preach in it in the course of a year), with the view of preaching 
 the gospel to the poor Portuguese in the island. During the 
 year which would be spent in doing nothing but acquiring the 
 language, my health might be so far recruited, by the blessing 
 of God on the change of air, as to enable me afterwards to la- 
 bor in that part of the vineyard. Doubtless, it would be more 
 consonant to my natural wishes to be a minister of the gospel 
 at home ; but if, in a way so unexpected, the Lord be pleased 
 to say, ' I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles,' it is my 
 
MADEIRA. 109 
 
 part to deny myself through His grace, and to take up my 
 cross and go. Madeira is at present the forlorn hope of Chris- 
 tianity. There, more than anywhere else in our day has 
 Popery breathed its natural element of intolerance and perse- 
 cution." 
 
 " Be not afraid, for I am with thee," said the Lord 
 to Paul by night in a vision, " and no man shall set 
 on thee to hurt thee ; for I have much people in this 
 city." The same Lord was now beckoning Mr. Hew- 
 itson to a scene where also He had " much people." 
 Shall the disciple hesitate ? 
 
 "To his Parents. — Edinburgh, October 17, 1844. — . . . . 
 During the last two or three weeks I have been led by the 
 Lord in a way which I knew not, and all along I have followed 
 just as I was led. Without acting contrary to my feelings as 
 to what the Lord would have me to do, I cannot but consent 
 to the change of my destination which has been proposed. I 
 have intimated my willingness to go to Madeira, if the Com- 
 mittee think it proper to send out a preacher of the gospel into 
 that field. It is my duty, if I be a servant of the Lord at all, 
 to say, ' Lord here am I ; send me.' " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Ordination — Leaving Home — Arrival in London. 
 
 " 1 have not sent these prophets, yet they ran : I 
 have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." " I 
 sent them not, nor commanded them ; therefore they 
 shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson did not venture to run unsent. " My 
 studies at college, " we find him writing on 9th Febru- 
 ary, 1842, " are all vain and unprofitable, unless the 
 Spirit of Jesus purify my heart, and make me zealous 
 to promote God's glory, and to gather fruit — the fruit 
 of immortal souls — unto life eternal." And again : 
 " I wish you would all pray that, in the grace of God, 
 I may be fitted to be a minister of reconciliation, and 
 be called inwardly by the Holy Spirit to the sacred 
 office. Without that spiritual call I could not, durst 
 not, accept a presentation to any parish. It would be 
 trifling with my own soul and the souls of hundreds." 
 
 What ministry can prosper which is without this 
 indispensable element? 
 
ORDINATION. Ill 
 
 " The blind at an easel, the palsied with a graver, the halt making for 
 
 the goal, 
 The deaf ear tuning psaltery, the stammerer discoursing eloquence, — 
 What wonder if all fail ?" 
 
 If at times, in His mysterious sovereignty, the Master 
 have used in His work those who ran unsent, Mr. 
 Hewitson was not the man to covet the sad distinction. 
 " Blessed be God," said Henry Martyn on one occa- 
 sion, "I feel myself to be His minister." Togo forth 
 as " His minister" — to beseech men in Christ's stead 
 to be reconciled to God — was the one object for which 
 Mr. Hewitson cared to live. On preaching his first 
 sermon, already noticed, he had thus written : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Dalmellington, May 19, 
 1842. — The Lord strengthened me graciously for the work, 
 both in soul and body. O that He may endue me with power 
 from on high to lift up my voice like a trumpet in proclaiming 
 the unsearchable riches of His free salvation ! You are acquaint- 
 ed with Luther's wise and beautiful apophthegm — 'Bene pre- 
 cdsse, bene sttcduisse." 1 The most successful preachers of the 
 gospel have always been distinguished as men of earnest prayer. 
 In analyzing the power of Whitefield as a preacher, his biog- 
 rapher states his prayerfulness as the leading element, and 
 finely remarks, that he always came down from the throne of 
 grace with the tidings of salvation, like the angel of the Apoc- 
 alypse, having a rainbow round his head. Do you know 
 William C. B ? He is a most prayerful man? 
 
 And again, about the same period : — 
 
 " To Dr. Marsden. — My desire is not merely to have 
 spiritual strength, ' ere I go hence and be no more,' but like- 
 
112 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 wise to labor, by the grace of God, were it but a few years, in 
 the gospel ministry. ' To me to live is Christ, and to die is 
 gain ;' my greatest wish is to be able to join Paul in the use 
 of this heavenly expression of evangelistic zeal. To be able to 
 do that is the highest qualification — ' the one thing needful,' — 
 for success in the ministerial office." 
 
 At a later period we find him writing : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — July 9, 1844. — It is an awful 
 thing to preach the gospel to hell-bound souls. No wonder 
 that Paul was with his hearers ' in weakness, and in fear, and 
 in much trembling.' An impenitent sinner, on his death-bed, 
 beginning to feel, in the first pangs of eternal agony, ' I am a 
 lost soul? is a sight which ought to stimulate zeal and effort in 
 the preaching of the gospel, for such a sight will be presented 
 ere long by every one who hears the gospel preached and is 
 not converted by the gospel unto God. How precious the 
 soul which can be the subject of that feeling of unutterable 
 agony — ' / am lost /' How precious, therefore, the gospel ! 
 And how precious the gospel-ministry ! My eyes are scarcely 
 open yet to see these things as I ought to see them, or my 
 heart to feel them as they should be felt." 
 
 And now that he is about to be" thrust by the 
 Lord into His harvest," how simple and self-denying 
 is his faith ! Before setting out for Maderia, it had 
 been deemed desirable that he should be ordained. 
 On the day following the event he again writes : — 
 
 "To his Parents. — Edinburgh, November '7,1844. — Yes- 
 terday was a solemn day — one* ever to be remembered. I was 
 ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh (Free Church of 
 Scotland). Mr. Grey presided at the ordination. I trust that 
 the Lord Jesus presided over all, and ordained me ' to go and 
 
LEAVING HOME. 113 
 
 bring forth fruit that shall remain' unto eternal life. He him- 
 self could say, ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
 He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor,' &c. 
 May these words be in some, and that a large measure, appli- 
 cable to me as to one chosen and ' separated unto the gospel 
 of God !' " 
 
 And to another he adds : — 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dalmellington, October 9, 1844. — 
 If we commit our way to the Lord, we shall find friends of 
 His providing at every step of our progress. The disciple of 
 Jesus who forsakes all to follow Him, has the promise of father 
 and mother, and friends, and all things, even in this present 
 time. 
 
 " I go forth, not knowing but that, ere I can return, the 
 Lord will appear in His glory. He may, and He may not ; 
 but as the day and the hour is uncertain, there is need of 
 attending to His call to watchfulness and preparation. The 
 hope of His coming is not ' a blessed hope,' unless we have 
 peace of conscience and some measure of joy in the Holy 
 Ghost. Old Adam, in our hearts, puts away from him, with 
 fear and dislike, the thought of Christ's coming. But the 
 spirit in us, which is born of the Holy Spirit, bounds with joy, 
 like the unborn Baptist in his mother's womb, at the hope of 
 the Lord's appearing." 
 
 The sphere of labor to which he had been designa- 
 ted was one of no common peril. Without any 
 hyperbole, as the reader will by and by discover, was 
 it styled by him " the forlorn hope of Christianity." 
 Yet he only seemed quickened by the trying emer- 
 gency into new zeal and boldness. He writes : — 
 
 "To A. A. Walker, Esq. — Dalmellington, November 16, 
 
114 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 1844. — Oh, my dear brother in the Lord, pray for me, that I 
 may be kept from evil by our gracious Lord ! I go out to 
 Portugal in a missionary capacity, and may have much to try 
 me and to put my faith to the proof. At present there are 
 shut up in Maderia-prison no fewer than twenty-six dear children 
 of God, who have been converted through means of Dr. Kalley 
 — all Portuguese, and of course, Roman Catholics before they 
 came to the knowledge of the truth. Their only crime is 
 that they read and believe the Word of God. Popery is im- 
 placable — as blood-thirsty as ever, if it had the power. This 
 is truly an age of tribulation to the saints. ' All who live 
 godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution ;' but ' if we 
 suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.' O that I 
 could realize this more, and live, through the Spirit, in constant 
 ' waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith !' ' The time 
 is short ; the day is at hand.' Wishing you all joy in believing, 
 I am your affectionate brother in Jesus, W. H." 
 
 An incautious announcement, in a public paper, of 
 his designation as missionary to the Portuguese of 
 Maderia, rendered it advisable that, instead of pro- 
 ceeding direct to that island, he should go in the first 
 instance to Lisbon. This step, it will be seen, was 
 overruled by the Lord for a not unimportant end. 
 
 " Every wheel in the chariot," writes Martyn, " must 
 be in motion, to gain the race." Mr. Hewitson's 
 chariot-wheels were now all in motion. A few ex- 
 tracts from letters written by him as he was setting 
 out, indicate his state of mind. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — London, November 26, 1844. — 
 Pray for me, for now I am beginning, more than ever, to feel 
 my utter helplessness. Friends, relations, home, are all left 
 
SETTING OUT. 115 
 
 behind. Whether I may ever visit them again is uncertain. 
 This is trying to flesh and blood. In the object, again, which 
 I have in view, there is nothing which is pleasing to the natural 
 man. Now I need to find my all in Christ. If He be not 
 now all my portion, then I am truly destitute. But in Him 
 there is more than enough to compensate every loss and sacrifice. 
 O for more grace to live in Christ, on Christ, with Christ !" 
 
 "London, November 27, 1844. — My dear Dr. Moir, — 
 Before leaving England I write to say Farewell ! and to thank 
 you for all your past acts of kindness. The Lord reward you 
 for them all ! As you have ministered to the re-establishment 
 of my bodily health, so may the Lord grant that your spiritual 
 health be fully established ! May His stripes be healing, His 
 death be life to your soul ! .... I find my present position 
 trying to my faith. Thrown abroad from all home-sympathies, 
 and influences, I have nothing but grace to lean on, none but 
 Christ to look to." 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — London, November 27, 
 1844. — . ... I have been so busily occupied that I have not 
 yet felt, in all its pressure, the peculiarity of my present position. 
 For a moment, now and then, there has been a gush of feeling, 
 such as I perhaps never realized before. The thought is yet 
 strange to me, that I have left all dear to me in this world, per- 
 haps never to see them in this world again. To-morrow I expect 
 to be more free to bethink myself, and to feel that I am indeed 
 now all alone with God. O that, with all dear to me, I could 
 leave behind also everything hateful and unholy ! If I could leave 
 self and sin behind ! O the body of this death ! Indwelling sin 
 is indwelling torture. To be all for God, all in God — Oh, when ?" 
 
 His friends, as they bade farewell to the exhausted 
 invalid, feared that his foreign sojourn was only to 
 smooth his passage to the grave. He himself, in spite 
 of all appearances, "hoped against hope." And sig- 
 nally was the Lord to honor His trusting servant. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1841-1844. 
 
 State of the Church of Scotland — Impending Crisis — The Convoca- 
 tion — The Disruption. 
 
 "We pause to indicate Mr. Hewitson's views on a 
 subject which, during the last three years, had occu- 
 pied no small share of his sympathies and prayers. 
 
 " This controversy," said one of Scotland's ancient 
 worthies, " truly reacheth up to the heavens, and the 
 top of it reacheth above the clouds. It doth highly 
 concern Jesus Christ himself, in His glory, royal pre- 
 rogative, and kingdom, which He hath and exerciseth 
 as Mediator and Head of His Church." Such a con- 
 troversy had been raging in Scotland, and had reached 
 its crisis in 1843. 
 
 The first note of the coming crisis was sounded in 
 August, 1841. At a meeting of the Commission of 
 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the 
 minority intimated their purpose of appealing to the 
 State to overbear the evangelical majority in the ex- 
 ercise of spiritual discipline. 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — Grangemuir, August 21, 
 
IMPENDING CRISIS. 117 
 
 1841. — Last meeting of Commission has told a tale which 
 historians of a future day will not tell in a very few pages. It 
 is time that Christians put on the whole armor of God : the 
 shock of decisive battle is near, and there will, I fear, be fall- 
 ings away, through want of courage, from the Lord's ranks ; 
 but blessed will be the men amongst us who are delivered 
 from the hour of temptation. What a change within a few 
 past years ! How great may be the change when a few years 
 more are past ! God forbid that I should be like Peter — val- 
 iant in tongue for Jesus, but faint-hearted in the day of temp- 
 tation !" 
 
 Two great meetings were held in Edinburgh at the 
 end of the month. Mr. Hewitson was a spectator of 
 both scenes. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Grangemuir, September 6, 
 1841. — To return to the Commission; I am sure you were 
 delighted with the unanimous firmness and decision of principle 
 exhibited by the ministers and elders of the Church who were 
 present ; — of the Church, I say ; for, along with you, I regard 
 the moderate party as belonging, not to the Church, but to 
 the world. There always has been a world in the Church, as 
 well as a church in the world ; and now-a-days, looking at the 
 two conflicting bodies through the medium of Scriptnre truth, 
 we cannot hesitate to say which of the two is the most church- 
 like, and which the most world-like. I was present for two 
 hours in the West Kirk in the evening : that was a fine spec- 
 tacle. ' How impressive the solemnity of feeling pervading the 
 congregated mass ! How stirring and affecting the eloquence 
 of Candlish — of Gordon ! May the Lord look down and bless 
 the efforts made in behalf of His royal prerogative ! His cause 
 must certainly prevail ; and though, like the sea at flow-tide, 
 it seems at brief intervals to be retrograding, it is only to collect 
 its strength, and again rush with new impetus over the opposing 
 barriers." 
 
118 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Some candidates for the ministry were bending be- 
 fore the storm. Mr. Hewitson had grace to stand. 
 
 "To Dr. Marsden. — Grangemuir, February 15, 1842. — 
 .... Even though I were able to preach, I have at present 
 little prospect of getting a church ; for I belong, on Bible prin- 
 ciples, to that party in the Church of Scotland which is now 
 sadly depressed by the oppressive usurpations of the civil court. 
 A deserter to the opposite party can readily obtain a presenta- 
 tion ; but it were better, by the grace of God, to live in penury, 
 to be driven out of the Establishment, than to live caressed and 
 in affluence, but stung to the quick by a traitor's conscience !" 
 
 The General Assembly, which met in May, 1842, 
 adopted a " Claim of Right," as the Church's formal 
 appeal to the State, demanding, "as of right," in vir- 
 tue of ancient statutes, uncontrolled freedom, notwith- 
 standing State connection, to rule in the house of God. 
 Whilst the appeal lay before the State unheeded, the 
 civil courts, at the instance of the relentless minority, 
 pronounced a decision, finding a presbytery, who had 
 refused to ordain a presentee whose call was signed 
 by only three persons in a parish of two thousand 
 people, personally liable in a penalty of £16,000. 
 This decision rendering further delay impossible, a 
 convocation of ministers was summoned in November, 
 1842, to determine on the course of action. Mr. 
 Hewitson, then lying an invalid in Edinburgh, evinced 
 his deep concern in the crisis by preparing and widely 
 circulating the following — 
 
 " Proposal for United Prayer. — A Convocation of the 
 
THE CONVOCATION. 119 
 
 Ministers of the Church of Scotland is to be held in Edinburgh 
 on the 17th of this month. That it may be blessed by God, 
 as a means of glorifying His Son, and of promoting the best 
 interests of our Zion, it is proposed that as many of God's chil- 
 dren as possible unite daily, between Tuesday 8th and Thursday 
 17th instant, in prayer, either private or public, on its behalf. 
 Let us pray God, 1st, That many ministers may assemble at 
 the Convocation, in a spirit of prayer and of zeal for the Re- 
 deemer's glory ; 2d, That, when assembled, they may receive 
 largely ' the spirit of counsel and of the fear of tlie Lord ;' 3c?, 
 That the Spirit may so ' glorify Christ by showing unto them' 
 his office and character as the King of Zion, that they may bear 
 a united testimony to the truth, and rejoice in being counted 
 worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus ; 4th, That, beholding the 
 glory of Jesus, which the Father hath given him, and being 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, they may resolve, 
 with one heart and soul, to forsake all, if need be, and follow 
 Christ; 5th, That the world may see their oneness of spirit, and 
 so taking knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus, 
 be led to confess that Jesus is indeed the only King of Zion." 
 "Nov. 2, 1842." 
 
 At the Convocation, about four hundred ministers 
 subscribed resolutions, binding them to separate from 
 the State unless Parliament should interpose to nullify 
 the new construction put by the civil courts upon the 
 ancient statutes. 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dalmellington, January 9, 1S43. 
 — Since I saw you, the affairs of our martyr-Zion present a dif- 
 ferent, though by no means a more hopeless aspect. The Con- 
 vocation has, by the blessing of God, been a means of bringing 
 out into open day a spirit of self-denial and faithfulness in the 
 cause of Christ, which speaks more for the prosperity of the 
 Church of Scotland than would all the support of a favoring 
 
120 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 earthly legislature. So long as our Church is able to furnish 
 such a cloud of devoted witnesses to the truth, she will be 
 blessed and prosperous even in the midst of persecution. Her 
 present trials are a sure indication of that which alone consti- 
 tutes the prosperity of a church — I mean, the character of god- 
 liness. Now is not a time for us to cry out, ' the Church is in 
 danger :' it is a time to cry out, with the voice of warning, 
 ' the State is in danger.' Judgment in this land is first begin- 
 ning with the righteous — what, then, will the end be of those 
 who obey not the gospel of God ? This is a critical time for 
 the world.'''' 
 
 The Government issued a manifesto, holding out no 
 prospect of relief. 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq. — DahnelUngton, January 24, 
 1843. — .... The letter of Sir James Graham, which is in 
 character with all his actings towards the Church of Scotland, 
 shows us what measure of redress wo may expect from Gov- 
 ernment. ' The minute' of the special commission is a strin- 
 gently argumentative and unanswerable document ; but what 
 avails it? The enemies of Zion have closed their eyes, and 
 they will not see : they have steeled their hearts, and they will 
 not pity. We must lift up our eyes to the hills, from whence 
 alone cometh our help. My fears will be most happily disap- 
 pointed, if we be not entering on a stormy period, a period of 
 fiery trial, which will try every man's work of what sort it is. 
 We had need to be looking well to our armor." 
 
 Parliament at length spoke. The Church of Scot- 
 land's " Claim of Right" was unequivocally, almost 
 contumeliously, rejected. Both the great parties in 
 the State agreed in declaring that the price of State- 
 connection was Church-subjection. Formerly, in Scot- 
 land, the union of Church and State had left unfet- 
 
THE DISRUPTION. 121 
 
 tered the liberty of church-rulers and church-mem- 
 bers. Now, this liberty was withdrawn. And for 
 the Church one course only was open. The crisis at 
 length came. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Dalmellington, May 24, 1843. 
 — .... The disruption took place amidst circumstances so 
 awfully solemn, that it could scarcely fail to impress even the 
 world with the conviction that God himself was revealing His 
 arm. What reason for. all who love Christ's royal name, and 
 bear witness to his crown-rights, to adore the Father of lights 
 for having given the spirit of wisdom and counsel, of boldness 
 and unity, in so large a measure to His servants! The time 
 chosen was the fittest time for separation ; the mode of separat- 
 ing was the wisest that could have been adopted. Even hu- 
 man wisdom can noio say this ; but it was Divine wisdom that, 
 in the hour of perplexity, directed the counsels of our Church. 
 It is no vain thing to ' hold the Head' Christ Jesus : by so do- 
 ing, the Church, which is Christ's body, as well as every mem- 
 ber of it, draws from the Lord wisdom in perplexity, and grace 
 to help in the time of need. 
 
 " I am anxious to make known my adherence to ' the protest' 
 of the Free Assembly. Will you be so good as to give in my 
 name, that it may be added to the 200 probationers already 
 enrolled ?" 
 
 "To Dr. Moir. — June 9, 1843. — .... A glorious per- 
 spective of usefulness is at present unfolded to the eye of our 
 witnessing Church, and there are many tokens for good — 
 many reasons to believe that from this day the Lord will visit 
 us with showers of reviving grace. Surely the Lord will 
 Himself bear testimony to the truth for which so many faithful 
 witnesses have given up their whole worldly substance." 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — June 12, 1843. — .... 
 The disruption of the Church of Scotland, and of many fam- 
 ilies and of many friendships, has taken place ! The Church 
 
 6 
 
122 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 goes asunder into two assemblies ; and families, each united till 
 now, separate to different places of worship. 
 
 " Let me only say, that though the disruption of our Church 
 be, in some points of view, one of the most striking, marvellous 
 events that have ever occurred, it is, nevertheless, not great in 
 comparison with the events which are ordained in due time to 
 follow ; and that it is ours ' to stand upon the watch, and set us 
 upon the tower,' having ' our loins girt and our lights burning,' 
 and praying that (whatever sense we put upon the words) ' we 
 may be counted worthy to escape those things which shall 
 come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.' 
 
 " One pleasing prospect is, that there is going to be a time 
 of showers and awakening in Zion, — at least there is ground 
 for hoping this." 
 
 His eye was on the horizon, looking for the expect- 
 ed "rain." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dalmellington, July 9, 1844. — 
 Every event alike has been fraught with the intelligence from 
 heaven that the Lord acknowledges our cause, that the Lord 
 will plead it, that 'His arm is awaking as in the days of old.' 
 Especially do we see into the Lord's mind, through the window 
 which was opened in heaven at the last General Assembly. 
 The first drops of a shower descended, and that too — a circum- 
 stance of apparently deep import — on the representatives of the 
 whole body of our Church. There has likewise been a more 
 cheerful giving away to the Lord than Scotland ever before 
 witnessed. Does not this tell us that a cloud full of rain is 
 gathering overhead ? For it is written, ' Bring the tithes into 
 the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove 
 me now herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven and 
 pour you out a blessing.' All things break forth into one cry — 
 ' There is a sound of abundance of rain.' If the clouds pass 
 away without sending us down a shower of blessing, surely it 
 will be in consequence of a guilty ' restraining of prayer.' " 
 
THE DISRUPTION. 123 
 
 Few felt more keenly, in subsequent years, that the 
 clouds had passed away over Scotland without send- 
 ing down the abundant rain. 
 
 It will be seen that Mr. Hewitson regarded the 
 great event of 1843, not as a mere isolated fact, " com- 
 ing as a shadow, and so departing," but as a premoni- 
 tory winnowing of that fan wherewith the Lord shall 
 speedily, in all the churches, purge His floor. Scan- 
 ning the portentous future, he thus writes : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — November 3, 1844. — .... Let 
 us not rashly conclude that we are all as chaffless wheat on the 
 thrashing-floor of Zion. Meantime, the Lord has stayed His 
 rough wind, according to promise, in this the day of His east 
 wind ; but what separating work may we fear the instant His 
 rough wind begins to blow ! What the gentle passes of His 
 fan have not, in the day of forbearance, done, may be done 
 speedily when His fannings become as ' a continuing whirlwind.' 
 There are omens of a coming tempest, of a ' dark and cloudy 
 day.' O for the ' faith that overcometh the world !' " 
 
 
CHARTER IX. 
 
 1844, 1845. 
 
 Lisbon — Diary — Correspondence — Popery and Infidelity — Divine 
 Training — Snares and Conflicts — The Armor of God — Spiritual 
 Analysis — The Word a Lamp — Way made plain — Sails for Madeira. 
 
 The brief residence at Lisbon was a notable season 
 in Mr. Hewitson's life. The Lord took him once more 
 aside, to give to tlie "sharp thrashing instrument" a 
 "new" edge. The process is recorded in a private 
 diary kept by him during his sojourn in that city. 
 We limit ourselves to selected extracts, interspersed 
 with his contemporaneous correspondence. 
 
 Before quoting from the journal, let us accompany 
 him on his voyage, and learn his first impressions of 
 Portugal. He writes : — 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq. — At Mrs. Lawrence's Hos- 
 pedaria, 39 Rua Nova San Francisco de Paulo, Buenos 
 At/res, Lisbon, Dec. 1, 1844. — My very dear Friend, — On 
 Thursday of last week I left Southampton by the Pacha steam- 
 er, and, by the goodness of God, had good weather for the 
 voyage. During the first two days, sickness detained me in my 
 berth. On Saturday evening, amidst the hearings of the Bay 
 of Biscay, I got out upon deck, and was refreshed by the cool- 
 ing head-wind. We were in the Bay till Sabbath evening. The 
 
LISBON. 125 
 
 Sabbath was to me no day of sweet refreshing, though it 
 brought forcibly to my mind the blessed privileges of Scotland. 
 All the day I spent on deck in solitude and silence, without 
 reading, and almost without reflection — I was so weak and ex- 
 hausted. 
 
 " On Sabbath evening we put up into the port of Vigo, for 
 the purpose of delivering and receiving the mail. Speedily 
 boats with lanterns came shooting through the dark towards 
 the vessel, and a scene of bustle ensued — fresh passengers 
 coming on board, and packages of goods being heaved up from 
 the boats for transportation. Spanish and English words fell 
 thick on the ear. 
 
 "Next morning we came to anchor near Oporto. The city 
 was concealed from view, as it lies about two miles up the river. 
 The mail was delivered here. In the afternoon there was a 
 fog, and the sea became rough. After dinner I went on deck, 
 and paced to and fro amidst the darkness, or sat looking to 
 Him ' who stilleth the raging of the sea.' 
 
 " On Tuesday morning I dressed earlier than usual, as we 
 were now approaching to Lisbon. The first object that met 
 my eye was the State prison — a fortified place on the banks of 
 the Tagus. A little way further up, and on the same — that is, 
 the northern — side of the river, was seen the Tower of Belem, 
 from the neighborhood of which Vasco de Gam a set out on 
 his expedition. Lisbon, founded on its seven hills, was now 
 seen stretching along the banks of the noble Tagus. I had 
 cause of gratitude to the Lord for bringing me in safety to my 
 place of destination, but a feeling of sadness and desolation pre- 
 vailed. A city to dwell in, but no home, no relative, no friend ! 
 A stranger in a strange land ! 
 
 Having cast anchor a few hundred yards from the shore, we 
 waited till the custom-house officers had secured all the luggage 
 that was to be landed at Lisbon. Afterwards Sir James For- 
 rest, who was one of the passengers, came ashore with me to 
 see the city. With some little difficulty we found the house 
 
126 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of Mr. M'Lagan, merchant, to whom I had letters of introduc- 
 tion. The good man gave us an hospitable reception, and sent 
 a young man with us to show us the city from the top of one 
 of its hills. 
 
 " All the information which I had obtained in Scotland re- 
 specting Lisbon has turned out to be, either in great measure, 
 or altogether, inaccurate. Popery is in this city making mighty 
 efforts at present to establish itself in exclusive dominion over 
 the minds of men. It is the seat and centre of propagandism. 
 It is the source of all the evil influence that has been brought 
 to bear against the good work that has been going on in Ma- 
 deira. The noblest names — the highest political functionaries 
 — are connected with the endeavors at present made to ad- 
 vance the interests of ' the faith.'' I see that in Scotland we 
 know little or nothing of what is going forward in foreign coun- 
 tries connected with religion. 
 
 " I wish, dear friend, that you were along with me : we 
 would follow the Shepherd together into green pastures, and 
 beside the still waters. I am alone. Christ sometimes smiles 
 most graciously upon me, but I am often sorely tempted. The 
 devil sometimes rages and storms. I feel this to be a critical 
 period in my spiritual life. To set the Lord always before me, 
 and ever to abide in the enjoyment of His love — that alone can 
 restrain the soul from returning again to folly. Just now, how 
 near to me all my beloved friends in Edinburgh seem to be ! 
 May they be all beloved of the Lord ! Make my affectionate 
 regards to them all. 
 
 " My health is tolerably good ; my appetite excessively keen 
 — as keen as the cutting winds of a Lisbon December. The 
 climate here is milder decidedly than in Scotland ; but the 
 winds are cold even at mid-day, when the sun is very warm. 
 Just now — i. e., past seven o'clock p.m. — the thermometer 
 stands at 53 degrees or 54. I have no fire. Write soon, my 
 dear friend and brother, and believe me to be yours very affec- 
 tionately, W. H. H." 
 
JOURNAL. 127 
 
 In the journal he thus notes the Lord's daily deal- 
 ings with him : — ■ 
 
 " Sabbath, December 8, 1844. — Much joy in believing. Fel- 
 lowship with the Lord." 
 
 " Saturday, December 14. — For several days buffeted by 
 Satan. ' Pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch 
 that I was almost driven to despair.' Satan designs to bring 
 me again into bondage. In the evening, sore perplexed, I be- 
 took myself to the Word of God and prayer. Obtained thus a 
 great enlargement — filled with love and gratitude to the Lord 
 — found Him very near unto me. ' Bless the Lord, O my soul, 
 and forget not all His benefits.' " 
 
 " Sabbath, December 15. — All the day till the evening won- 
 derful manifestations of grace and love from the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost. Infinite, adorable love ! Grace to 
 the chief of sinners — grace coming over mountains of guilt ! 
 Royal, reigning, glorious grace ! Where sin abounds, grace 
 still more, infinitely more, abounding ! This my experience ! 
 The Sabbath sweet, though I was all alone — sweet beyond de- 
 scription for hours together — wrapt in wonder, adoration, and 
 love ! Oh, what a God is our God ! .... In consequence of 
 not looking steadfastly to the Lord as all my righteousness and 
 strength, a tendency evident to superstition and confidence in 
 the flesh. Hence a spirit of bondage. This day were remark- 
 ably displayed the different natures of the flesh and the Spirit. 
 ' That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born 
 of the Spirit is spirit.' See also Rom. viii. 5-9 (especially ver. 
 5), and Gal. v. 16-26 (especially ver. 11). In the evening, 
 read and explained part of John iii. in a class of five children 
 who came to my room. Some enlargement — some love to Je- 
 sus." 
 
 " Tuesday, December 1*7. — No lasting happiness, except in 
 unvarying subjection to the will of God. To know His will in 
 all things, great and small, singleness of eye absplutely neces- 
 
128 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 sary. Singleness of eye of no use to me except when I look 
 at things in the light of God's Word. ' To the law and to the 
 testimony,' &c. The only support of the soul under tempta- 
 tion is, ' The Lord our Righteousness' realized by faith. Be- 
 ing justified by faith in this truth, we have peace with God, 
 and that peace makes the soul strong, both for doing and suf- 
 fering God's will." 
 
 " Wednesday, December 18. — Fellowship with the Lord. 
 Saw in His face the glory of the Father, the Spirit embracing 
 me in the arms of His gracious love. Joy and peace in read- 
 ing the Word and in prayer — so full of Divine light and bless- 
 edness, that I felt as if I could willingly do or suffer anything 
 for the glory of God." 
 
 " Thursday, December 19. — How sweet the Word to my 
 taste ! Enjoyment of fellowship with God in prayer. My 
 peace interrupted by the secret workings of the impatient, rest- 
 less flesh. ' When I would do good, evil is present with me.' 
 Difficulty of restraining the tendency to impatience under the 
 crosses of the day. That very tendency disabled me to draw, 
 as I should have done, upon the treasures of strengthening, 
 sanctifying grace which are in Christ. 
 
 " O to be free from the body of this death ! It would glad- 
 ly, if it could, free itself from the restraints of God's blessed 
 Word and Spirit ! When shall the enemy be slain, and my 
 soul wholly free ! Went with my rankling sore to the throne 
 of grace. Some comfort. I am ashamed to be always, always 
 going back to God stained with guilt ; but still I have found 
 God gracious — ready to heap coals of fire upon my head by 
 pouring out on my hell-deserving soul the treasures of His 
 love and pity. ' There is forgiveness with Thee that thou 
 mayest be feared.' ' Gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious 
 also !' O my soul, bless the Lord, • who forgiveth all thine 
 iniquities.' 
 
 " Lord Jesus, O that I was holy as thou art holy ! How 
 long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph ! 
 
POPERY IN LISBON. 129 
 
 They say unto me daily, ' Where is now thy God ?' O Lord, 
 plead in me Thine own cause ; show that, as Thou art my 
 righteousness, Thou art my sanctification also." 
 
 In another letter he writes : — 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Lisbon, December 20, 1844. 
 — It is pleasant to look back on the scenes, and to remember 
 the friends who are now far distant. Distance makes the 
 scenes more lovely, and the friends more dear to me than they 
 ever were. This all the more so, that dark uncertainty hangs 
 over the future. May we at least meet again round the table 
 of the Lord in His heavenly kingdom ! One element of dis- 
 comfort in my position here is, that I am comparatively shut 
 out from opportunities of present usefulness. 
 
 " A letter, recently received by a correspondent here from 
 Dr. Kalley, brings the information that the twenty-six converts 
 
 are still shut up in Funchal prison In every house in 
 
 Lisbon, where there are Protestants, there is a jealous surveil- 
 lance maintained over them, I understand, through means of 
 the Confessional. Popery here is a living, wakeful, energetic 
 power. It has bribed, and endeavors still to bribe, Protestants 
 into defection. 
 
 " On the evening after my arrival at Lisbon, I had a long 
 conversation — which was conducted in patched Portuguese on 
 my part, and patched English on his — with a young Portu- 
 guese nobleman whom I met in the hotel. I had the oppor- 
 tunity, in reply to a question which he put, of informing him, 
 that the Presbyterians of Scotland do not acknowledge tha 
 Pope or any other person, but the Lord Jesus Christ, to be tha 
 head of the Church. I endeavored, likewise, to explain the 
 doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's righteousness alone. 
 He assisted me in endeavoring to quote»a verse of Scripture on 
 the subject ; but, when I asked him whether he held the same 
 views with myself, he replied, that he had not acquaintance 
 enough with the English language to enable him to discuss the 
 
 6* 
 
130 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 question. My proficiency in Portuguese is not yet great enough 
 to enable me to speak much, still less to understand what is 
 rapidly spoken by others ; nevertheless, I have occasionally had 
 conversations with a Portuguese servant, a young man, who 
 seems to take great pleasure in hearing and reading about the 
 concerns of the soul." 
 
 Several months later we find him stating his ma- 
 tured impressions on the subject of Romanism, es- 
 pecially in its relation to Infidelity. 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Lisbon is to Portugal and its de- 
 pendencies, at this moment, the head-quarters of Roman Cath- 
 olic influence. There is in it an Associacao da Fe, supported 
 by many great names. Its operations are carried on with 
 vigor, with secrecy, and with little scrupulosity as to the means 
 of success resorted to. 
 
 " There is much infidelity abroad among all classes of the 
 Portuguese, under the guise of a decent outward observance 
 of the rites of Popery. That there is likewise much supersti- 
 tion and bigotry, and that these are on the increase, is, I think, 
 unquestionable. But all, whether they be bigots or infidels, 
 are one in the determination to maintain the unity of the 
 Church, and to promote its interests. The one class sees, in 
 the communion of the Popish Church, the only possibility of 
 salvation, and by the doctrines of that Church it is bound to 
 war against all heresy and schism. The other class finds that 
 the Church of Rome, exercising, as it does, a benumbing influ- 
 ence over the intellectual faculties, and precluding all liberty 
 of judgment and choice, is admirably fitted to serve as an en- 
 gine of political despotism. This class is bound, by the love 
 of political ascendency and the zeal of party, to defend the 
 Church of Rome against all that would destroy its unity or dis- 
 turb its peace. Nor is that Church unwilling to be supported 
 by alliance with infidelity. She cares not who they be that 
 
POPERY AND INFIDELITY. 131 
 
 are within her pale, if only they support her interests, and out- 
 wardly respect her forms. She is true to her character, as de- 
 scribed in the Apocalypse. Professing to be the Lamb's wife, 
 she is an adulteress. 
 
 " I think that, at the present time, there are at work to- 
 gether, for the purpose of promoting the ascendency of Rome, 
 the two distinct but closely allied powers of superstition and 
 infidelity. If we try to account for the appearances of a grow- 
 ing influence, which Popery presents everywhere throughout 
 the nations, by exclusively regarding the operation of one of 
 these two powers, we shall, I think, soon be convinced of tbe 
 inadequacy of the cause to the effect. There is a reality in the 
 superstition of the present day. It is not mere hypocrisy and 
 simulation. God is giving up multitudes of men to 'strong 
 delusion, to believe a lie, that they all may be damned who 
 receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved.' Sa- 
 tan is reigning as a spirit of superstition and erroneous belief 
 over the minds of thousands, and day by day he is bringing 
 more under the power of his soul-destroying lies. But infidelity 
 has an equally substantial influence ; — it can also number its 
 thousands and its tens of thousands ; and it is necessary to 
 take its operation into account also, if we would adequately 
 explain the events which are giving proof of Popery's being 
 again in the ascendant. 
 
 " Superstition is furthering Popery for its own sake — infi- 
 delity is furthering it for the sake of an ulterior end. The two 
 powers are now combining their forces, and acting in mutual 
 subserviency to each other. These now appear to be at one, 
 but they have different interests ; and after a brief period of 
 trouble, resulting from the union of their counsels and efforts, 
 a breach will take place between them ; — infidelity will show 
 itself hostile to even the bare form of religion — the ' beast' will 
 destroy the ' whore,' eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." 
 
 The journal proceeds : — 
 
132 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEAVITSON. 
 
 " Wednesday, December 25, 1844. — How blessed is Gal. iv. 
 '3-7 ! Adoption, or ' the putting on of Christ,' in the article 
 of His sonship — that alone brings liberty, power, and love into 
 the soul. ' Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ 
 Jesus ; for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ 
 have put on Christ,' and consequently stand in the same light 
 as Christ himself does before God. 
 
 " December 26. — Difficult to give the body its due so as not 
 to affect injuriously the interests of the soul. The body is not 
 to be neglected, but to be held in some honor as regards the 
 satisfying of its just natural demands. Yet there is danger 
 lest the bounds of a holy temperance be exceeded. These 
 bounds are discernible only in the light which fills ' the whole 
 body when the eye is single.' If this light be wanting, there 
 will be either an abuse of liberty in the form of intemperance, 
 or a defect of liberty in the form of superstitious self-mortifica- 
 tion. ' Ye are called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an 
 occasion to the flesh.' .... Read, with much sweet enjoy- 
 ment, 1 Cor. vi. 11-13, in connection with Gal. v. Prayed 
 that I might 'walk in the Spirit,' so as to be kept from 'ful- 
 filling the lust of the flesh.' Enabled to pray ' in the Spirit,' 
 with ' the peace of God, which passes all understanding,' 
 reigning in my heart. Christ was lovely in my eyes. 
 
 " Has Satan not sometimes aimed at leading me, by appear- 
 ing as an angel of light, and an advocate of righteousness, to 
 substitute, as the rule of my Christian walk, inward suggestions 
 coming from himself, in the room of the external Word of God ? 
 Has he not endeavored to perplex me in such a manner as to 
 make me look upon every instance of nonconformity to these 
 inward suggestions as an instance of disobedience to the Holy 
 Ghost, and so to humble me continually throughout my Chris- 
 tian course ? It occurred to me that, in order to ' walk in the 
 Spirit,' I must be careful to look at everything in the light of 
 the Word, for the Word is the only revelation given to me of 
 the Spirit's mind ; and likewise to look much at the glory of 
 
JOURNAL. 133 
 
 Christ, for the office of the Spirit is to ' glorify Christ, by 
 taking of His and showing it to the believer.' How can I walk 
 in the Spirit if I do not enter into His thoughts, as they are 
 revealed in Scripture ; or if I do not look at Christ's glory, 
 which the Spirit holds forth to my view ? ' We all, with open 
 face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
 into the same image from glor} 7 to glory, even as by the Spirit 
 of the Lord.' 
 
 "Friday, December 27. — While writing an article on ' Gos- 
 pel Liberty,' for the Christian Monitor, visited with evil 
 thoughts, and tempted. Did not feel that I was writing in 
 fellowship with the Lord. I should rather say, the truths 
 which I was writing on did not form at the time a means of 
 fellowship with the Lord to my own soul." 
 
 Will the reader, if he be a minister of Christ, pon- 
 der these concluding words ? Henry Marty n, in his 
 diary, laments that " want of private devotional read- 
 ing and shortness of prayer, through incessant sermon- 
 making, had produced much strangeness between God 
 and his soul." Martyn was no enemy to careful 
 " sermon-making," or to scholarlike study. Nor was 
 Mr. Hewitson. But both alike knew that the written 
 preparations, however elaborate, which had " not 
 formed at the time a means of fellowship with the 
 Lord to their own souls," were not likely to avail as 
 instruments in God's hand for converting or edifying 
 others. It is recorded of Payson that "he studied 
 theology on his knees." He preached first to himself 
 what he intended to preach to others. Hence his 
 power. 
 
 " Sabbath, December 29, 1844. — Enlargement in prayer, and, 
 
134 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 whilst engaged in intercession, was enabled in some measure 
 to believe that my cry was heard. On reading Pe of Ps. cxix. 
 discovered in it precious things which, less than an hour before, 
 when I endeavored to make it the subject of meditation, were 
 hid from my eyes ; so truly ' with God is the fountain of life, 
 and in His light alone we see light.' . . . . O my soul, if thou 
 wouldst always be filled with the living water, be ever going 
 out in believing desires unto Jesus, the fountain-head ! In the 
 evening had my small sabbath-class. 
 
 " Monday, December 30. — .... A spirit of self-righteous- 
 ness, exceedingly subtle, suggested hard thoughts about Christ. 
 
 " When I prayed to the Lord before going to sleep, I felt 
 as if the evil suggestions which had terrified and staggered me 
 had left no guilt whatever on my conscience. God has taught 
 me not to be so amazed and terrified at the discovery and ex- 
 perience of nothing in my carnal mind but hatred and enmity 
 against Himself. ' In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no 
 good thing. 1 Why, then, should I be surprised and alarmed 
 by the rising up of evil, and nothing but evil in my flesh ? . . . . 
 When we go as we are led or driven by the motions of evil 
 lust and affection, then it is that we ' walk after the flesh.' 
 The wind lifts chaff and blows it away, but scarcely stirs the 
 trees." 
 
 " Tuesday, December 31. — .... In reference to several 
 things which I did during the day, the same legal spirit found 
 working in me. It is a spirit which threatens where the gos- 
 pel promises, and promises where the gospel threatens. My 
 judgment and experience alike condemn it ; but still it often 
 exercises over my mind, as it did over the minds of the Gala- 
 tians, a ' bewitching' influence." 
 
 " Wednesday January 1, 1845. — Sat up till midnight, and 
 caught the very beginning of another year, that I might pray 
 for myself, relatives, friends, &c, wishing them and myself a 
 happy and blessed new year, where alone the wish is available 
 for any good — at the throne of grace. Fasted till nearly three 
 
JOURNAL. 135 
 
 o'clock p.m., chiefly for the purpose of praying to the Lord for 
 deliverance from a spirit of self-righteousness and bondage, 
 from inordinate affections and evil concupiscence, and for growth 
 in holiness during the year now begun. ' This kind cometh 
 not out but by prayer and fasting.' When all other means 
 fail, fasting is not to be neglected. It is an appointed means 
 of getting the victory over the devil. The Lord give me the 
 victory over him, and the deliverance from his power, which I 
 have prayed for ! ' Ask, and ye shall receive.' " 
 
 "To-day gave myself up anew — spirit, soul, and body — to 
 the Lord. Not that I gave, or could undertake to give, Him 
 anything but wretchedness, poverty, blindness, nakedness, a 
 burden of sin and corruption, and inability to do anything but 
 what is evil ; yet, looking to the promise, ' My grace is sufficient 
 for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness,' I laid 
 myself, spirit, soul, and body, before the Lord this day, praying 
 Him to be my ' wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and re- 
 demption,' to fill my spirit with the Holy Ghost, to sanctify all 
 the faculties of my soul and all the members of my body, to 
 make me wholly His own, a vessel of grace to bear His name 
 to sinners, an instrument to be employed by Him in His ser- 
 vice Have felt the uprisings of strong, rebellious, in- 
 dwelling sin, especially in the form of impatience under those 
 little trials which it is perhaps more difficult to bear with 
 equanimity than it is to bear greater ones." 
 
 " Thursday, January 2. — .... Sometimes I seem to be 
 all corruption within — I feel so palpably the motions of sin, 
 and the effects of Satanic operation, but so indistinctly the 
 motions of a holy nature, and the workings of Divine grace. 
 The Lord gave me, in answer to prayer, a feeling of interest in 
 
 His glory and the salvation of souls Enabled clearly 
 
 to distinguish between the workings of nature and those of 
 grace in my soul — I always am when ' in the light.' Bless the 
 Lord, my soul !" 
 
 " Saturday, January 4. — Had towards God uncomfortable 
 
136 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 feelings, like those of a child after having committed some 
 offence towards its parents, before it is assured of its forgiveness 
 — the feelings of a heart ill-reconciled. 
 
 " Went to the Police-office with my passport. Met there a 
 young man, whom I accompanied to Buenos Ayres, as he 
 lived not far from my lodgings. While going along with him, 
 impelled forcibly to say something, as a matter of faithfulness 
 to Christ, on spiritual subjects, but not drawn out by grace, 
 and unable to speak. God did not ' work in me to will and to 
 do.' Intolerable bondage, to be driven by the law, and not 
 drawn by the grace of Christ !" 
 
 " Sabbath, January 5. — .... After entering church, 
 opened a book which I found near me, and read in it the para- 
 ble of the Good Shepherd. Struck by these words: 'I am 
 the good shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth His life for the 
 sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, 
 whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and 
 leaveth the sheep and fleeth.' Appropriate words ! The wolf 
 had been running upon me, a poor helpless sheep. Christ 
 would not flee and leave me to perish. Good hope in my soul 
 through grace. During the service, the Spirit of God filled 
 my soul with sweet meditations — such as come in freely and 
 spontaneously, without effort — not being of nature, but of grace. 
 A divine light shed abroad in my soul ; spiritual discernment 
 given to me, and the glory of God revealed. 
 
 " The Lord made Phil. iii. sweet to me, and encouraging. 
 I saw the heinous nature of all those carnal law-constrained 
 workings which are opposed to 'a serving of God in the spirit, 
 a glorying in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the 
 flesh.' Self, that hell-deep gulf of all things sensual and 
 devilish, made to give place to ' the spirit of power, and of love, 
 and of a sound mind.' By abiding in Christ, as my perfect 
 righteousness, it is easy to walk in the ways of holiness. 'Take 
 my yoke upon you, and learn of me,' &c, ' for my yoke is easy, 
 and my burden is light.' Blessed words ! But if there be 
 
JOUENAL. 137 
 
 words in Scripture which, of all others, the natural carnal 
 mind can least understand, it is these." 
 
 An American writer happily contrasts two classes 
 of Christians — those whom he terms " God's opera- 
 tives," and those " vivid pietists of glowing sensibilities, 
 who can do little but settle the metaphysics of faith, 
 count frames, and gauge feelings." Mr. Hewitson was 
 eminently one of "God's operatives." "Fervent in 
 spirit," he was "diligent in business." His special 
 business at this season was the acquisition of the Por- 
 tuguese language. It will be seen by and by with 
 what amazing energy he had prosecuted the 'work, 
 accomplishing within little more than two months a 
 labor ordinarily occupying at least a year. Little trace 
 of this appears in his letters or journal. But the 
 reader, by knowing it, will be better able to appreciate 
 the force of spiritual character which could combine 
 with an occupation so engrossing, and withal so formal, 
 a freshness of heavenly fellowship such as the journal 
 unfolds. We present some further extracts : — 
 
 ," Thursday, January 9, 1845. — Comfort amidst all the 
 varied occupations of the day, and a realization of such near- 
 ness to the Lord as is enjoyed when the soul is able without 
 effort to make transition from study or any other secular occu- 
 pation to prayer. Holiness is a habit of the mind — a setting 
 of the Lord continually before one's eyes — a constant walking 
 with God, as one with whom we are agreed. Lord Jesus, make 
 me thus holy, changing me into Thine own image !" 
 
 " Friday, January 10. — Two hours nearly in company with 
 
138 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Mr. Pinheiro, the Portuguese master. My spirits lightened 
 and cheerful during the lesson — a consequence of the peace of 
 God, which I inwardly enjoyed. My goings under me enlarged. 
 Experience has clearly shown me that nothing but grace can 
 enlarge the heart of the believer. Grace does everything. 
 Read before dinner, as a means of sanctifying the meal, Rev. 
 vii. The Word blessed to me, lifting me upwards to Christ. 
 Tried to engage in intercession on behalf of some for whom I 
 had not prayed in the morning, but miserably hindered, Martha- 
 like, by the desire of doing many things before bed-time. 
 ' One thing is needful.' .... Shadows of darkness fell upon 
 my soul. Darkness is Satan's kingdom. He is ' the power of 
 darkness ;' i. e., the prince who rules over it. Last night the 
 word of God taught me that it is only by being ' turned from 
 darkness unto light' that the soul is ' turned from the power 
 
 of Satan unto God' — a truth not to be forgotten Peace 
 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost is an oil which gives sweet motion 
 to the wheels of the soul." 
 
 " Saturday, January 11. — .... We are apt, through the 
 restlessness and forwardness of the flesh, to be carried out to 
 action by self-will, mistaking it for the will which is wrought 
 by the Spirit in meek and humble hearts Having com- 
 mitted my way to the Lord, pointed out to Mr. M , a 
 
 Roman Catholic, the error of the Church of Rome in reference 
 to the way of pardon and acceptance. Spent some time after- 
 wards in reading and writing Portuguese. The Lord enable 
 me to learn the language, and to use it as an instrument in 
 His service ! My work went on smoothly to-day. Watch, 
 my soul, for a calm is often followed by a storm. Satan's 
 opportunity is — a soul off its guard." 
 
 " Sabbath, January 12. — .... Had some delight in the 
 word, 1 Thess. ii., ' That ye would walk worthy of God, who 
 hath called you unto His kingdom and glory.' These words, 
 ' Ye are my glory and joy,' with the immediately preceding 
 context, made me feel a longing to be the means of bringing 
 
JOURNAL. 139 
 
 souls to Christ. Afterwards a similar longing, or rather an 
 earnest desire to be employed in the blessed work of preaching 
 the gospel, awakened within me while reading some of Mr. 
 M'Cheyne's letters. My soul lifting itself up, or, to speak 
 more truly, lifted up by the Spirit unto the Lord, with longings 
 that could not be uttered. Desirous of walking, before all 
 this family, in a manner more worthy of the Lord, if by any 
 means some of them might be saved. After prayer, spoke to 
 
 poor Joao M on the way of salvation Had some 
 
 consolation in meditating on the Lord's coming. Hope in me 
 has too little power. I exercise it too little by looking forward 
 in the light of prophecy to the glory which is to be revealed." 
 
 " January 14. — Have not been zealous in the cause of Christ 
 this day. When the suggestion came into my mind that I 
 ought to speak a word for Christ, not very ready to act upon 
 it. Self-working strongly, and making me to feel it as a kind of 
 hardship that I could not speak a single word on spiritual 
 things without looking to and resting on Christ entirely for the 
 blessing. Proud, stubborn, unbelieving self ! ' O Lord, be 
 Thou exalted in Thine own strength.' God alone can make 
 me an able minister of the New Testament. I am a poor, 
 helpless thing — all my sufficiency is of God." 
 
 " Wednesday, January 15. — 'Where the Spirit of the Lord 
 is, there is liberty,' for the soul is made willing by His gracious 
 power. ' If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability 
 which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified 
 through Jesus Christ.' There is no evangelic, acceptable, God- 
 glorifying obedience, which flows not from the grace or ability 
 that God giveth. Though suggestions appear to be good, yet 
 it is necessary to ' try the spirits whether they be of God.' 
 ' Examine all things ; hold fast that which is good.' ' Be not 
 soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by 
 word,' &c. ' Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to 
 seducing spirits.' By acting on the impulses and suggestions 
 of seducing spirits, men were gradually drawn away into all 
 
140 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the self-righteous and superstitious practices of Popery ; and 
 what Satan has succeeded in doing once, will he not try, if 
 possible, to do again ? ' He is transformed into an angel of 
 light.' He would deceive if he could, the very elect." 
 
 " Thursday, Janxiary 16. — .... The flesh, the carnal 
 mind, at work. The operation of Satan manifest and palpa- 
 ble. Restored to some measure of peace by means of reading 
 Rom. v. (see verses 8, 9, 10). 
 
 '■'■January 18. — O my soul, my soul ! look to nothing but 
 Christ — rest on nothing but Him — make an effort to do noth- 
 ing good except in His strength. Have I not often followed 
 after sanctification in the power of nature, and found the law, in 
 consequence, alive and strong — binding for me burdens that I 
 was not able to bear ? . . . . Not nature, but grace, must carry 
 forward the work of my sanctification. To be busy in this work, 
 without falling into a spirit of self-righteousness, and therefore 
 into a spirit of bondage and disquietude, is the most difficult 
 thing in the world. No holiness without a life of faith and of 
 abiding in Christ." 
 
 "Sabbath, January 19. — I believe that none of God's chil- 
 dren suffer as I do from inward assaults of the flesh and Satan. 
 I have spent much of this day in the valley of Bochim, and 
 have believed in Jesus amidst much affliction from the working 
 of sin within me, but — O ! blessed be the name of God my 
 Father — likewise amidst joy in the Holy Ghost, often joy un- 
 speakable and full of glory. 
 
 "The Lord has been dealing wonderfully with me since I 
 came to Lisbon. Sometimes hell has been rolling floods of cor- 
 ruption and bitterness through my soul ; sometimes I have 
 been filled with the light, and glory, and unutterable joy of 
 heaven. What is to be the end of these things ? For what 
 is the Lord preparing me ? ' He will guide me with His coun- 
 sel.' 
 
 " Had my little class. Subject, Gal. i. Had something of 
 the spirit of freedom and power in speaking to-night. Before 
 
JOURNAL. 141 
 
 meeting with the children, I had prayed more for their conver- 
 sion than on former occasions. In preparatory prayer, re- 
 strained by that kind of unbelief, and want of love to souls, 
 which consists in not looking to the Lord with confident ex- 
 pectation of success. The thing meant might clothe itself in 
 such language as this — ' In answer to prayer, the Lord can, if 
 He will, bear testimony to the word of his grace ; but I do 
 not expect that He really will do so in the present instance.' 
 Vexed on account of this heart-hardening skepticism, I cried 
 out to the Lord for a mountain-removing faith — for more faith, 
 more love, more confident hope. My cries not wholly in vain. 
 My mind deeply solemnized. The children seemed profoundly 
 attentive. Work, Lord ! ' Not by might, nor by power, but by 
 my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.' 
 
 "Monday, January 20. — Struck by Jer. x. 23 : 'O Lord, I 
 know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man 
 that walketh to direct his steps.' Knowing that 'in God's 
 hand are all my ways,' I thanked Him for bringing me to Lis- 
 bon, not doubting that He would thus serve some gracious pur- 
 pose, though that purpose was at present wholly unknown to me." 
 
 Coleridge, in his Hymn on Chamouni, referring to 
 the Mer de Glace, speaks of the "living flowers which 
 skirt the eternal frost." Not less touching is the spir- 
 itual phenomenon set forth in the extract which 
 follows — the desolate barrenness of nature, and the 
 living fragrance of grace, in the little territory of a 
 single soul. In every believer, indeed, the phenomenon 
 exists ; but here it has a vividness not often seen. Iu 
 the light of this feature of his spiritual life, it will not 
 be uninstructive afterwards to mark the extreme sim- 
 plicity of Mr. Hewitson's preaching. If he held up 
 before men less the subjective experience than the ob- 
 
142 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 jective Christ, it was not because he was himself with- 
 out experience, but because, in his own daily conflict, 
 he overcame by simple faith in a living Lord. 
 
 "Monday, January 20, 1845. — .... How amazing the 
 breach, the interval, between the flesh and the Spirit in a child 
 of God ! The distance between them is that which separates 
 heaven from hell. The breach cannot be healed, the enmity 
 cannot be reconciled — the warfare is exterminating. The flesh 
 is irretrievably lost, sunk into an infinite depth of perdition. 
 How often it alarms me, and fills me with dismay, by the 
 manifestations of its fiendish, hell-born malignity, its implacable 
 rage against all that is holy and God-glorifying, its blasphemous 
 atheism, and desperate love of sin. It is that which cried out, 
 4 Away with Him ! Crucify Him !' It is the murderer of God's 
 only-begotten Son. God declares that it is enmity against 
 Himself, and that it cannot, will not, be subject to His law. O, 
 then, my soul, be not driven to despair by finding that God's 
 description of the carnal nature which cleaves to thee is literal- 
 ly true. That same flesh which nailed God's Son to the cross, 
 will not suffer Him to have a place, if it can only get its will, 
 within the believer's soul." 
 
 The next extract illustrates Mr. Hewitson's remark- 
 able power of spiritual analysis. 
 
 " Nothing is to me a greater proof of the flesh being utterly 
 Satanic than the fact that, though Satan ' work in the children 
 of disobedience,' they mistake his operations for the spontaneous 
 movements of their own will. They walk according to ' the 
 Prince of the power of the air,' and they are not conscious of 
 the fact — their walk is so entirely according to the desire of 
 their own hearts. There is such a resemblance between the 
 devil's character and their own, that they do not perceive any 
 difference. A soul darkened and deceived by the joint-working 
 
JOURNAL. 143 
 
 of the flesh and the devil, appropriates as its own the devil's 
 words, and identifies its own interests with his. 
 
 "The soul often, in its ignorance of the flesh on the one 
 hand, and of God on the other, is led to torment itself. 
 Hence the bloody rites of paganism — the fires of Moloch — the 
 self-inflicted tortures of Hinduism. Hence the penances and 
 mortifications of Popery. Hence the mistaken duties and exer- 
 cises of the young convert. Strange though it seems, the flesh, 
 which seeks gratification, draws the ill-informed, half-enlight- 
 ened believer to the work of painful penance. By doing this it 
 greatly deceives, for it represents the painful discipline which it 
 prescribes as being contrary to its own nature, and therefore in 
 accordance with the nature of God. It thus contrives to 
 exhibit God in the light of one who is stern, pitiless, and 
 inexorable. It is itself the tormentor, and yet cries out to 
 the gentle and compassionate Saviour, ' Art Thou come to 
 torment us V 
 
 " This is one of the depths of Satan. This is one of the most 
 deceitful and ruinous works of the flesh. The effect of it is to 
 make the poor sinner unable to realize any comfortable experi- 
 ence of the truth that ' God is love,' and to entangle him in 
 vain endeavors to establish a righteousness of his own, while 
 the righteousness of God is not acknowledged truly and sub- 
 mitted to from the heart. O that I may not be deceived by 
 such ruinous sophistries of the flesh, or caught in such deep- 
 laid snares ! 
 
 "In religion, as well as in other things, I may walk after the 
 flesh instead of walking after the Spirit. ' Walk in the Spirit, 
 and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.' Otherwise to re- 
 sist the lust of the flesh, is merely to oppose one lust of the 
 flesh to another, and is altogether vain, or rather worse than 
 vain, as regards the end of sanctification. O my soul, ' ac- 
 quaint thyself with God' more and more — ever be learning the 
 lesson that ' God is love? ' well pleased with thee for the sake 
 of Christ's righteousness' ' God is love.' 
 
144 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "We give some farther extracts. Oar limits require 
 that they be but fragmentary. 
 
 " Tuesday, January 21, 1845 After my meditations 
 
 and prayers, the Lord was pleased to turn away from me the 
 host of spiritual foes who had been assailing me. How sweet is 
 a calm after such a storm ! .... If the friend even that loves 
 me most were to get such a sight of my heart as I have got a 
 thousand times, he would shrink from me surely with abhor- 
 rence, and say of me, ' Such a man ought not to live.' Lord 
 Jesus, thine eye is on my heart every moment. I am glad 
 that it is so, for I would open up before Thee all my pollution. 
 Lord, Thou bearest with me ; Thou dost not spurn me from 
 Thy feet as one too loathsome to wash them with his tears, or 
 too guilty to be washed in Thy blood." 
 
 " Wednesday, January 22. — .... Tempted to look upon 
 God as if He were narrowly watching me for the purpose of 
 finding fault. Convinced that this was a slanderous misrepre- 
 sentation of God. My soul, from this day remember that, 
 though God looks as a judge stern and inexorable on the works 
 of those who are laboring in the flesh to justify their own souls, 
 He looks on the works of those who are already justified by 
 faith with the heart and eye of a loving Father. Read to-day 
 1 Tim. iv., Jer. xii., Gen. viii., Joshua viii. (the two last chapters 
 comforting and refreshing especially), and Rom xi., which was 
 to me a word of admonition and warning." 
 
 " Thursday, January 23. — Dangerous to be ' working out 
 our salvation with fear and trembling,' under the sense of our 
 doing so being a condition of our justification. No true holi- 
 ness except that which springs from love to God ; and no true 
 love to God without peace of conscience. Oh, in what a plight 
 I have come to the feet of Jesus to be cured ! How leprous, 
 loathsome ! Most poor and miserable ! If Jesus were not 
 God, He could not save me. Oh, to keep nearer to the cross ! 
 Oh, to deal more with the blood of atonement ! . . . . Christ's 
 
JOURNAL. 145 
 
 blood is a greater atonement for my sins than an eternity of 
 torments would be, suffered by myself in bell. The Lord will 
 not cast me out, nor let any one pluck me out of His hand. 
 If I have not come to Christ, I know not what coming to 
 Christ means ; and the word is sure, 'Him that cometh unto 
 Me, I will in no wise cast out.'" 
 
 '■'■Friday, January 24. — Oh, how miserable to be for the 
 least part of a day without any feeling of love to God in the 
 heart, shrinking under an apprehension of His wrath and en- 
 mity ! Shall I ever be of any use to my Lord, as a vessel of 
 grace ? ' O Lord, I have been as a beast before Thee.' ' O 
 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death !' To me this night belong ' shame and confusion 
 of face ;' yet I would endeavor to say, ' Thanks unto God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ.' " 
 
 On the next extract we set a high value. It tells 
 whence he drew all liis strength and joy. 
 
 "Sabbath, January 2G, 1845. — .... Went to church. 
 
 Mr. P 's subject was submission to the will of God in time 
 
 of trouble, according to our Lord's example. His remarks on 
 this subject led me to think that I ought perhaps to submit 
 more to the spiritual influence by which I am often straitened 
 in my goings (as being an afflictive visitation, though not di- 
 rectly from God, yet permitted by Him for the trial of my faith 
 and obedience), waiting upon Him to send me deliverance. 
 Acting on this impression, I found myself soon miserably 
 straitened, and, after returning home, experienced at work in 
 me, not so much a spirit of submission and obedience, as one 
 of rebellion and of utter powerlessness to serve the Lord. ' Try 
 the spirits, whether they be of God.' Every spirit that seeks 
 to exhibit God as unreconciled and irreconcilable, without some 
 doings or abstaining^ of my own, is devilish, and to be sub- 
 mitted to, no, not for a moment. 
 7 
 
146 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWTTSON. 
 
 " The quietism that yields to the impulse of every spirit is 
 devilish. ' When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that 
 have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mut- 
 ter: should not a people seek unto their God ? For the living 
 to the dead ? To the law and to the testimony ; if they speak 
 not according to this word, it is because there is no light in 
 them.' Therefore ' believe not every spirit ;' but try the spirits 
 by the Word, and those which contradict the Word submit to 
 not for an instant, but fight against them in the name and 
 strength of the Lord. ' Wherewith shall a young man cleanse 
 his way V By taking heed thereto according to the impulses 
 and operations of spirits within ? No, but ' by taking heed 
 thereto according to Thy Word.' The Spirit of God uses no 
 other sword than the Word of God. Christ fought against 
 Satan with no other words throughout the temptation of the 
 wilderness. 
 
 " Were I not a ' beast before God,' I would bear these truths 
 continually in remembrance, and act according to them at all 
 times. 
 
 " ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my 
 path.' It is devilish to walk by other lamps and lights than 
 this. ' Uphold my goings in Thy word, that my footsteps slip 
 not.' No secure walking except in God's Word. ' Order 
 my steps in Thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion 
 over me' — showing plainly that the only sure defence against 
 the reigning power of sin is, to have my steps ordered in the 
 Word of God." 
 
 An interesting notice follows, under the same date : 
 
 " This day, in returning from church, was informed that a 
 
 converted Spaniard, Dr. , had commenced preaching the 
 
 gospel in his own house to those of the Portuguese who were 
 
 inclined by the Lord to attend. I attended at Dr. 's this 
 
 evening. About sixteen Portuguese, besides a few English 
 people, were present. We were met in an upper room in the 
 
JOURNAL. 147 
 
 third story. During the service, which was plain and simple, 
 the 62d chapter of Isaiah and the 12th of Luke were read : 
 both exceedingly appropriate. The sermon was of consider- 
 able length — the text, ' Fear not, little flock, for it is your 
 Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' " 
 
 He who led Simon Peter to the house-top to fast 
 and pray, whilst the messengers from Cornelius drew 
 nigh to Joppa to tell him of the work awaiting him 
 in Caesarea, is seen leading Mr. Hewitson in the two 
 entries which follow : — 
 
 " Monday, January 27, 1845. — Fasted till between seven 
 and eight o'clock, p.m. Humbled myself first of all on account 
 of my sins, and especially on account of the workings of a self- 
 righteous and legal spirit. After confession of sin, and praying 
 for my own soul, I cried unto the Lord to save all the dear 
 souls in my father's house. Again prayed that I might be en- 
 abled by grace to go free from all whereby I have of late been 
 brought into bondage ; likewise that the Lord would direct my 
 way to Madeira, or whithersoever He saw fit to send me. The 
 Lord answer this prayer for good to my soul and glory to His 
 own blessed name !" 
 
 " Tuesday, January 28. — Mr. A called this evening to 
 
 tell me that Dr. Kalley had arrived from Madeira ; and, while 
 he was here, a letter came from Mr. Sym, intimating that I had 
 the consent of the Colonial Committee to go immediately to 
 Madeira. Thus, in a marvellous manner, the Lord has been 
 answering the prayer which yesterday I offered up for direction 
 and counsel. ' Call upon me, and I will answer thee.' " 
 
 His way was now made plain before, him. The 
 work, as we shall see, to which he was called, was one 
 of no common peril. Our closing extract from the 
 
148 MEMOIR OF BEVL W. H. IIEWITSOX. 
 
 Journal shows his state of mind in the prospect of 
 setting out : — 
 
 11 Thursday, January 30, 1845. — Many circumstances of a 
 trying kind to flesh and blood rose up before my view. But 
 the Lord has made the way straight before my face, and I 
 would not turn away back. Had comfort in the prospect of 
 going to Madeira. I may say truly, ' I go bound in the spirit, 
 not knowing the things that await me there.' Whatever these 
 things may be, O let them be sufferings and afflictions for 
 Christ's sake, rather than that I should be allowed to sin ! 
 ' If God be for us, who can be against us ?' " 
 
 About the middle of February, Mr. Hewitson sailed 
 from Lisbon for Madeira, and after a voyage of five 
 or six days reached the scene of the memorable work. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Madeira — Antichrist — Original Narrative by Dr. Kalley — His Early 
 Labors — Awakening among Portuguese — Open Air Meetings — 
 Effects of Reading the Bible — Persecution — Bible declared " a 
 Book from Hell" — Excommunication — Imprisonment of Dr. Kalley 
 — Gospel preached in Jail — Hatred of Bible — Sentence of Death 
 — Assassination recommended — Serra Prisoners — Singing Praise3 
 — Dr. Kalley visits Lisbon — Meets Mr. Hewitson. 
 
 The work in Madeira has been designated "the 
 greatest fact of modern missions."* Eight hundred 
 exiles, driven from their native island for the sake 
 of Christ, stand, before the eye of Christendom, the 
 fruit of that work. 
 
 A necessary secrecy shrouded, at the time, the de- 
 tails of the work from public view ; but the cause of 
 the secrecy exists no longer. They are published now, 
 not to magnify the human instrumentality, but to the 
 glory of the Divine Worker. 
 
 At a time when the Eomish Antichrist is going forth 
 with renewed zeal to " deceive the nations," the record 
 of a work which, in one of the darkest spots of his 
 
 * Report of Colonial Committee to General Assembly of Free 
 Church of Scotland, by Rev. J. Bonar, convener. May, 1850. 
 
150 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 dark domain, rescued from his grasp so goodly a rem- 
 nant, seems not inopportune. The record will prove 
 that the great Criminal, who for so many centuries 
 " wore out the saints of the Most High," remains un- 
 changed and unchangeable. And it may stimulate 
 the Church to earnest effort in proclaiming every- 
 where, even amidst the thickest darkness, the Master's 
 gracious appeal — " Come out of her, my people, that 
 ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not 
 of her plagues." 
 
 The two great instruments in this work were Dr. 
 Kalley and Mr. Hewitson. The former laid the foun- 
 dation ; the latter reared the superstructure. "We are 
 in circumstances to furnish the reader with accurate 
 details of each of the two stages of this work. 
 
 The earlier stage, accomplished instrumentally by 
 Dr. Kalley, the reader will be glad to find narrated 
 chiefly by Dr. Kalley himself, in a series of " Notes," 
 kindly contributed by him for this Memoir. It is 
 necessary that the labors of the one evangelist be un- 
 derstood, in order to a right appreciation of the labors 
 of the other. The " Notes" are dated " Beyroot, 15th 
 January, 1851." 
 
 " In the beginning of my intercourse with the Madeirenses, 
 I met few of them who had ever seen a Bible, or seemed to 
 know that the New Testament was written by men who went 
 about with the Lord Jesus when He dwelt on the earth — who 
 saw His miracles — heard His words — gazed upon Him as He 
 went up to heaven — and described what they knew by the 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 151 
 
 testimony of their own senses. When one part of it was shown 
 to them as the work of Peter, another as that of John, and a 
 third as that of Matthew, some doubted, and wanted proofs — 
 others listened with eager interest while a portion of it was 
 read to them as a specimen of its contents. 
 
 "In 1839 a few showed a good deal of desire to read and 
 hear the Word of God. 
 
 "In 1840 the interest in it increased much, and many adults 
 went to school, that they might learn to read the Bible. 
 
 "In 1841 it went on increasing: the attention of the Gov- 
 ernment at Lisbon was directed to the movement among the 
 people, and the chief ecclesiastics in Madeira were instructed to 
 suppress it. As soon as this was known, there was such a gen- 
 eral expression of popular feeling as prevented for the time any 
 inquisitorial measures which might have been intended. 
 
 "In 1842, especially in the summer and autumn, people 
 came in large numbers to hear the Scriptures read and ex- 
 plained. Many walked ten or twelve hours, and climbed over 
 mountains three thousand feet high, in coming and returning 
 to their homes. The meetings were solemn — the hearers lis- 
 tened with unwearied attention — a hand was often observed 
 stealing up to remove a tear — and sometimes there was a gen- 
 eral audible expression of wonder. This was especially the 
 case when the subject of remark was the love of God in not 
 sparing his own Son, but giving Him up to die for the sins of 
 a whole world, or the love of Christ in voluntarily taking upon 
 Himself the wrath and curse which we deserved. 
 
 " For several months I believe that there were not fewer 
 than 1000 persons present each Sabbath ; generally they ex- 
 ceeded 2000, occasionally reached 3000, and once were reck- 
 oned at 5000. On the last-mentioned occasion seventy Testa- 
 ments were sold, and many intending purchasers were disap- 
 pointed. These meetings were in the open air. During part 
 of the time they were held on a ridge, having a deep, steep 
 valley on the east and another on the west, while the moun- 
 
152 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 tain rose almost perpendicularly to a great height on the south. 
 The people sat in a clear space near the house which I occu- 
 pied — all around was covered with trees clustered with grapes. 
 We had a few simple hymns, expressive of adoration, gratitude 
 and praise. The tunes usually sung were the Portuguese 
 Hymn, Old Hundred, and Martyrdom ; and there were few 
 who did not at least attempt to join in singing. You may im- 
 agine the interest of such a scene in a Popish country ! 
 
 " In some places the general topics of every-day conversa- 
 tion, in walking along the roads, or resting a little from labor 
 in the fields, were the Word of God — the one sacrifice for sin — 
 free salvation — the security of God's promises — the love of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ — peace with God — the hope of glory — the 
 folly of image-worship — the uselessness of penance. Often, 
 too, the hymns of the Sabbath were heard through the week, 
 among the fields and vineyards ; and there was much search- 
 ing of the Scriptures, to know the Lord's declarations on the 
 subjects brought before them." 
 
 The circumstances which led to this awakening Dr. 
 Kalley thus traces : — 
 
 " Gratuitous medical aid induced many to visit me, and ex- 
 perience of benefits which they prized led them to regard me 
 as a friend. When conversing with them about the diseases 
 of their bodies, and the remedies which they were to employ,* 
 it required little effort to turn their attention to the disease of 
 the soul, the Physician, the remedy, and the result ; and thus 
 they listened with less prejudice than they would probably have 
 done in other circumstances. 
 
 " Regarding the Holy Bible as the only trustworthy source 
 of information on these subjects, I advised them to search it if 
 they wished to attain certainty concerning God, the soul, 
 heaven, hell, and eternity ; and showed them, in as simple and 
 familiar a manner as I could, that the Scriptures contain a real 
 revelation from God himself, by which He intends that men 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 153 
 
 should learn and understand the things that affect their own 
 happiness now and forever. When they found difficulties in 
 the Scriptures, and came to ask explanations, parallel and ex- 
 planatory passages were pointed out. They were thus referred 
 back to the Word of God, urged to apply to the Author him- 
 self for wisdom to understand His book, relying on the prom- 
 ise in James i. 5, and warned to beware of receiving anything 
 as truth affecting their soul's eternal welfare unless it were clear- 
 ly taught by God in His Word. At the same time they were 
 shown the reasonableness of depending on His testimony, as 
 He could not be ignorant of the truth, nor have any induce- 
 ment to deceive. 
 
 " Many, following this plan in simplicity, were taught of God, 
 and felt that their hopes of peace with the Most High, and the 
 enjoyment of Him forever, did not rest on the sandy foundation 
 of human authority, but on His who will judge the world at 
 last, and who said, ' Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my 
 word shall not pass away.' This gave them much stability in 
 holding the truth. 
 
 " Some of them read the Scriptures for a considerable pe- 
 riod without seeing that God in them condemns many of the 
 doctrines and practices of Popery. When they perceived that 
 masses, penances, purgatory, and indulgences for sin, were in- 
 consistent with the all- sufficiency of the one sacrifice of Im- 
 manuel, and the declarations of God concerning it, many, be- 
 ing alarmed, consulted their priest, and were exposed to some 
 degree of persecution for talking, or daring to think, about such 
 things. 
 
 " This led to further inquiry as to what is really the truth ; 
 and by the examination they were the more confirmed in it. 
 This fitted them for a more bold maintenance of the truth, and 
 this again to greater trial, sometimes in private and sometimes 
 more publicly ; and by a repetition of this kind of process they 
 were prepared for heavier sufferings. The ground is loosened 
 round the roots of a sapling when it is shaken by a smart 
 
 7* 
 
154 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 breeze, and so the fibres more easily strike into the soil. Each 
 succeeding breeze contributes to its security, even till it may 
 sustain the force of the tempest without being rooted up. And 
 in a similar way did the Lord seem to temper the wind of per- 
 secution to the strength which He had himself conferred, and 
 to cause the opposition of His enemies to promote the strength 
 of those who trusted in Him." 
 
 Dr. Kalley further notices evening schools for 
 adults : — 
 
 " Of these," he says, " there were a considerable number at 
 different times and places. I believe that about 2500 persons 
 attended them for a longer or shorter period between 1839 and 
 1845, and that upwards of 1000 between the ages of fifteen 
 and thirty learned to read the Scriptures intelligently, and were 
 thus enabled to search them for themselves." 
 
 The work at length provoked the open hostility of 
 the ecclesiastical authorities. Their first step was to 
 issue a Pastoral, in which the Bible was declared to be 
 "a book from hell," and the terrors of excommunica- 
 tion were threatened against all who should dare to 
 read it. Simultaneously with this document, another 
 was issued, addressed to the " registrar" of each par- 
 ish, and couched in the following terms : — ■ 
 
 " Sir, — On the receipt of this you will summon to your pres- 
 ence the teachers, male and female, of all the schools estab- 
 lished and supported by Dr. Kalley, existing in your parish, 
 and, in the presence of two witnesses, charge them henceforth 
 not to teach any living being. If, after being duly notified, 
 any of them .should continue to teach, you can immediately 
 send them to this administration in charge of two officers of 
 
EXCOMMUNICATION. 155 
 
 police. You will cause this order to be faithfully executed, and 
 report the result by Monday next, giving the names of all who 
 have been notified, <fec. God save you, 
 
 " J. C. Terreira Uzel, Administrator.'''' 
 
 As yet only two converts had openly renounced 
 Romanism. These had sat down at the Lord's table 
 in communion with the Presbyterian congregation in 
 Funchal. The following sentence of excommunication 
 was therefore pronounced : — 
 
 " Sebastio Cazemiro Medinna Vasconcellas, Leader of the Choir 
 in the Cathedral, Synedic Examinator, Vicar-General of 
 the Bishopric of Funcha!, in the Island of Madeira, for the 
 Most Excellent and Reverend Don Januaro Vicente Coma- 
 cho of her Majesty's Council, Dean of the Cathedral of 
 Funchal, Commander of the Order of Christ, Bishop Elect 
 of Castle Branco, Temporal Governor and Vicar-General 
 of the Bishop of Funchal, Porto Santo, and Arguinot — 
 " To all the reverend vicars and curates, assistants and chap- 
 lains, as well as to all judges and justices of the peace, to the 
 delegates of the attorney-general, to the administrators of coun- 
 cils, and all officers of justice, and to all ecclesiastical and secu- 
 lar persons of every degree and condition in all the bishopric 
 and out of it, whom this my letter may reach, who may hear 
 it, or get notice of it in any way, health and peace forever in 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true remedy and salvation of 
 all. I make known to you, that, having proceeded to an ex- 
 amination of witnesses, as competent to my office, it was proved 
 by them, and confirmed by my sentence, that Francisco Pires 
 Soares, married, and Nicolau Tolentino Vieyra, bachelor, both 
 of this bishopric, residing in the parish of Santa Luzia, near the 
 parish church, apostatized from the union and bosom of the 
 Holy Mother Roman Catholic Church, and became sectaries of 
 the Presbyterian communion, incurring by this ecclesiastical 
 
156 MEMOIR OF KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 censure and canonical punishment of the greater excommunica- 
 tion. The censures requiring to be aggravated, I ordered this 
 present letter to be written, by which I require and command, 
 under pain of the greater excommunication, all ecclesiastics, 
 ministers and officers of justice, and others above mentioned, as 
 soon as they shall have notice of it, not to touch or hold com- 
 munication with those who are excommunicated by the curse 
 of Almighty God, and of the blessed St. Peter and St. Paul, 
 with those of Gomorrah and of Sodom, Dathan and Abiram, 
 whom the earth swallowed alive for their great sins and disobe- 
 dience. Let none give them fire, water, bread, or any other 
 thing that may be necessary to them for their support. Let 
 none pay them their debts. Let none support them in any 
 case which they may bring judicially. Let all put them aside 
 as rotten and excommunicated members, separated from the 
 bosom and union of the Holy Mother Catholic Church, and as 
 rebels and contumacious ; for if any do tbe contrary, which God 
 forbid, I lay, and consider as laid, upon their persons, the pen- 
 alty of the greater excommunication. Therefore were their 
 names and surnames expressly declared ; and, that all may 
 know this, I order the reverend parish priests to publish this at 
 the meeting on the first Sabbath or holiday, and to affix it on 
 the door of the church, from which let no man take or tear it 
 under pain of excommunication, until, by making satisfaction 
 for all, they merit the benefit of absolution. 
 
 " Given in Funchal, under the seal of the vicar-general 
 and my signature, on the 27th of April, 1843. Jacinto 
 Monteiro Cabree, writer to the Ecclesiastical Council, 
 wrote this. 
 
 " Sebastio Cazemiro Medinna e Vas." 
 
 And these were no idle threats. The civil sword lent 
 its willing aid. We resume Dr. Kalley's narrative : — 
 
 "In January, 1843, the civil governor commanded me, in 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 157 
 
 the Queen's name, to abstain from speaking to Portuguese 
 subjects on religious topics, either in my house or out of it. 
 But as the command was arbitrary, unsanctioned by law, and 
 in direct violation of the charter of Portugal, it was disregard- 
 ed. After that he issued a proclamation, ordering the people 
 to desist from coming to hear me ; and every Sabbath and 
 holiday the police were stationed in the roads and at my doors 
 to enforce it. Many poor persons were beaten, and others 
 were taken to jail, for disobedience. One wealthy gentleman, 
 indignant at the priestly attack on civil liberty through the 
 Government, came on purpose that the case might be tried, 
 and the constitutional rights of the subject be legally declared. 
 A prosecution was commenced against him ; but the proper 
 legal authorities declared that, by the law and charter of Por- 
 tugal, no citizen could be hindered from entering any house if 
 he had the consent of the owner. Many, therefore, persevered 
 in attending, but came early to avoid the police. This being 
 known, the police were sent earlier (seven a. m., the meeting 
 being at nine a. m.), but a goodly number had arrived before 
 them. They were sent earlier and earlier, till at last they were 
 at their stations at four a. m. : but still they were too late ; for 
 some of the people came on Saturday night to the worship, 
 and remained to enjoy the Sabbath together. 
 
 " A prosecution having been instituted against me, the judge, 
 after examining about forty witnesses, found that my proceed- 
 ings did not violate any existing law of Portugal, and therefore 
 dismissed the case ; but he having left the island for a time, 
 another individual, who had no jurisdiction at all in criminal 
 cases, was allowed, about three months after, to reverse the 
 judge's sentence, and issued warrants for my arrest. I was 
 accordingly imprisoned in July, 1843, being refused bail on the 
 plea that the crimes laid to my charge were punishable with 
 death. 
 
 " The friends of prisoners in Funchal Jail have leave to see 
 and converse with them for six or eight hours daily ; but the 
 
168 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON". 
 
 jailer warned many not to visit me, and took down the names 
 of some, who did it notwithstanding, in order, as he said, to 
 their being prosecuted. Afterwards they were allowed to enter 
 by threes; but this intimation was officially given, and the 
 document fixed on the prison door, that " there was to be no 
 reading" or " singing of the Bible" there. The jailer acted as 
 spy, and declared that he was commanded to do so, and to 
 prevent these Bible exercises, or inform on those who listened 
 to them. The judge (British judge conservator) also came 
 with other officials and searched the prisoners and prison for 
 Testaments. He found one or two and took them away, and 
 they were never restored to the owners. He did not search 
 my rooms, where there was a large supply of Scriptures, and 
 the colporteurs continued afterwards to come in to me for fresh 
 supplies, which they took away and sold as before. On Sab- 
 baths, from seventy to an hundred friends used to visit me, 
 and being admitted by threes, there was generally a number 
 waiting their turn about the door. The cathedral is near the 
 jail, and Romanists, on their way to and from mass, would 
 sometimes show their zeal by spitting upon the heretics, while 
 these showed their spirit by praying for those who thus used 
 them despitefully. 
 
 " Having done what they could to stop the spread of the 
 truth by verbal communication, the next step of the Popish 
 ecclesiastics was to get rid of the Bible. In the autumn of 
 that year (1843) the bishop-elect issued a pastoral letter, which 
 was read from all the pulpits, stating that a committee of three 
 canons had examined the Bibles circulated in the island, and 
 given in to him their report, in which they declared, that while 
 these were represented to be an edition of the Bible, as trans- 
 lated by Padre Antonio Perreira, there was scarcely a verse of 
 any chapter either of the Old or New Testament, which was 
 not more or less notably adulterated. He therefore utterly 
 condemned the reading of them, and excommunicated, ipso 
 facto, all continuing to use them. I obtained from a priest the 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 159 
 
 loan of a copy of Perreira's Bible, published in Lisbon, and 
 got a friend to compare the Gospel by Matthew in it with that 
 in the London edition. The only difference found was the 
 change of two letters by mistake of the printer. 
 
 " I addressed, therefore, a few sentences to the Madeirenses, 
 stating this fact, and suggesting that the bishop should suspend 
 his curse from the Words of God, till it might be decided 
 whether or not the rest of the Bible was as correct as the 
 Gospel by Matthew had proved. The bishop's letter having 
 been published and affixed to the church door and public places 
 of the city, these remarks upon it were so also. The canons 
 replied from the press, reiterating in the fullest and strongest 
 terms their assertion, that there was scarcely a verse of any 
 chapter of either Testament which was not more or less notably 
 adulterated, or which agreed with any edition of Perreira's 
 Bible. To this they attached their names and titles as digni- 
 taries of the Church. Meantime, the collation of the two 
 editions was carried on, and when about 5000 consecutive verses 
 had been compared, a few more sentences were published, 
 stating, that in all these there had been found only seven (of 
 the exact number I cannot speak with certainty — it might be 
 only five ; it was not more than seven) verses at all changed. 
 These were published from the two editions, side by side, so 
 that all might see the amount of change, and be convinced 
 that it did not alter the meaning. The Lisbon and the London 
 Bible were laid together on a table in the jail — all were invited 
 to come and compare them, and a dollar was offered to any 
 person for every verse (besides the seven) which he might find 
 altered in the four Gospels, or in the Acts. Many compared 
 the volumes, but no one found any adulteration or claimed a 
 single dollar ; and by the gracious providence of God a Lisbon 
 newspaper arrived a few days after which settled the discussion. 
 It contained a royal mandate (Portaria) concerning the very 
 same edition of the Bible which the canons condemned, and 
 stated that her Majesty the Queen, in harmony with the judg- 
 
160 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ment of the patriarch archbishop-elect, approved of it, and 
 recommended that it should be circulated in Terceira for the 
 moral and spiritual benefit of her subjects. 
 
 " I was released from prison in January, 1844, and resumed 
 my former course, as the only competent judge who had yet 
 given a sentence respecting it had declared that it was not a 
 violation of the law or constitution of Portugal. The police 
 were again employed as before ; nevertheless, the average at- 
 tendance during summer in Santo Antonio da Serra was about 
 six hundred on Sabbaths, and thirty on other evenings." 
 
 That summer witnessed a scandal too well known 
 to need minute rehearsing. Mrs. Maria Joaquina 
 Al ves had, by her holy walk and her zeal for the Lord 
 in her neighborhood, drawn on her the eye of the 
 blood-thirsty persecutor. Snatched from the bosom 
 of her family of seven children — one of them still an 
 infant — she had been committed to Funchal Jail, and 
 been detained there month after month, in the hope 
 that her bonds might compel submission. Her faith 
 had stood the trying test. Not only had she not 
 swerved from her steadfastness, but she had often been 
 heard praising the Lord that she was counted worthy 
 to suffer shame for His sake. Stung to the quick, her 
 persecutors had resolved that she should die. 
 
 On 2d May, 1844, after an imprisonment of sixteen 
 months, she was brought to the bar of the Supreme 
 Court. The indictment contained three counts — apos- 
 tasy, heresy, and blasphemy. The last count only 
 was pressed. She was charged with refusiug to ac- 
 knowledge that the consecrated host — that is, the 
 
A CONVERT CONDEMNED TO DEATH. 161 
 
 morsel of bread in the hands of the priest — is the real 
 body and real blood, and the human soul, and the 
 divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with refusing 
 to adore it. The judge put the question, " Do you 
 believe the consecrated host to be the real body and 
 real blood and the human soul and divinity of Jesus 
 Christ ?" On the answer she should give, her life, 
 she was assured, depended. Shall she quail in this 
 hour, and accept the mark of the " beast," or shall she 
 be " faithful unto death ?" " Out of weakness made 
 strong," she calmly and firmly replied — " I do not be- 
 lieve it." Scarcely had she witnessed this confession, 
 when the judge rose and pronounced the following 
 
 SENTENCE OF DEATH: — 
 
 " In view of the answers of the jury and the discussions of 
 the cause, &c, it is proved that the accused Maria Joaquina, 
 perhaps forgetful of the principles of the holy religion she re- 
 ceived in her first years, and to which she still belongs, has 
 maintained conversations and arguments condemned by the 
 Church ; maintaining that veneration should not be given to 
 images; denying the real existence of Christ in the sacred host 
 — the mystery of the most holy Trinity ; blaspheming against 
 the most holy Virgin, the mother of God, and advancing other 
 expressions against the doctrines received and followed by the 
 Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, expounding these con- 
 demned doctrines to different persons ; thus committing the 
 crimes of heresy, blasphemy, &c. I condemn the accused, 
 Maria Joaquina, to suffer death as provided in the law ; the 
 costs of the process, &c, to be paid out of her goods. 
 
 " Funchal Oriental, in public court, May 2d, 1844."* 
 
 * This sentence was commuted by the Court of Relacao at Lisbon, 
 
162 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Meanwhile, no effort was spared by the persecutors 
 in inflaming the public mind. Dr. Kalley writes : — 
 
 " Assassination was suggested in the public papers as an 
 easy way to be freed from annoyance ; the free use of the 
 cudgel was recommended as an argument which country people 
 could feel and understand ; and a repetition of St. Bartholo- 
 mew's day or the Sicilian Vespers was not obscurely recom- 
 mended, and this without any reprehension from those in 
 power, so far as I ever heard. It was, therefore, no wonder 
 that atrocities were practised. Some were most cruelly beaten 
 — some stoned — three houses were burned down — two were 
 set on fire ; and all complaints against such treatment seemed 
 only to bring aggravated injury upon the sufferers. In several 
 instances, families were refused any place to inter their dead 
 except the public highway. The stones were then taken up, 
 and the body brought and burned under the inspection of the 
 police." 
 
 " In the end of September following," continues Dr. Kalley, 
 " horrible atrocities were committed upon a portion of the 
 parish of Antonio da Serra. For three days fifty soldiers were 
 quartered on it, and allowed to plunder, and perpetrate every 
 cruelty, as if in the land of a vanquished enemy. Twenty- 
 two of the most peaceful and well-behaved men and women 
 of the island were taken to Funchal in the Diana frigate, and 
 cast into prison among the most depraved and degraded. No 
 food was given them as jail allowance — the provisions in their 
 homes had been consumed or destroyed by the soldiers — and 
 their relations were in hiding to escape participation in their 
 sufferings — consequently they were without food. Friends, 
 both English and Portuguese, knowing this, sent food for them, 
 
 on 5th February, 1845, in consequence of a technical error in the trial. 
 Having been tried only for blasphemy, it was found she could not be 
 competently condemned for heresy and apostasy. But the court inti- 
 mated, that, had she been tried on all the three counts in the indict- 
 ment, the sentence of death must have been executed. 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 163 
 
 and it was refused admission. Still, they were not only patient 
 and resigned in these circumstances — they were happy. They 
 took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that they had 
 in heaven a better and unfading inheritance. Their love to 
 each other, their happiness and firmness in what they believed 
 to be the truth of God, were widely known ; and, though an 
 attempt was made to represent them as criminals, their own 
 countrymen were well aware that their real offence was reading 
 the Word of God, and endeavoring to obey it. 
 
 " In the beginning of their imprisonment, the streets around 
 the jail often resounded with their hymns of praise to Him who 
 was with them there ; afterwards, their singing was declared 
 to be a violation of the regulations of the prison, and they 
 were silenced. One of the hymns they loved, resembled and 
 was sung to the tune of, ' Oh, that will be joyful !' and the 
 sound of their happy voices from the jail could not be endured 
 by the enemies of the Book which produced such results. 
 Obscene songs were not prevented. 
 
 " During their imprisonment, it was ordered that mass should 
 be said, and that all the prisoners should attend it every Sab- 
 bath and holiday ; though, while there were none imprisoned 
 for religion's sake, there was no mass then. The prisoners from 
 the Serra, and others, were driven to it at the point of the 
 bayonet or dragged by force, and, when they would not kneel, 
 were forced down to the floor. When down, some sat still, 
 according to custom, on the floor ; others bolted up as soon as 
 the pressure was removed. Several of them were put into the 
 ' bomba,' the most loathsome and putrid of the filthy rooms of 
 that wretched place, and that merely because they refused to 
 take part in worship which they believed to be condemned by 
 God. I may close this notice of these prisoners by saying, 
 that after upwards of twenty months' imprisonment, they were 
 brought to trial before a jury of their countrymen, and fully 
 acquitted, but refused leave to return to their plundered and 
 ruined homes till they should pay jail fees. 
 
164 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " One of the Portuguese ministers having in his place in 
 the Cortes expressed disapprobation of the sentences formerly- 
 given in my favor (in virtue of which I was released from 
 prison), and the judges having been rendered dependent on the 
 Government, a sentence was obtained from one of the courts 
 in Lisbon, about the end of 1844, to the effect that I ought to 
 be prosecuted for having stated, in meetings of Portuguese 
 subjects, doctrines condemned by the religion of the State. In 
 such circumstances (the Government being a party against me, 
 and the judges under its direction), there was little doubt that, 
 if the law proceedings then pending were pursued, I would be 
 expelled from the island, in virtue of the laws of the Inquisi- 
 tion (though it had been abolished), but in violation of the ex- 
 isting law of Portugal, and of the treaties with Britain. 
 
 " I was desirous to avoid this, partly to avert the establish- 
 ment of such a precedent for the treatment of public laborers, 
 and partly because I believed I would still benefit the believers 
 without exposing myself to new legal proceedings. I might 
 comfort the afflicted, counsel the imprisoned, aid the persecuted, 
 attend the sick — tell of Jesus, His love, His life and death — 
 the love of the Father, in sending Him to seek and save the 
 lost, and the love of the Holy Spirit, in teaching, purifying, and 
 comforting such guilty creatures — and all this without using 
 expressions condemned by the religion of the State. Con- 
 sidering it, therefore, of importance to get rid of the prosecu- 
 tion then going on, I immediately sailed for Lisbon. 
 
 " Lord Aberdeen, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
 claimed damages for my false imprisonment. The Portuguese 
 Government, being poor, was annoyed by the claim ; and when 
 Lord Howard de Walden, the British ambassador at Lisbon, 
 proposed in my name that it should be withdrawn, on condi- 
 tion that all law proceedings against me for any acts then past 
 should be dropped, the proposal was gladly accepted by the 
 Portuguese ministers. The arrangement being completed with 
 Lord Aberdeen's approbation, I returned to Madeira ; but, not 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 165 
 
 many days after my arrival, a warrant was issued for my ap- 
 prehension, in consequence of the afore-mentioned sentence of 
 the Lisbon Court, and in direct violation of the promises made 
 to the British ambassador by the Portuguese Government. I 
 was allowed bail, however ; and, for aught I know to the con- 
 trary, my name is still on the list of criminals, and I am a pris- 
 oner on bail." 
 
 Dr. Kalley thenceforth occupied an entirely new 
 position in relation to the work in Madeira. Having 
 been warned by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord 
 Aberdeen, that he would not be supported by the 
 Home Government against any steps which the Por- 
 tuguese authorities might adopt for his removal from 
 the island, if he permitted Portuguese subjects to as- 
 semble in his house for the reading of the Scriptures, 
 he felt that his presence in Madeira was of greater 
 value to the cause, even though himself comparatively 
 silenced, than that, by continuing the meetings, he 
 should incur certain banishment. And accordingly, 
 whilst not renouncing his Christian obligation — for 
 how could he, without renouncing his Christianity ? — 
 to speak about Christ to all who might come in his 
 way,- he resigned into other hands the privilege of 
 conducting the work which he had so successfully be- 
 gun. 
 
 " I met Mr. Hewitson," proceeds Dr. Kalley, " for the first 
 time at Lisbon. He had, without my knowledge, been ap- 
 pointed in Scotland some time previous to labor in Madeira. 
 He accompanied me on my return to the island, and entered 
 with much zeal and love upon the labor for which God had so 
 
 6* 
 
166 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 graciously and remarkably fitted him. His presence was most 
 truly providential. May the Lord of the harvest send forth 
 many such laborers into His harvest !" 
 
 Such is the share borne by this Christian physician 
 in the Madeira work. His labors had been eminently 
 blessed. Twenty-six rejoicing " prisoners of Jesus 
 Christ" in the dungeon of Funchal, and one not less 
 rejoicing prisoner under sentence of death — these were 
 his " epistle, known and read of all men." Nor was 
 this all. Other disciples there were, but as yet "secret- 
 ly for fear of the Jews." There was abroad, more- 
 over, among the people, a spirit of anxious inquiry, a 
 hungering for the bread of life, which told undeniably 
 how largely the Lord had been working by him. 
 Another agent now was to take his place. No one 
 rejoiced more cordially than Dr. Kalley that such an 
 agent had been provided. On March 27, 1845, in ex- 
 plaining to the Colonial Committee his altered posi- 
 tion since he returned to the island, we find him 
 writing : " Were there no one to enter on my labors, 
 I should feel very much embarrassed; but I thank 
 God we have here a better hand for polishing the 
 stones than I could prove." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1845. 
 
 Arrival in Madeira — Meetings with Inquirers — Preaching in Portu- 
 guese — Baptisms — Position of Dr. Kalley — Progress of the Work 
 — Zeal of the Converts : their Sufferings, Faith, Patience — Com- 
 munions — Opposition of ihe Priests — Threatened Indictment — Pre- 
 cautions — Imprisonments for Reading the Bible — Exterminating 
 "Warfare against the Word — Source of Converts' Joy — Portuguese 
 Imprisoned for Teaching to Read — Growing Thirst for the Gospel 
 — New Attempts to arrest the Work — Obey God rather than Men 
 — Communion under Cover of Night. 
 
 " Mr. Hewitson's arrival in Madeira," writes the 
 Eev. J. Julius Wood,* who at the time was resident 
 there, " was exceedingly opportune, and a striking in- 
 terposition of Providence on behalf of the work that 
 was then going on among the Portuguese through the 
 instrumentality of Dr. Kalley. Under the pressure 
 of a variety of circumstances, Dr. Kalley had just been 
 compelled to give up the meetings and expositions in 
 his own house, which were attended by large numbers 
 of the Portuguese. Not many had at that time actu- 
 ally renounced Popery — I believe only between twenty 
 and thirty ; but a large number were impressed, were 
 * Letter to Author. December 1, 1850. 
 
168 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 inquiring, were reading the Scriptures, had given up 
 Confession, and were evidently in a transition state. 
 When Dr. Kalley was compelled to give up his meet- 
 ings, these found themselves as sheep without a shep- 
 herd. 
 
 " Mr. Hewitson did not feel himself under any ob- 
 ligation to regard the restrictions that had been laid 
 on Dr. Kalley. His Master had said, ' Preach the 
 gospel to every creature. Be instant in season and 
 out of season.' There was evidently no law of man 
 to forbid his doing this in Madeira. The spirit of 
 Popery, indeed, was in deadly opposition to any 
 obedience to his Master's great command; and the au- 
 thorities, roused and urged on by Popery, were will- 
 ing to trample on all law, in order to keep out the 
 light, and protect the reigning superstition and dark- 
 ness. But, braving all difficulties and dangers, Mr. 
 Hewitson proceeded to put himself in communication 
 with those who had been deprived of the privilege of 
 Dr. Kalley's meetings. 
 
 " At this time he came to live with me, and a room 
 in my house was set apart for his expositions." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson now began to receive daily a small 
 number of the converts and inquirers. Many would 
 have assembled, but prudence dictated the necessity 
 of limited meetings. His earliest record of the work 
 is the following : — 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Funchal, Madeira, March 
 11, 1845. — Since I came, I have met and spoken with a con- 
 
MEETINGS WITH INQUIREKS. 169 
 
 siderable number of the converts — many of them very inter- 
 esting persons, and resting, to all appearance, with great sim- 
 plicity and child-likeness of faith, on Jesus. Some of them 
 seem to enjoy unbroken peace, and, expecting to suffer in the 
 flesh for the name of Christ, have sat down and counted the 
 cost. One of them, whose heart overflows with love to Christ, 
 said, when I first saw her, that she would rather let them put 
 her to death than hear them malign the truth without defend- 
 ing it. I have begun to have meetings of the people in the 
 mornings. They come in small numbers to me. I endeavor 
 to speak with them, read Scripture, expound it, and pray in 
 Portuguese. The difficulty with me in speaking the language 
 is not so great as that of understanding it when spoken by 
 others. The good people, when I request them to speak more 
 at leisure, in their desire to make themselves intelligible, speak 
 all the faster. In this thing I have need of patience. 
 
 " Many have applied for admission to the Lord's table, and 
 their answers to the questions put to them have evinced con- 
 siderable intimacy with Bible truth, and clearness of apprehen- 
 sion as to the true nature of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 " Last Sabbath I baptized two children. The parents, both 
 fathers and mothers, had come in from St. Antonio da Serra, 
 which is four hours distant, on the preceding evening. The 
 ordinance was, of course, administered in true Presbyterian 
 form ; and, after making the pre-baptismal address and charge 
 to the parents, one of them, with tears in his eyes, declared 
 his. desire to be himself the Lord's, and to have his child 
 brought up in the fear of God. The occasion was a memora- 
 ble one. It is the first dispensation of baptism to the children 
 of Portuguese converts which had taken place in Madeira. 
 After the parents had gone away, they said that they did not 
 look upon any of their children as rightly baptized except these 
 ones. The service took place in Miss Denniston's house (I mean, 
 Dr. Cunningham's sister-in-law) : it was necessary to observe 
 
170 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the greatest secrecy, and the end of secrecy could scarcely have 
 been better served than in Miss Denniston's house. 
 
 " Another parent has made application for baptism on be- 
 half of his infant child. He comes from another part of the 
 island. He is a very intelligent man, an Apollos in the Scrip- 
 tures, and has, on more than one point of divinity, puzzled and 
 discomfited the parish priest. Mrs. Kalley once expressed to 
 him her surprise at his having, within so short a time, attained 
 such knowledge of divine things. He, in turn, appeared to be 
 surprised at her making such a remark, and said, ' God could 
 teach me more in five minutes.' He was once ' a prisoner of 
 Jesus Christ.' If the Lord permit and enable me to engage 
 in the solemn service, it is probable that we may have the com- 
 munion on Sabbath after next. It will be in the evening, ' the 
 doors being shut, for fear of the Jews.' 
 
 " Mr. Wood dispensed the Lord's Supper to his flock since I 
 came to Madeira. It was to me a season of blessed com- 
 munion. The Lord was with me at His table, and gave me 
 some of the ' hidden manna.' " 
 
 Not the least remarkable element in God's prepara- 
 tion of His servant, was the extraordinary power he 
 had so rapidly acquired of speaking to these people in 
 their own tongue the wonderful works of God. The 
 reader may perhaps remember how serious an obstacle 
 to success his inability to speak the language of the 
 Indians had, in the early stage, proved to David 
 Brainerd, and how, as his words passed through the 
 untouched heart of the interpreter, they had so sadly 
 lost their edge ; and he may remember the holy man's 
 joy, when, by the quickening of that heart, the Lord 
 began to smile upon his work. From the outset, Mr. 
 Hewitson was his own interpreter. On March 24, 
 
PREACHING IN PORTUGUESE. 171 
 
 1845, we find Mr. "Wood thus writing to the Colonial 
 Committee : — 
 
 "He is fully employed with the Portuguese already; he is 
 able not only to speak to them, but also to expound and ad- 
 dress them. He is admirably suited for the work in which he 
 is engaged. The thirst of the poor people for the Word is ex- 
 traordinary and intense." 
 
 And another correspondent, also then resident in 
 the island, writes : — 
 
 " His fluency in the language from the time of his arrival, 
 though he had only studied it for two months in Lisbon, was 
 wonderful ; the people spoke of it as being ' a gift from God. 
 You know the unction that pervaded all he ever said and did, 
 and how he spoke and how he prayed in his own tongue ; but 
 you can hardly imagine how he suited himself to the peculiar- 
 habits of thinking and circumstances of these uneducated but 
 intelligent and inquiring people. I have heard many of them 
 go over his addresses, or his particular illustrations, with a de- 
 light and depth of feeling which showed he had reached the 
 heart !" 
 
 No " cloven tongue, like as of fire," had " sat" 
 upon him. But He who gave to Peter and to John, 
 in an instant, the gift of tongues, had selected for Ma- 
 deira one who, by his previous acquirements and 
 habits of severe study, was able to grapple with and 
 overcome an initial difficulty, by which most other 
 men would have been arrested until the door had been 
 shut. As in the self-seeking but lettered student, 
 sitting at the feet of Gamaliel, we behold him who 
 afterwards, on Mars Hill, in presence of " certain phi- 
 
172 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 losophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics," preach- 
 ed "Jesus and the resurrection;" so in the accom- 
 plished and disciplined, though still ungodly, scholar 
 of 1885, we trace the missionary who, ten years after- 
 wards, was, by his so singularly rapid equipment in 
 the language of the inquiring islanders, to be fitted to 
 meet an emergency so precious and so brief. "Without 
 supposing any miracle, they might well receive him 
 as "a gift from God." 
 
 The progress of the work is indicated in three notes, 
 written a fortnight later. The opening parapraph re- 
 fers to the cause of Dr. Kalley's withdrawal from any 
 farther public share in it. It reflects no honor on the 
 British statesman named in the extract, that his policy 
 should have rendered such a course indispensable. 
 
 "To the Convener of Colonial Committee of Free 
 Church of Scotland, Rev. John Svm. — Punched, Madeira, 
 March 25, 1845. — Yesterday the English packet arrived here, 
 bringing the intelligence that Lord Aberdeen had written to 
 Dr. Kalley. The letter of his lordship has not yet come to 
 Dr. Kalley's hands, though there has been an opportunity of 
 its being forwarded to him from Lisbon. Its contents are what 
 I expected they would be ; and I am all the more convinced, 
 by the perusal of it, that Dr. Kalley acted wisely in proposing, 
 through Lord Howard de Walden, such an arrangement as 
 Avould secure his being permitted to remain on the island. It 
 is of incalculable importance that he be allowed to remain, 
 though without the privilege of preaching as formerly to large 
 congregations. Being on the spot, he has opportunities of 
 promoting the good cause which its friends in Britain are not 
 aware of; and it was with a view to the glory of God and 
 
PROGRESS OF THE WORK. 173 
 
 the good of souls — not by any means for the purpose of avoid- 
 ing danger — that he made his proposal to the Portuguese 
 Government. 
 
 " There is, I am more and more convinced, ' a wide door and 
 effectual' opened in Madeira ; and though there are many ad- 
 versaries, He who has opened the door is stronger than all, and 
 ' no man can shut it.' The Lord himself will, I expect, shut it 
 ere long. Now is the time to work. I believe that the good 
 seed has been rapidly multiplied. Last Sabbath evening I ad- 
 ministered the Lord's Supper to thirty-four Portuguese converts. 
 More might have been admitted, but there was not room for 
 them. It was a blessed season. The greatest secrecy was ob- 
 served. In health, I am as well as when I left Scotland. Two 
 or three weeks ago had hemorrhage, but slight." 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Funchal, Madeira, March 25, 
 1845. — There is good ground for believing that the good work 
 is going forward. Not a few, in different parts of the island, 
 are being taught to read the Scriptures ; and those who are al- 
 ready converted are not slack in profiting by the opportunities 
 they have of encouraging one another, and of doing good to 
 the souls which are still in darkness and the shadow of death. 
 Many of the converts have, through reading and prayer, be- 
 come intelligent and enlightened members of society — able to 
 give to all that ask them a clear and distinct reason of the hope 
 that is in them. The apprehension which they have generally 
 of the way of salvation is extremely simple, and their confi- 
 dence in Christ very childlike. Some of them seem to be alto- 
 gether free from doubts and fears, and to be filled. with joy and 
 peace in believing. 
 
 " Great secrecy needs to be observed here ; and even at 
 home, to give wide publicity to such an event as the one men- 
 tioned (the baptism), might by possibility be a means of 
 making it known to the enemies of the good cause in this 
 island. There are Britons here who correspond with the Eng- 
 lish newspapers, and are opposed to the progress of schism. 
 
174 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Remember me and Madeira. The door is standing open, 
 though there are many enemies. What will be the end is one 
 of the uncertainties of the future; but 'bonds and imprison- 
 ments,' perhaps, await many. Oh to be strong on the Lord's 
 side, and in the Lord's grace !" 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — March 25, 1845. — My time 
 is not to-day at my disposal, and I am told that the vessel is to 
 sail this afternoon One day last week in course of ex- 
 pounding Scripture, I said that those who had found the ' hid 
 treasure' were willing to part with all for its sake ; and then 
 asked a man if he understood my meaning. He came forward 
 with the manner of one who was bruised and suffering pain, 
 and said that he did understand it, and that he had been 
 severely beaten on the evening before for Christ's sake. The 
 man referred to often sleeps, I believe, on a stair all night, that 
 he may not be exposed so much to the violence of the adver- 
 sary. He is truly a happy man. He has found ' the hid treas- 
 ure.' A woman said, in reference to Sabbath evening last, ' I 
 should have liked if it had lasted forever.' Another, expecting 
 to suffer, says, ' I am weak in the flesh, but strong in the Spirit 
 of the Lord.' " 
 
 The enemy became alarmed. " It was soon found," 
 continues Mr. Wood, " that the meetings were attract- 
 ing the attention of the priest and the authorities, and 
 they were given up. But Mr. Hewitson still continued 
 to carry on the work. The people were invited to 
 wait upon him individually, or two or three at a time 
 — an invitation to which they most gladly responded. 
 Indeed, the hungering and thirsting of these poor 
 people after instruction in the Scriptures was remark- 
 able and affecting. Often would they stop me, and 
 inquire when it would be their turn to come to the 
 
PKOGRESS OF THE WORK. 175 
 
 minister. And I was sometimes not a little provoked 
 by their want of caution and prudence when I saw a 
 number of them, as was often the case, plant them- 
 selves right opposite my door, patiently waiting their 
 turn for being admitted to Mr. Hewitson. 
 
 " This mode of carrying on the work was exceed- 
 ingly laborious and fatiguing. Mr. Hewitson was 
 usually engaged with different parties of individuals, 
 from a little before ten till about one o'clock, and 
 sometimes later. To add to the labor, he was convers- 
 ing all that time in a foreign language but recently 
 acquired, and with the idiomatic phraseology of which 
 he was as yet imperfectly acquainted. Nothing, in 
 my experience, is more wearing out than conversation 
 for a lengthened period, on the same or similar sub- 
 jects, with successive individuals or groups. Yet, 
 weak in body as Mr. Hewitson was, he never shrank 
 from this labor. All his regret was, that he had not 
 more strength for the great and deeply interesting 
 work that called him. Sometimes he was very much 
 exhausted, as day after day he toiled in instructing the 
 numbers who eagerly resorted to him. But it was 
 wonderful to see that his health did not suffer. La- 
 bor that might have prostrated a man in robust health 
 — though it often wearied his feeble frame — did not 
 seem seriously to injure him. Those who waited on 
 his instructions grew rapidly in knowledge and in 
 grace." 
 
 Of these pleasant labors, not the least exhausting 
 
176 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 was bis preparatory dealing with applicants for ad- 
 mission to the table of the Lord. As each new soul 
 was touched by Divine grace, the individual came de- 
 siring the privilege of sitting down with the little 
 flock at the Supper. It was affecting to see one after 
 another, though at the peril of imprisonment or even 
 death, thus boldly, yet meekly, confessing Christ. 
 After a course of instruction, Mr. Hewitson received 
 them one by one into the fellowship of the Church. 
 The communions were seasons of peculiar refreshing. 
 The two first are thus briefly noted by one who was 
 privileged to be present : — 
 
 " His first communion was on the 23d of March, when forty 
 Portuguese converts were present, of whom, I think, about 
 eighteen only had been previously received as communicants by 
 Dr. Kalley. On the 20th of April he again administered the 
 communion, at which I was present, and three or four other 
 Scotch friends. It was a very solemn service, after sunset, on 
 the Sabbath evening. Thirty new communicants were admit- 
 ted, and sixty-one were present. 
 
 " Many were deeply affected. Mr. Hewitson spoke on the 
 ' prodigal son.' It was the first time I had heard him preach 
 in Portuguese, and I was indeed amazed with his fluency, his 
 command of the language, and the correctness of his pronunci- 
 ation." 
 
 In another letter, Mr. Hewitson describes the grow- 
 ing danger, and the people's growing steadfastness. 
 He also adverts to a new measure of precaution adopt- 
 ed to elude the vigilance of the persecutor : — 
 
 " To his Sister. — Funchal, Madeira, May 1, 1845. — . . . 
 
PERSECUTION. 177 
 
 It has never been my expectation that the enemies of the truth 
 would long suffer the good work to continue, and it will not 
 surprise me though it be soon stopped. The Roman Catholic 
 priest of the parish in which I have recently been holding my 
 meetings has come to know about them, and he will not cease 
 making endeavors till they be put down. 
 
 " How pleasant it has been to meet with and speak to the 
 dear people here who love Jesus ! Many of them are simple- 
 minded, and confiding in God like little children. Some of 
 them have made much progress in grace and holiness, and 
 their greatest joy is to see the work spreading, and new souls 
 coming into the fold. The Lord is carrying His gracious work 
 forward, especially in private, through the reading of Scripture. 
 
 " The work was perhaps never in a more flourishing state 
 than it is at this moment. But the enemy is determined, I 
 believe, to use all means to stop it. It is the Lord's own work, 
 however, and He will sustain it till the gathering in of all His 
 elect has been completed. The poor people who know and 
 love the truth have nothing before them but the prospect of 
 suft'ering for Christ's sake. Meanwhile they wait on the Lord, 
 daily praying and praising God. In this way they are becom- 
 ing, I trust, strong in the Lord against the day of trial. 
 
 " I found that Mr. Wood's house was too public to continue 
 the meetings in, and, following the advice of friends here, I 
 have been led to take the lease of a house for a year — one in a 
 more retired situation, having a little garden on one side of it, 
 and a large garden, or fazenda, as it is here called, on the other. 
 I have not yet begun to live in it, but have had my meetings 
 in it with the people for about two weeks. 
 
 The rage of the adversary was daily increasing. The 
 narrative thus proceeds : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Madeira, May 2, 1845. — 
 .... When I looked forward to Madeira as a place of dan- 
 ger, I was not altogether, as events are beginning to show, 
 
 8* 
 
178 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 without reasonable grounds for my apprehensions. There has 
 been another communion — fifty-nine or sixty Portuguese con- 
 verts being present. No suspicion, I believe, exists as to our 
 having had such a meeting. There are many applying, be- 
 sides, for admission to the Lord's table. The work is going 
 forward. No man can stay the hand of the Almighty Work- 
 man. There are many dear children of God in this place, 
 whose sincerity is put to the test by many adversaries. They 
 suffer much in private in their own homes and neighborhood ; 
 and though naturally, I believe, an extremely timid people, 
 they are bold in their God, and strong in the joy of their Lord. 
 One of the children which I baptized is dead, and has been 
 buried, not in the parish church-yard, but in what the Roman 
 Catholics call unconsecrated ground. 
 
 " It is a few hours since I wrote the above, and I am since 
 all the more convinced that decided steps will be taken to ar- 
 rest, so far as the enemy can arrest, the progress of the work 
 here. ' The Lord reigneth.' Pray that my faith may not fail, 
 and that, amidst the sittings of coming trial, the dear people 
 may be enabled to abide in the Lord. Weak am I in myself, 
 and naturally disposed to shrink ; but it is ray prayer that, in 
 the everlasting arms of my faithful covenant God, I may be 
 borne safely through. God be glorified in me, spirit, soul, and 
 body ! We are but pilgrims here : we are travellers to our 
 Father's house. Oh that our chief desire may be to glorify 
 God our Saviour now, that we may be glorified in Him, and 
 with Him, at His coming !" 
 
 " To his Sister. — Madeira, May 2, eleven o'clock, p.m. — I 
 fear that my meetings here will soon be stopped now. Yes- 
 terday several policemen were on watch round the house in 
 which we met, for the purpose of ascertaining who the persons 
 were that had assembled for worship. Seeing them on the 
 spot when I rode up, I did not go in, but went past. After 
 they had watched for two hours or so, they went off, and the 
 few people who were in the house then went away home. The 
 
PEKSECUTION. 179 
 
 policemen were again watching to-day, and I rode past them. 
 They will perhaps continue to watch for some days to come ; 
 but they will be disappointed, for, while they keep watching, I 
 will, of course, as an act of prudence, discontinue my meetings. 
 .... I am afraid lest the disciples here may have to suffer 
 still more than they have suffered in the cause of their Lord. 
 
 " Yesterday Dr. Kalley again examined my lungs ; and this 
 time, notwithstanding all the work that I have had, his report 
 is somewhat more favorable. The disease seems not at all to 
 be active." 
 
 "To the Convener of the Colonial Committee. — Ma- 
 deira, May 8, 1845. — The adversaries of the truth came to dis- 
 cover my meetings in consequence of a little act of indiscretion 
 which one of the converts was betrayed into in private in a mo- 
 ment of unguarded zeal. It was owing to a representation 
 from the Bishop of Madeira that the police were stationed at 
 the house in which I had latterly been engaged in worshipping 
 with the people. 
 
 " On Saturday last several persons were examined by the 
 administrator of police, but, so far as I am aware, the informa- 
 tion communicated by tbem was not sufficient to afford ground 
 for bringing an indictment against me. The police continued 
 to watch daily till Sabbath ; and though now they do not per- 
 sonally continue their vigilance, I have reason to believe that 
 they are taking means to secure information as to my ])roceed- 
 ings, being resolved, it is said, to put me down. 
 
 . " Of course I have discontinued for a time my meetings in 
 the house to which the eye of watchfulness is especially direct- 
 ed, nor do I think it will be possible to meet there with even 
 the smallest number of worshippers until I go to reside in it. 
 Meanwhile I meet with a very limited number of persons daily 
 in Mr. Wood's house, and there is another house at some dis- 
 tance which the ladies who occupy it have kindly placed at my 
 disposal. In it I may probably have a weekly meeting with a 
 few of the converts who live in the neighborhood. 
 
180 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " The people with whom I have been in the practice of meet- 
 ing, so far from being terrified by the threatening demonstra- 
 tions of the enemies of the truth, would continue to visit me as 
 usual if I did not consult for their safety more than they do 
 themselves. Their numbers are so considerable, that I have 
 been all along obliged to restrain them from coming except at 
 reasonable intervals ; and their love of the truth, like that 
 which discovers itself at home during seasons of revival, is such 
 as leads them to make little account of the obstacles which rise 
 up in its way. 
 
 " Already I have baptized three children, and there is an- 
 other which I intend to baptize, if the Lord permit, ere long. 
 The parents of the latter are strong in the Lord, and not de- 
 terred by the threatening aspect of things from seeking baptism 
 for their child. 
 
 " For some weeks past I have been contemplating the ordi- 
 nation of three or four elders. On Tuesday last I intimated to 
 a godly young man that I wished him to become an elder, ask- 
 ing him if he would object to undertake the office. He an- 
 swered that he would refuse to do nothing that was agreeable 
 to the will of the Lord, and, evidently referring to a threatened 
 attempt on the part of the enemies of the truth to force him 
 into military service, he added, that he would gladly enlist him- 
 self as a soldier to defend the Lord's cause and people. The 
 young man in question is a devoted servant of God, with in- 
 tense love of Bible truth. He knows much of that truth, and 
 quotes Scripture with great readiness and felicity. He has a 
 strong understanding, an excellent memory, and fluent utter- 
 ance. He is very anxious to acquire the English language, 
 as it affords such advantages for increasing knowledge in divine 
 things. 
 
 " Do not you and the Colonial Committee think that, in con- 
 sideration of the exigencies of the native church in Madeira, 
 and in accordance with apostolic practice in cases of similar 
 exigency, the young man referred to ought, after acquiring the 
 
NEW IMPRISONMENTS. 181 
 
 key which the English language would give him to such stores 
 of scriptural knowledge, to be set apart to the office of the 
 holy ministry ? For my own part, I have no difficulty in 
 coming to the conclusion that he ought. The time may not 
 be far distant when I shall be obliged to leave Maderia by the 
 strong arm of persecution ; and it would be a great comfort to 
 the afflicted church here, amidst their privations, to have the 
 prospect of so soon receiving ordinances at the hands of one 
 of their own number. 
 
 " I am still permitted by God to cherish the hope that, by 
 going on quietly, and so as best to elude the eye of hostile 
 observation, I shall be enabled to labor a little longer in the 
 work of the ministry among this people. There is much to 
 do in the way of building up, as well as in the way of ingath- 
 ering. I have reason to believe that the latter part of the 
 work is going forward." 
 
 " P. S. — May 10. — Yesterday, a woman, one of the Lord's 
 flock here, was put in prison for teaching her neighbors to read 
 the Bible. Another imprisonment has likewise just taken place 
 at Santa Cruz, a town at some distance from this, in the case 
 of a man who had been similarly occupied. The adversary 
 sees that the progress of the good work cannot be stopped but 
 by precluding all access to the Word of God, and they seem 
 determined to take this means of stopping it. 
 
 " Since writing the above, I have met with some of the 
 disciples here, and find them triumphing, in the joy of the 
 Lord and in the hope of glory, over every fear and danger. 
 ' The joy of the Lord is their strength.' Their faith is very 
 simple and confiding. They are ' little children.' " 
 
 " Id P. S. — May 12. — The horizon is becoming more and 
 more cloudy. Two or three days ago, at a dinner party, the 
 Bishop of Madeira declared exterminating warfare against the 
 Bible. He said that he had the authorities on his side, and 
 that he was determined to put down all dissent from the Roman 
 Catholic Church. Yesterday, while the bishop was preaching, 
 
182 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 he fell down in a fit. This might teach him that the Lord is 
 mightier than he. W. H." 
 
 On the afternoon of the day when he wrote these 
 postscripts, Mr. Hewitson baptized the child adverted 
 to in the letter. An eye- witness of the touching scene 
 thus describes it, as jotted down at the time : — 
 
 " Saturday, May 10. — At half-past four this afternoon our 
 house was again privileged to be the spot where another of 
 the little ones of this poor persecuted people was given to the 
 Lord in baptism. Mr. Hewitson says the mother reminds him 
 of Mary, who wiped the feet of Jesus with her tears. She was 
 one of the most devout and bigoted Papists, but now she has 
 burned all her images." 
 
 The next letter is instructive. Eomish Priests in 
 Britain affect to be not unfriendly to the Bible. Ma- 
 deira exhibits them without the mask. The closing 
 paragraph has a lesson for the Church of Christ in 
 these days of spiritual drought. Would that it were 
 learned ! 
 
 "To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Madeira, May \1 , 1845. — 
 The work of the Lord has many and great difficulties here to 
 contend with ; but, in spite of them all, it seems to be making 
 progress. There is reason to believe that conversions are still 
 being effected through the Word, and that former converts are 
 growing up into the Lord, and becoming more and more cour- 
 ageous for the encounter of a still more fiery trial than as yet 
 has tried them. 
 
 " Steps are being taken to prevent the spread of Bible light 
 — Satan cannot rule except over the darkness of this world. 
 The Bishop of Madeira threatens an exterminating warfare 
 
THE BIBLE PROSCRIBED. 183 
 
 against the Word of God. With the help of the civil magis- 
 trate, he purposes to rob all God's people here of their Bibles. 
 The purpose is cruel and soul-destroying, but the light of truth 
 will shine into the heart of every elect child of God ; and who 
 shall let it ? The Lord reigneth, and reigneth to iedeem His 
 elect ones. 
 
 " The persecutions which the converts have to endure in 
 private from relations and neighbors is fieree, and still growing 
 fiercer. A few days ago, one of the women who visited me 
 was literally trembling for fear, lest the watchful adversary 
 should see her coming ; and two young men, lambs of the 
 flock, told me the same day that their enemies were not only 
 threatening to beat them, but even to put them to death. The 
 malignity manifested against the Word of God is rancorous 
 and virulent in the extreme. The Word of God is daily re- 
 proached and blasphemed. But ' wisdom is justified of her 
 children,' and they hunger and thirst after the Word — they 
 long for it as the hart for the water-brooks. They are willing 
 and even glad, to suffer privations which Scotland, since the 
 days of the Stuarts, has not been tried with, in order to have 
 the privilege of hearing the Word preached. To hear the 
 Word preached in Madeira involves not only privations and 
 hardships in many cases, but danger in all. 
 
 " My strength is, if at all, not much greater than when I 
 left home. I have reason to believe that, though in one in- 
 stance I have, since coming to Madeira, been revisited with 
 hemorrhage, my lungs are yet, on the whole, a little stronger. 
 The climate is delightful. 
 
 " I hear that Jedburgh and some of the surrounding parishes 
 have been refreshed recently with a shower of blessing from 
 the Lord. Have any of the rain-drops fallen on your waste 
 places? Some desperate unbelief there must be in the churches, 
 which so clogs and locks the wheels of Immanuel's chariot. 
 The Word of God is what it was in apostolic and in Reforma- 
 tion days — the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened — the love 
 
184 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of the Father is not waxed cold — the bowels of Christ still 
 yearu over lost souls ; but, oh ! the curse of Nazareth seems 
 to be upon the churches — ' The Lord could not do many- 
 mighty works there, because of their unbelief.' Unbelief in 
 God's children keeps sinners asleep. — Your affectionate friend, 
 
 W. H." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson had himself learned not to limit God. 
 Before proceeding with the narrative, it may interest 
 the reader to peruse a few sentences, in which he re- 
 veals the source of his own expecting faith : — 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq., Edinburgh. — Madeira, June 
 5, 1845. — If we would let Gods thoughts, as they are revealed 
 in the Word, come in and fill the chamber of our minds, how 
 different our views and feelings would be regarding both God 
 and ourselves — both His thoughts towards us, and our standing 
 in His sight ! What an ado unbelief sometimes stirs up within 
 us, as if all were over ! What weeping and dirging, as if of 
 minstrels waking the dead, sometimes are to be heard within ! 
 Were God's thoughts then to be let in, it would be like Jesus 
 coming into the midst of the mourners, and saying, ' Why 
 make ye this ado and weep ? the damsel is not dead, but 
 sleepeth.' As the minstrels and other mourners are put out 
 of the house by Jesus, so must our thoughts be put out of our 
 hearts by Gods thoughts. Then, all being still, the sweet 
 voice of the Redeemer will be heard — ' Tabitha, arise.' " 
 
 "We continue the narrative. He who makes the 
 wrath of men to praise Him, and restrains the remain- 
 der of wrath, is seen working, at once in the steadfast- 
 ness He gives to the persecuted converts, and in the 
 shield He throws around His missionary servant, not 
 suffering the enemy to arrest his labors : — 
 
 "To his Parents. — Funchal, Madeira, June 12, 1845. — 
 
STEADFASTNESS OF CONVERTS. 185 
 
 My operations among the Portuguese have encountered no 
 further obstruction, and I trust that I may be permitted to 
 carry them on for a little longer. To arrest the work at the 
 present moment would be, so far as I can judge from appear- 
 ances, to inflict great spiritual injury on the souls of not a few ; 
 for, while many are established in the truth of the gospel, there 
 are others who as yet are either but weak in the faith, and in 
 much need of being edified, or only inquiring after the Saviour, 
 and in need of being directed. It is certain that the Lord, 
 who knows all His own, will not leave off going for them until 
 He find them, every one, whatever instrumentality He may be 
 pleased to employ — mine, or that of another better furnished 
 for the work. Hitherto He has shielded my labors wonderfully ; 
 for, though there were many who, if summoned as witnesses, 
 might have deponed that much of my doctrine was contrary 
 to that of Rome, yet orily a few persons were examined, whose 
 evidence did not afford ground for interfering with me, so that, 
 by means of keeping my meetings as secret as possible, I am 
 able to hold them almost daily. The police has meanwhile 
 discontinued its open vigilance. 
 
 " The work of persecution, however, is going forward against 
 the converts. A brother of Francisco, my servant, was, about 
 ten days ago, tried for reading and speaking of the truths of 
 the Bible in his own house, and sentenced to six months of 
 imprisonment. Yesterday four others were imprisoned : three 
 for twenty-five days each, being a husband, his wife, and one 
 of their children ; they had been teaching their neighbors to 
 read. The fourth, an excellent young man, who should be 
 made an elder of the Portuguese Church in Madeira, had, on 
 a person saying to him ' that the Church of Rome was the 
 mother of us all,' replied, ' Then keep her to yourself.' For 
 merely saying this, he has been sentenced to lie in jail for four 
 months. Others are being threatened with similar prosecu- 
 tions, for similar offences. A young man, an advocate, who 
 came out in the same vessel with me from Lisbon, pleaded the 
 
186 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 cause of some of the converts and others friendly to the truth 
 who have of late been tried. 
 
 " Dr. Kalley and his family intend to leave Madeira, on a 
 visit to Scotland, in the same vessel with Mr. Wood. They 
 will probably be absent for three or four months. I have be- 
 come acquainted with a few families here, so that I will not feel 
 so lonely during their absence as I otherwise might have done. 
 Last week Mr. Wood was so kind as to come up with me to 
 my house. He leaves his furniture and pony in my hands. A 
 pony is quite necessary here for invalids, the country is so steep. 
 Walking up the hills would soon be the death of a consump- 
 tive person. Funchal lies along the shore, and up-hill along 
 the mountains, which rise rapidly above it to a height of about 
 four thousand feet. My house is considerably above the level 
 of the sea, on the side of a steep street called Mountain Street, 
 or Rua da Monte. Dr. Kalley's house is directly opposite. 
 The country is grand, but, to my eye, it is not beautiful. In 
 point of beauty, I think Scotland surpasses it." 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Funchal, Madeira, June 
 12, 1845. — .... I am now living in my own house, and 
 have meetings in it almost daily. They are, of course, small 
 in point of number, and assembled with all due regard to se- 
 crecy. After two examinations of witnesses, which afforded no 
 sufficient grounds of procedure against me, the authorities seem 
 to have suspended my case for the present, leaving the process, 
 I suppose, with blanks to be afterwards filled up, when more 
 available evidence shall have been obtained. The Lord's shield 
 has been very manifestly around the work in which I am en- 
 gaged ; and I hope, by His good hand upon me, to be enabled 
 and permitted to carry it on for a little longer without inter- 
 ference. 
 
 " A great flame of indignation was kindled in our neighbor- 
 hood, by the suspicion having gone abroad that a child had 
 been baptized in the Presbyterian form. The suspicion was 
 well-founded, but no eye-witness could be found. About 
 
WRATH OF ADVERSARIES. 187 
 
 twenty persons conspired to assassinate Dr. Kalley, on the sus- 
 picion that he had baptized the child in question ; but they 
 discovered that it was not he who had done it. Lord Aber- 
 deen's letters have given Portuguese persecution of the Lord's 
 truth aud people more boldness. The Lord reigneth ! 
 
 " You are aware that my purpose in the Lord last summer 
 was to set fairly to work in the vineyard, if for another year 
 the disease should continue inactive in my chest. I have been 
 acting pursuantly to that purpose, and now, while it is day, I 
 wish to work. Instead of preaching to the Portuguese on Sab- 
 bath, I have undertaken to conduct the worship of the Presby- 
 terian Church during Mr. Wood's absence. There is only one 
 diet during the summer months. On two occasions I have 
 preached for Mr. Wood already. to be a minister, to both 
 Portuguese and British, of the Spirit which giveth life ! 
 
 " My health is as usual — no greater strength. Imprisonment 
 would weaken me very much, in all likelihood ; but I expect^ 
 with the Lord's help, to continue at liberty for some time yet. 
 I believe that bonds await me, but even this the Lord can keep 
 me frojgi suffering, if it seem good in His sight. To do His 
 will, and to suffer His will, should be our every-hour wish and 
 aim." 
 
 "To his Sister. — Madeira, July 11, 1845. — It was re- 
 ported a few days ago, that a writer was to be posted at my 
 door to take down the names of the people who might enter ; 
 but as yet he has not made his appearance. Meanwhile, pub- 
 lic notice has been given, by means of placards, I believe, fixed 
 at the church-doors, that all who have not been attending the 
 Roman Catholic Church, and not going to confess to the priest, 
 are required to confess, or attend church, within the space of 
 ten days, at the risk of being imprisoned. The ten days have 
 not yet expired. Whether the threat of imprisonment will be 
 carried into effect or not, remains to be seen. 
 
 " The civil and ecclesiastical authorities alike seem to breathe 
 nothing but war against the Bible, and against those who re- 
 
188 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 joice in its blessed truths. It is expected that means will ere 
 long be resorted to for the purpose of tearing away from the 
 converts all the Bibles which they possess, and which are to 
 thern so great a fountain of strength and consolation amidst 
 their spiritual privations. ' They make war against the Lamb, 
 but the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords.' They make war against the saints, but 
 the saints shall ' overcome them through the blood of the Lamb, 
 and the testimony which they hold.' 
 
 " Maria Joaquina was liberated from prison on Thursday of 
 last week — the three months of imprisonment, to which she 
 had been sentenced by the court of Relaqao in Lisbon, having 
 then expired. I saw her a short time after her enlargement, 
 and on Saturday morning she was present at our meeting for 
 worship. She had been in prison for two years and some 
 months. She is an applicant for admission to the communion." 
 
 In the letter which follows, Mr. Hewitson meets a 
 question of duty, raised by the growing virulence of 
 the persecution. The principles stated are not ^little 
 momentous in their bearing upon the duty of the 
 Lord's witnesses in other places than Madeira : — 
 
 " To the Convener of the Colonial Committee, Dr. 
 James Buchanan. — Madeira, August 15, 1845. — On the 
 morning of Saturday the 26th of last month, I was visited by a 
 public notary, who served me with an intimation, as it is called, 
 from the administration of police, warning me to discontinue meet- 
 ing in my house with Portuguese subjects for religious purposes, 
 'under pain of being proceeded against, and handed over to 
 the judicial power.' The charge with which I am threatened, 
 in case of my not attending to the intimation, is one of disobe- 
 dience to the constituted authorities, in addition, no doubt, to 
 that of unlawful interference with the State religion. I have 
 the satisfaction of being fully assured that the new step which 
 
THREAT OF IMPRISONMENT — DUTY. 189 
 
 has been taken against me has not been occasioned by any neg- 
 lect of the means that seemed likely to prevent it, if the pre- 
 vention of it, in a place like Madeira, had at all been possible. 
 
 " Since the intimation was put into my hands, close watch- 
 ing has been kept up by private persons in my neighborhood 
 who have been employed for the purpose. This circumstance, 
 and likewise the prevalence for some time past of considerable 
 public excitement, arising from the anniversary celebration of 
 religious feasts, has made it impossible for me to see any but 
 a very few of the Portuguese during the interval referred to. 
 The inadequacy of my bodily strength to bear up much longer 
 under the daily returning and daily exhausting labor in which 
 I had been engaged, afforded an additional motive in favor of 
 a temporary suspension of the work. 
 
 " But is the work, now suspended, to be abandoned alto- 
 gether? The committee will see that I am placed in some- 
 what difficult circumstances, and I should be glad to have 
 their advice as to the course which I ought to follow, as most 
 in accordance with the revealed will of Jesus, the great Head 
 of the churches. 
 
 " I may have been violating Portuguese law, but I have 
 been obeying the law of Christ, whose sole supremacy over the 
 church in Portugal, as well as in Scotland, and whose preroga- 
 tives as King of kings, no human legislature or court of justice 
 is competent to set aside. The only commission which the 
 minister of the gospel absolutely requires, is that which bears 
 the seal of Jesus : ' All power is given unto me in heaven and 
 in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations.' "Who in 
 heaven or in earth can nullify this commission ? Who is com- 
 petent to prohibit the preaching of the gospel to any creature 
 under heaven ? The apostles, who preached on the divine 
 warrant of Jesus, did homage to the universal power and sove- 
 reignty with which He is invested, by trampling under foot the 
 prohibitions of the civil magistrate : " We will obey God rather 
 than men.' Should not the Free Church — which, more speci- 
 
190 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 fically than any other church in the world, is charged hy its 
 divine Head with the office of bearing testimony, in these last 
 days of His long-suffering, to His royal claims as King of 
 kings, no less than as King of saints — remember its high office 
 everywhere as well as in Scotland, and challenge the obedience 
 of all nations to the Lord Jesus ? When the Lord pre-inti- 
 mates to His ministers that they should be brought before 
 kings and rulers for His name's sake, He adds, by way of di- 
 recting them to use the opportunity thus afforded them of ad- 
 vocating His claims, ' And it shall turn to you for a testimony.' 
 "Such considerations arise in my mind in connection with 
 my present circumstances ; but I don't yet see clearly what 
 course should be adopted as the most scriptural. To continue 
 my labors, in any degree, much longer, will inevitably subject 
 me to the threatened prosecution. Yet I cannot see it to be 
 my duty, on this account, to abandon them altogether. When 
 the risk of being apprehended is more imminent, I might flee 
 from the island, but I am not certain that such a step would 
 be consistent with entire faithfulness to Christ. Will you favor 
 me with your advice on the subject as soon as you conveniently 
 can ?" 
 
 Under cover of night, Mr. Hewitson continued to 
 hold his meetings. An interesting notice of one of 
 them is given by two English residents, who were 
 present. The one writes : — 
 
 "Friday, August 22. — This night we are, at eight o'clock, to 
 4 keep the feast' in secret, and with closed doors and windows, 
 in our dining-room, with this poor and persecuted little flock of 
 Christ. The service, if discovered, will send His dear servant to 
 prison ; but the Lord is his keeper." 
 
 "On the 22d August," writes the other, "we sat down at the 
 table of our Lord with a small company — twenty-one Portu- 
 guese and seven of our own people. Three of them were pris- 
 
ILLNESS. 191 
 
 oners, who had been allowed by the jailer to get out on parole, 
 promising to return at a certain hour — such confidence did he 
 place in the word of these poor persecuted Christians ! Mr. 
 Hewitson spoke on 1 Cor. xi. 22-29. As we lived so near some 
 of the bitterest enemies of the truth, the people could not meet 
 till a late hour, and separated about ten o'clock. The police at 
 that time were very vigilant, too, in watching Mr. Hewitson and 
 the people, so that all his intercourse with them had to be 
 strictly private, and no meeting of any kind could be held in 
 his own house." 
 
 As the storm gathered, the Lord hid His servant 
 for a little season. His health had been suffering 
 under the incessant work of preaching. A serious ill- 
 ness now interrupted his labors. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Madeira — Illness — Consolations — Progress of the Work — Training 
 of the Converts — Dangers — Secret Disciples — Theological Class — 
 Communions — New Conversions — Native Ministry — Threat of Im- 
 prisonment — Ordination of Elders — Outrages — Dr. Kalley's Escape 
 — Sufferings of Converts — Their Exile. 
 
 After an interval of two months from the date of 
 the last letter, we find Mr. Hewitson thus recording 
 God's dealings with him: — 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq., Edinburgh. — Madeira, Oc- 
 tober 15, 1845. — On the 2d ultimo I went on a visit to the 
 Serra St. Antonio, fifteen miles from this, where I preached 
 twice, in the premises of the merchant whose guest I was, to 
 considerable congregations of Portuguese. Nearly two hun- 
 dred must have been present on the second of the two evenings. 
 Scoffers were there, but the great number deeply interested. 
 The singing full of heart, very affecting, and impressive. I 
 preached in weakness of body, laboring under the commence- 
 ment of a serious illness. While I was declaring the Word of 
 Life to the assembled multitude, 1 saw the extreme probability 
 of my being, in consequence, arrested and imprisoned ; but 
 4 these things did not move me,' for ' necessity was laid upon 
 me to preach the gospel.'" 
 
 "[To another.'] — The attack was dangerous, for I was 'sick 
 nigh unto death ;' but the Lord has mercifully spared me. 
 
CONSOLATIONS. 193 
 
 The disease had become very decided before I could convenient- 
 ly return to Funchal and procure medical aid. The lady of 
 the English merchant in whose house I was a guest at the 
 «Berra told me that her father died of the illness under which 
 I was laboring. I was carried home in a hammock, a usual 
 mode of conveyance in this mountainous land. The medical 
 man who attended told me that longer delay would have made 
 medical aid altogether too late. For two or three days I 
 scarcely expected recovery. I never went so far down the dark 
 valley, nor got so steady a gaze over the verge of time into the 
 depths of eternity. 'The Lord was with me, so that I feared 
 no evil. His rod and staff, they comforted me.' My conva- 
 lescence has been slow. I am now quite recovered from the 
 disease, but I have little strength, and am more emaciated in 
 body than ever I was in my life. When I look at my limbs, I 
 think that I shall never again recover strength ; but the Lord 
 can make me strong — He can do it — and what He can do, He 
 will do, if He be pleased yet to use my services in the world. 
 Yesterday was the sixth Sabbath that I could not meet with 
 the Scotch congregation. For two of these weeks I have been 
 in the house of a Christian, Mrs. Walker, who kindly visited 
 me almost daily when I was sick, to read the precious Word 
 of God." 
 
 " \To another.] — It has pleased the Lord to spare me yet a 
 little longer. I bless Him for the correction of His rod. The 
 sweetest weeks that I have spent in Madeira were the five last 
 past, during which I have been either on the bed of languish- 
 ing, or laboring under the infirmities of a tardy convalescence. 
 ' We are complete in Christ.' This has been my sweet ex- 
 perience. 
 
 " If we would know in a way most satisfactory what the 
 real ground is on which we are resting our hope of eternal life, 
 we should cover ourselves with all our vileness and guilt, and 
 do nothing to get peace, but simply wait, looking on Christ, till, 
 in spite of all our felt vileness and guilt, we obtain peace from 
 
194 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Him. Looking steadily on Christ, as set before us in the Word, 
 as lifted up before our eyes on the pole of Scripture, we shall 
 experience an increase of faith ; for it is a law of our being, 
 that if we look fixedly, and steadfastly set our attention, on any 
 truth, we come to clearer apprehensions and surer knowledge of 
 that truth, and to have our faith in it more firmly established. 
 The more we experience, by means of steadfast looking unto 
 Jesus, an increase of faith in His finished work, the more steady 
 and solid is the assurance that we have of our personal accept- 
 ableness and actual acceptedness in the Beloved." 
 
 Like those tropical regions whose " unimpeded com- 
 merce with the sun" clothes them with ever new ver- 
 dure, Mr. Hewitson seemed now, more than ever, to 
 abide in the sunshine of God's face, and thus to abound 
 with ever new peace and joy. A touching note, 
 written in pencil, from his sick-chamber, in acknowl- 
 edgment of a little token of sympathy sent him by 
 an afflicted disciple, indicates the mode of his daily 
 Christian life : — 
 
 " Friday p.m., Scjytember 12, 1845. — The Lord send you, 
 fresh and in bloom from His own garden, and plucked with 
 His own hand, sweet flowers ; and may many a soft breathing 
 of the south wind come, and make them exhale their odors, 
 that your soul may be filled with their sweetness. The rose 
 and verbena you sent me yesterday are now withered and dry. 
 So, too, even the sweetest flowers that come to us from the 
 Lord's garden soon lose their bloom and freshness, for Christ 
 would not that we should rest satisfied with His gifts and com- 
 forts, and the tokens of His love, instead of saying, ' Thou 
 only art my portion, O Lord.' 
 
 " When we find the Lord's flowers withering in our hands, 
 we should not vex our souls, as we are apt to do ; for He who 
 
TRAINING OF CONVERTS. 195 
 
 gave them is Himself still the same, and we glorify Him when 
 we rest in Him, and cleave to Him as our portion, even when 
 we have none of the precious gifts of His comforting grace. 
 Nor should we say, as Satan will tempt us to do, when the 
 Lord's sweet flowers are all dried and dead, that we have 
 sinned away our comforts, and that, therefore, the Lord is now 
 again hiding His face from us. He is not hiding His face, 
 though His flowers be dry ; but He would have us ever going 
 again through the gently dropping dews of prayer in the Holy 
 Ghost, to knock at His garden-gate, and ask Him for a fresh 
 gift of His choicest flowers. He withers the flowers we have, 
 that we may always come to him for more. 
 
 "Oh, matchless love of Jesus ! He wishes us to come 
 again and again, for He sees of the travail of His soul when 
 we lift up the voice of prayer and show the countenance of faith 
 and hope before the throne." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson now adopted a new expedient for 
 furthering the work. The growing rage of the ad- 
 versary indicated too plainly the approach of a crisis. 
 For this he, as a wise master-builder, resolved to pre- 
 pare. He thus explains his method : — ■ 
 
 "To the Convener of the Colonial Committee. — Ma- 
 deira, December 17, 1845. — .... After my recovery, I not 
 only changed my residence, but likewise my plan of operations, 
 so that, by the blessing of God on these means of eluding 
 hostile observation, I may be able for some time longer to pros- 
 ecute the work without being molested. 
 
 " Perceiving that the Lord was carrying on his work among 
 the people at St. Antonio da Serra and elsewhere, through the 
 instrumentality of meetings held from Sabbath to Sabbath, by 
 some of the converts, in their own houses, for the purpose of 
 reading the Scriptures, of exhorting one another, and of pray- 
 er — seeing, besides, that the exigencies of Madeira could only 
 
196 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWTTSON. 
 
 be supplied by means of appointing such of the converts as 
 had made greatest advancement in spiritual knowledge and 
 experience to labor as catechists in their several neighborhoods, 
 — I was led, I trust by the counsel of the Holy Spirit, to think 
 of organizing a class, drawn together from among the choicest 
 of the converts, and of carrying them through a systematic 
 course of religious instruction, with the view of furnishing 
 them, under Divine grace, for the office and work of catechists. 
 Dr. Kalley so highly approved of the plan as to recommend 
 entire abstinence from pastoral work, that I might be the bet- 
 ter able, in point of bodily strength, to carry it into execution. 
 Though Mr. Nairn did not arrive sooner than last week to re- 
 lieve me from the charge of the Presbyterian congregation, I 
 had a few weeks previously entered on the work of instructing 
 such a class as that referred to, of Portuguese converts. 
 
 " The class consists of about fifteen or sixteen persons, some 
 of whom come from St. Antonio da Serra, and from another 
 place nearly as far distant. The father-in-law of one of the 
 two principal judges of the island — being one of the converts, 
 and deeply interested in the business of the class — is frequent- 
 ly present. The regularity of attendance on the part of the 
 students, if I may so designate them, and the earnestness of 
 their attention, are highly gratifying ; nor is there a single cir- 
 cumstance from whieh I at first augured difficulty, and even dis- 
 appointment, in endeavoring to carry out my views, that has 
 not — thanks to the Lord for His goodness ! — been hitherto 
 overcome. By examining the class on what they have last 
 heard, I can both ascertain whether they have listened with in- 
 telligence, and help to deepen in their memories the im- 
 pressions previously made. At each meeting we have prayer 
 twice. One of the prayers is conducted by myself, and the 
 other by some member of the class. The manner in which 
 some of them pray is affectingly simple and child-like ; and 
 from this, more than anything else, am I encouraged to enter- 
 tain good hopes as to the issue of my present labors. Fruit- 
 
PERSECUTION. 197 
 
 less indeed were my labors, if those who are the subject of 
 them were not enlightened, and led, and furnished by the 
 Spirit of grace and of supplications. 
 
 " As the Lord may give me opportunity, I wish to perform 
 still, in addition to the function of a teacher, those of a pastor 
 and evangelist. Circumstances at present, however, necessarily 
 circumscribe operations of the latter description within a nar- 
 row compass. A few weeks ago I baptized one child, and there 
 are at present three others which I have to baptize. The or- 
 dinance has already been administered to five infants since I 
 came to the island. 
 
 " Now that I have become better acquainted with the char- 
 acter of those who have been converted from Romanism, and 
 the influences by which their character is affected, I am in a 
 better condition to estimate aright the nature of the change 
 which they have undergone. I believe that a good work is 
 still going silently forward. Some are inquiring, under painful 
 conviction of guilt, after the way of salvation. But the wicked 
 one has likewise been busy, and that in other ways than by 
 moving persecution against the converts. Some have fallen 
 into flagrant sin ; and of these, three individuals, who are com- 
 municants, must be suspended from the Lord's table. I believe 
 that many of God's people at home remember this place in their 
 prayers, and I trust that I am not forgotten by the few who 
 are acquainted with my position and work. The difficulties 
 and discouragements connected with the work are peculiarly 
 great; nor can I conceal the fact, that the work is in some 
 measure perilous. I trust that, for the glory of His own 
 name, the Lord will give me the faith which shall enable me 
 to overcome." 
 
 In another letter he gives some details of the per- 
 secution : — 
 
 " To the Secretary of the Colonial Committee, James 
 Balfour, Jun., Esq., W.S. — Madeira, December 1*7, 1845. — 
 
198 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 The Serra people are still in prison, and when their trial will 
 come on it is impossible to foretell, as in this island judicial 
 procedure is not regulated by law, but is entirely dependent 
 on the caprice of the judges. The number of prisoners now 
 in jail, for reading the Word of God and other offences against 
 the Man of Sin, is twenty-eight persons. Six of these were 
 arrested and imprisoned a few weeks ago. Their crime was 
 that they had met one Sabbath evening to edify one another, 
 by reading the Word and social prayer. Three other persons 
 who were thrown into prison at the same time have since been 
 liberated, on the ground of illegal arrest and false imprison- 
 ment ; but, in accordance with the usual mode of judicial ad- 
 ministration here, they were subjected, notwithstanding, to the 
 hardship of paying conjointly about £l of costs. 
 
 " I. am informed that the usual practice in dealing with cases 
 of so-called religious delinquency is, first to prepare the sen- 
 tence in writing, and afterwards to go through the empty form 
 of trying the case, and hearing evidence. A family of three 
 persons were, two or three months ago, made aware that, for 
 not going to confession, and for similar offences, which were to 
 be made the grounds of a criminal process, there was suspend- 
 ed over them the already-prepared sentence of banishment to 
 the coast of Africa for seven years, superadded to an oppressive 
 fine! Before they were formally indicted, and while the initial 
 steps in order to an indictment were being taken, they eluded 
 the impending infliction by quitting the island for Demerara. 
 Those who have embraced the truth have, with only a few ex- 
 ceptions, remained firm under the assaults of persecution. 
 Many who were just beginning to taste the good Word of God 
 have shrunk back through fear, their danger being greater than, 
 with so little light as they had on Divine things, they were 
 able to encounter. I believe — I know for a fact — that there 
 are some here who read the Bible in secret, and look to Christ 
 alone for salvation, without having boldness enough in the 
 Lord to confess Him openly. Elijah wa3 the only public wit- 
 
A CASE OF BACKSLIDING. 199 
 
 ness for God in Israel, yet God had in Israel seven thousand 
 hidden worshippers. It is well to worship the true God, even 
 in secret : — it is better to be an open witness, an Elijah." 
 
 A case occurred among the English congregation, 
 which illustrates strikingly Mr. Hewitson's own walk. 
 His whole conversation and bearing were felt, by those 
 who were privileged to witness them, to be a standing 
 protest against the sin here exhibited in its true color : — 
 
 "To his Sister. — Madeira, December 19, 1845. — This 
 morning a member of the Presbyterian congregation called on 
 me in a state of soul-distress. She has been losing the savor 
 of Divine truth amidst the worldly society with which she has 
 been too freely mixing. A Christian friend having warned her 
 of her manifest declension in personal godliness, she was at 
 first offended, but, on a second and third repetition of the same 
 warning, she was led to consider her ways. She finds that the 
 stream of the world has been insensibly bearing her downward, 
 and that her steps have been turned away from Jesus towards 
 the pit. She is cast down under a sense of her backsliding ; 
 but again, with thankfulness for the warning she has received, 
 as it were from God himself, is turning her face Zionward. 
 Experience shows her the necessity of coming out and being 
 separate from the world. She sees that she cannot have fel- 
 lowship both with the world and with Jesus. The world that 
 knew not Jesus when He came, is the same world still. Jesus, 
 who was despised and crucified by the world, is the same Jesus 
 still. Are we in Christ? Then Christ is formed in us, and 
 dwells in us, and Christ in us lives and feels, even as He lived, 
 and thought, and felt when He was in the world. The love of 
 the world is enmity to God." 
 
 The next letter continues the narrative of the work 
 among the native church : — 
 
200 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Madeira, January 31, 1846. — 
 .... The members [of the class] are gathered together — 
 some from the immediate neighborhood of the city, and others 
 from as great distances as twelve and fifteen, and, I believe, 
 even sixteen or eighteen, miles. For a considerable time I 
 have been engaged in lecturing to them, twice in the week, on 
 the various doctrines of a consecutive, but simply arranged, 
 course of Bible theology. Their attendance is regular, and 
 their interest in the business of the class such as to afford me 
 great encouragement. There is one weekly examination on 
 the topics of the lecture last delivered, and an opportunity is 
 given, at the close of each lecture, of putting questions with a 
 view to the elucidation of what may not have been fully un- 
 derstood. 
 
 " The concluding prayer at each meeting is conducted by 
 some one of the members of the class. Some of them pray 
 with considerable emotion, and some of them with touching 
 naivete and simplicity of manner. One of them, who had on 
 the preceding day been released from jail after an imprison- 
 ment of six months, came to me, after conducting prayer in a 
 very child-like and confiding spirit, and said, ' Excuse me' — he 
 referred to literary defects — ' Excuse me, for I can only pray as 
 I have been taught by the Holy Ghost.' Would that all were 
 taught only thus to pray ! More abundant would be the re- 
 turn of prayer from heaven. 
 
 " The class of catechists consists of about fifteen persons. 
 One of them, a marked man in his own parish, went a fortnight 
 ago to the jail of Santa Cruz, a town about twelve miles from 
 this, to visit a friend who was then imprisoned for the truth's 
 sake ; and, once within the walls of the jail, he himself was 
 detained a prisoner, and is to be tried on a charge of being a 
 heretic and a blasphemer — the crime deponed to being that he 
 had denied the real presence of Christ in the Host. 
 
 " When I shall have concluded my course of expositions in 
 the class, if the Lord permit me to bring this work to a con- 
 
THE COMMUNION. 201 
 
 elusion, I intend to ordain as elders those members of the class 
 who, being married men, may seem to possess in the highest 
 degree the qualifications essential for that sacred office. As 
 yet none of the converts have been set apart to the office of 
 the eldership. 
 
 " Meanwhile the sacraments continue to be administered, and 
 the work of preaching the gospel is not abandoned. Last 
 Monday we had a refreshing communion in the house of one 
 of the British merchants, situated almost in the very centre of 
 the city, and directly opposite to an old grim building, once a 
 Jesuits' college, but now used as barracks for the accommoda- 
 tion of soldiery. There I preached and dispensed the Lord's 
 Supper to thirty-three communicants, all of them Portuguese 
 except two individuals. The text was Heb. viii. 10, 11, 12. 
 To-day I preached again to about forty Portuguese on the text 
 — ' Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Every 
 Saturday forenoon, if the Lord will, I intend to have a diet of 
 worship, admitting about thirty persons. 
 
 "The interdict is still hanging over me. Pray for me, that 
 my hands wax not feeble, nor my heart faint. 
 
 " The Lord is still carrying on His work here, and that by 
 such means as to make it manifest that the glory is all His 
 own. Except among such as, though willing to hear the Word, 
 yet never gave any proofs of conviction, there has been no in- 
 stance of decided relapse into Romanism." 
 
 u P. S. — Febrxiary 6. — The vessel is still in the Bay, and 
 does not set sail till to-morrow. On Wednesday last we had 
 another and a truly refreshing communion — the most refresh- 
 ing to myself that I have ever had among the Portuguese. 
 The King sat that day at His table, and the spikenard of not 
 a few sent forth a sweet smell. Some washed the Lord's feet 
 with their tears, and anointed them with ointment. The room 
 was filled with the fragrance of grateful and humble-hearted 
 love. ' Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good, for his mercy 
 endureth forever.' " 
 
202 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Farther details are given in other letters. "We se- 
 lect a few fragments : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Madeira, February 4 } 
 1846. — I was glad when Mr. Nairn arrived to free me from 
 the fatigue and responsibility of ministering to the Presbyterian 
 congregation. The Portuguese — they are my flock, and, by 
 the goodness of God, I have been enabled to continue my 
 labors among them till the present hour. I intend to preach 
 regularly, if the Lord will, on Saturday of each week, begin- 
 ning at eleven o'clock forenoon. Will you pray for us, that 
 the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified? 
 I trust that some of the former converts are undergoing a 
 deepening work, and that there are some even now in the 
 throes of the second birth. The people have meetings in one 
 another's houses for reading Scripture and prayer, which sim- 
 ple means of grace seems to be attended with much blessing. 
 The devouring lion is still roaring amongst us, but he would 
 be quiet if ' the Lion of the tribe of Judah' were not prevail- 
 ing, by His mighty power, to rescue souls from death." 
 
 " February 5. — A short time after writing the above, Dr. 
 Kalley called to let me know that the bishop had, as is cur- 
 rently said, made a representation against me again to the civil 
 magistrate. Before you hear from me again I shall perhaps 
 be in prison. You are aware that imprisonment aud persecu- 
 tion are unavoidable if I continue to minister in Madeira. The 
 Lord give me grace to endure !" 
 
 "To his Mother. — Madeira, February 6, 1846. — Next 
 week, if the Lord will, another communion will be dispensed, 
 in order to overtake the whole number of communicants. There 
 are on the roll 105 names, but a few have left the island. On 
 the second Sabbath of last month the communion took place 
 in the Scotch church. I preached on Saturday, and again on 
 Monday — my first subject, ' The woman with the issue of blood,' 
 
NEW THREAT OF IMPRISONMENT. 203 
 
 and the text of the other discourse, ' I sat under His shadow 
 with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.' 
 
 " The imprudence, if I may use so harsh an epithet, of some 
 of the poor people last Saturday, has again led the enemies to 
 fasten the eye of observation on the work. It will be necessary 
 to shift my Saturday meetings from place to place for some 
 time to come. To-morrow, if spared, I shall preach in the 
 house of an English merchant, who is married to a Portuguese, 
 now a convert. It seems not possible, without some striking 
 interposition of the Lord, for me to continue to labor long in 
 Madeira. The great object in the meantime is to seek grace 
 that I may be enabled to follow the Lord fully, doing His will. 
 The people are hungering for the Word. Some of them occa- 
 sionally say to me, ' When shall we come, for we are very hun- 
 gry V ' Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after right- 
 eousness, for they shall be tilled.' The Lord will not cease 
 from working till, in spite of man's opposition, He have gath- 
 ered in all His elect." 
 
 He now urged upon the Church at home the neces- 
 sity of providing a native ministry. The proposal was 
 adopted, and with the happiest results. 
 
 "To the Convener of the Colonial Committee. — Ma- 
 deira, February 6, 1846. — There are among the converts in 
 Madeira two young men of considerable promise, whom I 
 should like exceedingly to see engaged in a course of study 
 with a view to ministerial work amongst their countrymen. 
 My object in troubling you with this note is, through you to 
 request that the Colonial Committee will charge itself with the 
 education of the young men referred to. I make this request 
 with all earnestness, trusting that the Lord himself will incline 
 the hearts of the Committee to grant it a favorable entertain- 
 ment. You could not confer a greater benefit on the converts 
 in Madeira, or do anything more likely to be honored by the 
 
204 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Lord as an instrument of furthering the good work which He 
 has begun, and is still, I have good reason to believe, carrying 
 forward among this people. It would not be necessary to sub- 
 ject the young men to a course of study of anything like seven 
 or eight years' duration. I am sure that no one, looking at 
 the manner in which the apostles met and provided for similar 
 exigencies among their converts, would demand more than 
 such a preparatory course of training as was absolutely essen- 
 tial. The young men are, so far as I can judge, taught by the 
 Holy Ghost, and their lives are in unison with their profession 
 of faith. They are both members of my class of catechists. 
 Interdicted already, and exposed at this moment, as I believe I 
 am, to an actual prosecution, I do not expect that my labors 
 will be of much longer continuance in this place." 
 
 The three following letters contain Mr. Hewitson's 
 last notices of the work. The reader will sympathize 
 with him in his resolution to withdraw for a time from 
 the scene. 
 
 " To the Convener of the Colonial Committee. — Ma- 
 deira, February 26, 1846. — Soon after writing the note which 
 I last addressed to you, I was informed that the civil governor 
 had, a few days previously, charged Dr. Coelha, one of the two 
 judges de Direito, to proceed against me according to law. 
 The latter declined, on the ground of ray not being under his 
 jurisdiction. He is the only acting judge at this moment, as 
 the vacancy created by Negrao's retirement has not yet been 
 supplied. There seems to be now, more than ever, a determi- 
 nation on the part of the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, to 
 put down ' the heresy,' as they call it, The bishop lately left 
 the island for Lisbon, where he intends, as intimated by him 
 in a recent pastoral, to use all possible means for that end. 
 
 " Once or twice I have preached in the house of an English 
 merchant, but he has been served with an interdict, prohibiting 
 
GROWING HOSTILITY OF THE PRIESTS. 205 
 
 him from permitting any meetings of Portuguese for religious 
 purposes to take place in his house ; and, in consequence, I 
 have been obliged to abandon my intention. 
 
 " I have been led, in the providence of God, to form the res- 
 olution of leaving Madeira for some months, and of afterwards 
 .returning to resume my labors, if so be that the Lord shall be 
 pleased to keep open here a door of usefulness. This, I am 
 convinced, as is also my friend Dr. Kalley, is the most likely 
 expedient for securing to the converts in this island a somewhat 
 longer continuance of what services I am by grace enabled to 
 render 'for their furtherance and joy of faith.' My physical 
 incapability of working, without serious injury to my health, 
 under the relaxing influence of summer heat in Madeira, makes 
 the step which I have resolved on taking, if the Lord will, all 
 the more expedient. 
 
 " Before leaving the island I intend to finish the course of 
 divinity through which I have been taking my class of cate- 
 chists, and to set apart some of the members of the class to the 
 several offices of the eldership and deaconship. This work will 
 yet occupy at least two months longer. During the same in- 
 terval I shall have likewise to administer the Lord's Supper to 
 all the communicants. In the course of three weeks, lately, 
 eighty-seven Portuguese converts received the Supper. Of 
 almost all I may say that they afford good proofs of being born 
 again. 
 
 " Besides these, there are more than one hundred who would 
 gladly be admitted for examination with a view to communion. 
 Of these, I intend to examine such as are well reported of by 
 the brethren as walking wholly in accordance with their pro- 
 fession. To-day I examined, and admitted on the communion- 
 roll, a man who gave me, both of his conversion and after-ex- 
 perience, an account most beautiful and affecting. There are 
 here, at this moment, hundreds — there are thousands — who 
 would gladly listen to the preaching of the gospel, if the iron 
 hoof of spiritual oppression did not keep them down. The 
 
206 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 work of the Lord is prospering. — I am, Rev. dear Sir, yours 
 truly in the Lord, W. Hewitson." 
 
 " To the Secretary of the Colonial Committee. — Ma- 
 deira, I'oih February, 1846. — . . .Whether I may be allowed 
 to prosecute my Jabors for the space of two or three months to 
 come, even in the most secret manner possible, is at this mo- 
 ment extremely doubtful. The circulation of the report, that I 
 am intending to leave the island, will probably induce the au- 
 thorities to connive a little longer. There is no doubt they 
 have connived already, in the expectation that I would be led 
 by the threat of a prosecution to abandon my work, and leave 
 the island. 
 
 " I have too good ground for apprehending that the perse- 
 cution of the Lord's people will ere long wax hotter. The ad- 
 versary is enraged, for hitherto all his efforts put forth against 
 the truth have been frustrated. The Lord has still vouchsafed 
 to keep His arm stretched out for the deliverance of His elect. 
 He has said, with more than the emphasis of words, ' I will 
 work, and who shall let it ?' So far as I can judge, there never 
 was a time when the work of the Lord here was in a more 
 prosperous condition than at the present hour." 
 
 "To his Father. — Madeira, February 27, 1846. — Yester- 
 day I examined and admitted on the roll of church-members a 
 man who gave me a very interesting account of his experience. 
 He told me that he found the best means of overcoming the 
 corruption of his heart was to have immediate recourse, when- 
 ever he felt the uprising of sinful thoughts within, to prayer or 
 praise. ' Sometimes,' he said, ' I lift up my heart to the Lord 
 in prayer, and at other times I break forth into singing praise 
 to God ; and always, by this means, get rid of the evil thoughts 
 that trouble me, and have my heart filled with joy.' " 
 
 " P. S. — March 6. — A few minutes ago I have heard of a 
 wicked man's conversion. His wife called to ask me to visit 
 the house." 
 
CLASS OF STUDENTS. 207 
 
 The class of " students," which had engaged so large 
 a share of his attention that winter, was a happy expe- 
 dient for the future prosperity of the work among the 
 people. We find Dr. Kalley thus referring to it, in a 
 letter to the Convener of the Committee, of date Feb- 
 ruary 5, 1846 : — 
 
 " Mr. Hewitson has been giving a systematic course of theo- 
 logical instruction to a class of Christian men two days in the 
 week. I am confident that his work will produce glorious re- 
 sults." 
 
 And an English resident, who was often present, 
 describes it more in detail : — 
 
 " He first went through all the great doctrines of our faith, 
 such as justification, the offices of the Holy Spirit, &c ; then 
 the types of Christ in the Old Testament ; and ended with a 
 general view of prophecy. The subjects were treated so simply, 
 yet so fully, and Mr. Hewitson's views on all subjects were so 
 deeply spiritual, that it was indeed a privilege to be admitted 
 as a listener. 
 
 " Two women were also present," continues the same eye- 
 witness — " Antonia Correa and her daughter. The former was 
 among the most intelligent and advanced Christians of the 
 little community ; and so influential had she been in bringing 
 her friends and neighbors within reach of the truth, and in 
 helping them on, that it was said of her by the enemies, that 
 she had an enchanted cup, of which if any drank, they cer- 
 tainly became ' Calvinistas.' As she had thus many oppor- 
 tunities of instructing others, she came, with her husband, who 
 was a small proprietor and vine-dresser, and who was after- 
 wards made an elder. During the scenes of the following 
 August, their conduct was in beautiful harmony with their 
 profession. They were driven from their homes, and found a 
 
208 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 refuge on board the ship which took them to Trinidad, leaving 
 joyfully all they had to follow their Lord. 
 
 " The class was continued till the month of April ; and, after 
 a careful examination, Mr. Hewitson proceeded to ordain six 
 elders and several deacons, to conduct the meetings and regu- 
 late the business of the little church during his approaching 
 absence." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson left Madeira in the beginning of May, 
 1846, intending, after an interval of a few months, to 
 return to his beloved flock. But the persecution, so 
 long restrained, was now to burst forth in awful fury. 
 
 On the morning of Sabbath, the 2d August, there 
 assembled in the house of an English family betwixt 
 thirty and forty of the converts, to listen to a Pastoral 
 Letter from Mr. Hewitson, in addition to their ordinary 
 exercises of prayer and praise and reading of the 
 Word. Meanwhile a ruffian rabble had been mustered 
 by one of the canons of the cathedral church. As the 
 little congregation was about to retire, the rabble had 
 arrived at the gate, headed by the canon in full canon- 
 icals, and shouting defiance and revenge. The first to 
 leave the house was Senhor Arsenio da Silva, the 
 elder who had been conducting the worship. The in- 
 stant he appeared, the canon thrust in his face an 
 image, bidding him "kiss it," and "adore his god!" 
 Heaping on him all manner of abusive epithets, he 
 knocked off his hat, as a means of inciting the mob to 
 personal violence. With great difficulty Arsenio es- 
 caped, along with three or four others who had come 
 out behind him. 
 
OUTRAGES. 209 
 
 Till eleven at night the house was besieged by the 
 mob, at the instigation of the canon and several other 
 priests who were present, and under the connivance 
 of the civil authorities. 
 
 " At last, towards midnight" — we quote the words of a British 
 naval officer,* who witnessed the scene — " the smashing of the 
 windows, and crash of the bludgeons on the door, announced 
 that the money and liquor of the enemy were fearfully doing 
 their work. Amidst the yells of the mob, the cry was still 
 heard for admittance ; when Miss Rutherfurd, addressing them 
 in that calm, gentle, temperate, yet firm and dignified manner 
 which distinguished her conduct through the night, begged 
 them to withdraw, urging the danger they were incurring by 
 so acting in violation of the law. ' Nad ha leis pelos Calvin- 
 istas' {there are no laws for Calvinists) was the instant reply 
 — showing that the impression produced by the long preceding 
 course of authorized persecution was, that Christians were out- 
 lawed by the fact of being readers of the Word of God — with 
 a further threat, that if the doors were not immediately opened, 
 they would burn the house to the ground ! Another smash 
 of windows followed. As each blow fell upon the windows 
 and door, and resounded through the house, a shudder passed 
 over the invalid's weakly frame. Meanwhile, Miss Rutherfurd, 
 and Clarke, her English maid, were exerting themselves to con- 
 ceal the poor Christians from the anticipated murderous attack. 
 They consisted almost exclusively of women — of harmless, quiet, 
 inoffensive females ! But they were Protestants — they had not 
 been to mass, nor had they lately paid the fees of confession. 
 And so their sex was no protection from the bludgeon of the 
 ruffian ! They were marked out by the priesthood for ven- 
 geance, and the end was to justify the means. For their 
 greater security they were hurried into the kitchen, at the re- 
 mote end of the house — that being the apartment likely to be 
 
 * Persecution in Madeira in 1846. By J. Roddam Tate, R.N. 
 
210 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 last reached by the assailants, and from which there was a stair- 
 door down to the garden. The seats were then removed from 
 the room in which the meeting had been held. Bibles and 
 bonnets were put out of, the way, so that no additional cause 
 for excitement might inflame the rabble as they entered. Still 
 crash succeeded crash, and blow succeeded blow ! 
 
 " What a contrast, thought I, between those without and 
 those within the house ! Here was peace and confidence ; 
 there violence and hatred. Here was the voice of Him who 
 is love itself, and who had permitted the storm to rise, whis- 
 pering into each one's ear, ' It is I ; be not afraid ; my grace 
 is sufficient for thee ;' there was the voice of Satan urging on 
 his slaves to deeds of darkness and of blood. Here, in a word, 
 was Christ ; there was Antichrist. Here the seed of the 
 women ; there the seed of the serpent. Alas, how true ! it was 
 not against their countrymen as men that their hatred, their 
 rage, their violence had been raised, for many of those had 
 come from the country, and were personally unknown. It was 
 not against them, but against ' Christ in them.' It was Jesus 
 whom they persecuted. 
 
 " After a few more crushing blows, the door of the house 
 flew open. Still none dared enter. Soon after midnight, just 
 as arrangements were completed above, lights were distinguished 
 on the staircase, and almost immediately they entered the 
 drawing-room. Off this room was the invalid's chamber, and 
 thither the rioters directed their course. Six or eight of the 
 ruffians, preceded by boys carrying lights, flashing in their faces, 
 daringly entered the room and demanded the Portuguese — 
 placing, by this act of reckless cruelty, the life of a defenceless 
 invalid lady, guiltless of crime, in the most imminent danger. 
 They were informed that the Portuguese were not there, and 
 would not be given up ; and they were desired, moreover, not 
 to come farther into the sick lady's room. They whispered to- 
 gether for a few minutes, and then went grumbling and mut- 
 tering away. 
 
OUTRAGES. * 211 
 
 " A guard being left in the drawing-room, they proceeded in 
 search of their victims — a rather tedious process by the way, 
 in a house with twenty bed-rooms and six sitting-rooms, besides 
 a chapel, and closets of all kinds. At length we heard the yell 
 of triumph. The victims had been found. Resistance was not 
 thought of, but they were all on their knees in prayer to God. 
 One was seized — his head laid open to the bone, and himself 
 thrown over the banisters to the ground. Here the mob were 
 beating him with clubs, and dragging him out to be murdered 
 in the garden, ' for it is a less crime,' said they, to ' kill him 
 there.' At the very moment of opening the door by which 
 to drag out their intended victim, the police and soldiers en- 
 tered, thus catching them in the very act of outrage, and in- 
 tended murder, in a British subject's house. The mob were 
 asked by what authority they had entered that house, to which 
 they replied, that ' they did not care for authority or law.' 
 Two of the ruffians were then secured, marched off, and lodged 
 in jail." 
 
 But the catastrophe was only beginning. About 
 two in the morning of Sabbath the 9th of August, as 
 Dr. Kalley was escorting to his outer gate a friend who 
 had been concerting with him measures of self-defence, 
 he overheard the guard of soldiers, which had been 
 sent at his urgent command to protect him, in familiar 
 conversation with men disguised in masks, one of 
 whom was sharpening a large knife on the door-lintel, 
 preparatory to "the killing on the morrow.'' Dr. 
 Kalley, finding that even the guard was treacherously 
 abetting the enormities contemplated, at once deter- 
 mined to provide for his safety by flight. Disguising 
 himself as a country peasant, he hastened to the house 
 of a friend, unobserved by the ruffians, who, at the 
 
212 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 beck of the priests, were already repairing in all di- 
 rections to the devoted dwelling. 
 
 It was now near midday. The services in honor of 
 " our lady of the mount" had been concluded. In the 
 streets were seen groups of excited worshippers, talk- 
 ing with evident delight of the intended work of the 
 day. At last a rocket rose hissing into the air. It 
 was the signal for proceeding. " Those who are in 
 that house," said one of the people in the hearing of 
 Mrs. Kalley, as she was escaping in disguise through 
 the street, " would need, to-day, to be sure of salva- 
 tion." At length a dense mass surrounded the house. 
 The door was forced. The ringleaders rushed into 
 the apartments, the mob watching till their benefactor 
 should be dragged forth. 
 
 Chagrined to find that he had escaped, they commit- 
 ted his library and papers to the flames, and hastened 
 away in search of himself. By this time, Dr. Kalley, 
 disguised in female attire, and concealed in a ham- 
 mock, was escaping for his life to the Bay. As the 
 bearers, attended by Mr. Tate, were hurried reluctantly 
 along, the cry was raised — " Kalley ! Kalley !" The 
 infuriated mob catching the cry, and raising three 
 cheers, ran towards the pier. As they reached it, the 
 hammock had just been lowered into the boat — the 
 boat put off — in a few minutes it was alongside the 
 steamer in the Bay — the hammock was swung on 
 deck — Dr. Kalley was safe. 
 
 " I turned round," says Mr. Tate, " and the whole 
 
SUFFERINGS OF CONVERTS. 213 
 
 beach teemed with living beings. What a change had 
 a moment produced, in our condition and in theirs ! 
 But a moment earlier, and we had surely been sacri- 
 ficed to the fury of the mob. We were now out of 
 danger — we were beyond the murderers' grasp I" 
 
 The converts were now to enter the seven-times 
 heated furnace. Shall they stand this fiery trial? 
 We quote another eye-witness : — 
 
 "Rev. C. Nairn to Convener of Colonial Committee. — 
 Madeira, August 18, 1846. — The removal of Dr. Kalley was 
 to them the signal to expect all manner of cruelty and op- 
 pression. Many of them immediately fled from their houses 
 to the mountains, where they have been savagely hunted by 
 their relentless persecutors. It is truly heart-rending to hear 
 of their sufferings. When discovered in their hiding-places 
 they were mercilessly beaten, to extort from them a promise 
 that they will go to confession. A few days ago a man was 
 most brutally murdered, and several women have sustained 
 injuries from which they are not expected to recover. I am 
 glad to learn that nearly an hundred are now on board of an 
 emigrant ship, with the prospect of being soon removed to 
 some other land, where they may find rest from the fury of 
 their oppressors. There has been manifested by mauy of these 
 humble disciples a spirit of devoted attachment to the truth, 
 of simple, steadfast faith in Jesus, and of patience in the midst 
 of great tribulation, that must commend them to the sympathy, 
 and secure for them the prayers, of the people of God." 
 
 During the few following weeks a noble testimony 
 for Christ was borne by these afflicted people. The 
 scene is described by an English resident, who, along 
 with twelve other English, had been obliged to take 
 
214 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 refuge on board a ship in the Bay, on Monday the 
 10th August. The letter is to Mr. Hewitson : — 
 
 " On board the ' William] Funchal Bay, August 18, 1846. — 
 This ship is to take away two hundred of your flock to Trini- 
 dad. Seventy are already on hoard. The sound of the 
 hymns is very sweet as it rises from the hold. It is a great 
 privilege to be near them in this time of need, and to see that 
 their faith does not fail. They never speak against their per- 
 secutors — they only mention them with pity. Sometimes I 
 overhear them in prayer, praying for their enemies, and for 
 those who have turned back again to the Caaas d? Idolatria. 
 They have all been in hidings on the mountains — their houses 
 broken up and pillaged ; and many of them have nothing left 
 but the clothes they wear. 
 
 "The soldier's mother was taken out of her house on Sunday 
 morning the 9th — beaten till she was seemingly dead — then 
 dragged down, and thrown upon the graves of the Protestants 
 buried on the road at Santa Luzia. She revived again, and 
 was carried by police to the hospital. After dressing her arm 
 which was broken, they ordered her to 'confess.' On her re- 
 fusal, she was taken to the police station, where she remained 
 all day in a hammock. Next day she was taken to the hos- 
 pital ; but, refusing to conform to the Church, is kept in the 
 hammock instead of a bed. Alas ! now the door in Madeira 
 seems closed indeed — your flock scattered in other lands." 
 
 These two hundred sailed on 22d August for Trin- 
 idad. Soon after, three hundred and fifty followed. 
 Ultimately, the number of the exiles, sent to Trinidad, 
 and to the other West India islands, rose to about 
 eight hundred. 
 
 A goodly "cloud of witnesses!" Ye persecuted, 
 but not forsaken ! ye cast down, but not destroyed ! 
 
EXILE. 215 
 
 cast not away your confidence, which hath great rec- 
 ompense of reward. Meanwhile, be ye not high- 
 minded, but fear. What have ye, which ye have not 
 received ? 
 
 Longing after them, for the exceeding grace of God 
 in them, and all the more because of their abounding 
 afflictions, the self-denying pastor shall yet be met by 
 us on the scene of their exile, comforting his scattered 
 flock. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Ministry in Madeira — Source of its Power — Notes of Conversation — 
 Daily Walk — Preaching of Christ — Pastoral letter — Notes by Dr. 
 Kalley — Review of the Work. 
 
 " Mr. Hewitson," wrote Dr. Kalley on the 5th 
 February, 1846, " has been a source of incalculable 
 good to Madeira. I feel myself to be very much a 
 hewer of wood or drawer of water." It must have 
 been no ordinary minister which Dr. Kalley thus 
 characterized. The very gleanings of the vintage 
 give evidence of this. A recent visitor to the island 
 found not a few secret disciples, who trace their awa- 
 kening to Mr. Hewitson, speaking of him as their spir- 
 itual father. 
 
 In recording the labors of Brainerd among the In- 
 dians, President Edwards asks, " Is there not much to 
 teach and excite to duty us who are called to the work 
 of the ministry, and all who are candidates for that 
 great work ?" A lesson not less instructive is before 
 us here. 
 
 Some extracts from the diary of an English resident, 
 
NOTES OF CONVERSATION. 217 
 
 who enjoyed Mr. Hewitson's almost daily private min- 
 istrations during that period, will indicate how he 
 spoke and walked : — 
 
 " Madeira^ Saturday, April 12, 1845. — I had a visit this 
 afternoon from Mr. Hewitson — the first time I have seen him. 
 His whole conversation and manner made me feel that he was 
 one who ' walked with God.' His spirit dwells above the at- 
 mosphere of this world, and he gets many a ' near glimpse into 
 the heart of Jesus,' upon whose loveliness and love he delights 
 to dwell. 
 
 "He read the 7th of Hebrews, 19 to the end. Speaking 
 upon verse 26, he particularly dsvelt upon the word ' harmless,' 
 &c. Yes, He was harmless — Jesus could harm none. He was 
 full of compassion. See Him coming down from the Mount 
 of Beatitudes, stretching out His hand to the poor leper — one 
 who was shunned by all, even by the mother that bare him. 
 He who, of all that great multitude, was alone ' holy, harmless, 
 and undefined,' without sin, was the only one of all to stretch 
 out his hand and touch that polluted one ; and by that touch 
 He healed the loathsome disease." 
 
 " Tuesday, October 7. — Speaking of the love of Jesus, he 
 said, We can imagine a mother, the tenderest of all earthly rel- 
 atives, about to die, and leave her little helpless orphan chil- 
 dren without any one in the world to care for them. What a 
 pleading for them would there be in her last parting prayer ! 
 But could she frame one more tender, more affecting than this ? 
 — 'And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the 
 world, and I come to thee : Holy Father, keep through thine 
 own name those whom thou hast given me.' His is a tenderer, 
 deeper, and far intenser love for those he left behind, than even 
 that of the tenderest of mothers !" 
 
 " October 31. — Mr. H. spoke of ' grace reigning,' of self mix- 
 ing in everything we do, even in our holy things — that in our 
 sanctification we must look to Christ alone — every day, every 
 10 
 
218 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 hour, continually. Remembering and acting upon this, ' we are 
 complete in Him.' 
 
 " He also spoke of Phil. iii. 8, ' For whom I have suffered 
 the loss of all things ;' i. e., Paul means he must give up, and 
 has given up, all his own righteousness upon which he once 
 rested — his circumcision on the eighth day — his blamelessness 
 concerning the law, &c. ; all these things, which once were to 
 him ' gain,' he now casts away as nothing — as dung — so that 
 he may win Christ. The giving up of all things — of all earthly 
 possessions — of father, mother, sister, brother — is easy, com- 
 pared with giving up all our fancied righteousness — our own 
 works. This is the last and most difficult thing that the Chris- 
 tian has to do. We often fancy, and even say with our tongue, 
 ' None but Christ ! I place my whole dependence upon Christ ; 
 I know I am nothing, can do nothing — He is my complete Sa- 
 viour ;' and yet all the time we are trusting to, and looking 
 for, something in ourselves. There is nothing so insidious as 
 self-righteousness — unbelief. What is it but this that prevents 
 our continued, uninterrupted peace and joy ? for, if we simply 
 believed Christ's own word — simply and singly took hold of 
 His righteousness as ours, and His finished work as our own — 
 how could we help having peace, feeling that all is ours, be- 
 cause Christ is ours ? I am quite sure he is not a Christian 
 who has not found this the most difficult of all — to break away 
 from self — to live on the righteousness of Christ alone. This 
 it is alone which causes the believer so often ' to walk in dark- 
 ness,' instead of ' rejoicing in the Lord always.' John says, 
 ' He that believeth not, hath made God a liar,' &c, ' for this 
 is the record, God hath given to us eternal life.' Now, if we 
 really believe this record, we must rejoice — we must have 
 peace." 
 
 " Thursday, November 6. — To-day Mr. Hewitson read some 
 verses of Psalm liv. He came in full of the Spirit. When 
 speaking upon verse 3, ' Strangers are risen up against me, 
 and oppressors seek after my soul,' he said — To the children 
 
NOTES OF CONVERSATION. 219 
 
 of God the children of the world must ever he strangers — they 
 can have nothing in common — ' they hate them, 7 and ' rise up 
 against them' to destroy them. Satan pursues from without ; 
 and, oh, he knows how to oppress, if he is not able to destroy, 
 the soul of a child of God ! He rouses up the ' old man' with- 
 in ; and how insidiously he causes the soul to doubt and dis- 
 trust its God ! how he tempts it to look away from Jesus — to 
 burden and overwhelm it with a view of its own sinfulness 
 apart from Christ, and thus to darken its spiritual light ! As 
 David, when feeding his sheep on the green pastures of Beth- 
 lehem, overcame both the lion and the bear which were carry- 
 ing off the lambs of his flock, so will our David pursue, and 
 overcome, and bring back the weakest lamb of all His fold. 
 It is an easy thing for the lion and the bear to carry us from 
 the fold, but it is also an easy thing for Jesus to follow and 
 overcome — our Shepherd has said, ' None shall pluck out of 
 my hand.' " 
 
 " Saturday, November 8. — Mr. Hewitson spoke of the Spirit's 
 work — on the nature of justification and ssanctification. Jesus 
 is our complete salvation. He does not justify, and then leave 
 us to work out our own sanctification. He gives all, and freely < 
 Jesus bought all for us. Jesus wrought out all in the twelve 
 hours of His long toilsome day — by His own meritorious 
 works ; and this is His reward, that we receive all freely, as 
 His gift. It is our little knowledge of Jesus that makes us so 
 slow to believe. The more we know Jesus, the more simply 
 and believingly will we accept of His free gift." 
 
 '" December 28. — Mr. Hewitson read Matt. xiv. 23-32. 
 "When the disciples were being tossed on the sea, though Jesus 
 was not present with them — not manifestly present — yet He 
 was not forgetting them — He was on the mountain-top praying 
 for them. So, when we are not enjoying the manifested pres- 
 ence of Jesus, Jesus, though out of sight, is not far off — He is 
 only on the mountain-top praying for us. The ' ship' may be 
 tossed amid the waves — the rough and stormy blasts of a ' con- 
 
220 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. IIEWITSON". 
 
 trary wind' may be blowing hard against it — the contrary 
 winds of temptation and inward corruption — the night may be 
 dark, to add to the danger ; yet we need not fear, for Jesus is 
 not far off — He is thinking upon us — He is on the mountain, 
 praying. 
 
 " Verse 25, ' And in the fourth watch,' &c. ; that is, at the 
 dawn. The fourth watch will soon be here ; the dawn will 
 soon appear over our stormy sea, and we shall see ' Jesus walk- 
 ing' towards us in the midst of the waves — we shall hear Him 
 saying, ' It is I, be not afraid.' When Peter saw his Master, 
 he called out, ' Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on 
 the water ; and Jesus said, Come.' Peter, when he saw his 
 Lord, could not wait patiently in the ship till He should come 
 — he must go and meet Jesus. Jesus loves this impatience. 
 He does not rebuke Peter, He bids him come. Jesus loves to 
 see us longing for and desiring His presence. He loves to see 
 in us a holy impatience for His coming. He bids us come to 
 Him. 
 
 " ' When they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.' 
 How blessed is it when Jesus comes into the ship ! Then 
 there is a sweet calm. When He comes into the ship — into 
 the heart that has been tossed amid the waves and billows of 
 corruption and temptation — when the winds have been ' con- 
 trary,' blowing in strong gales — the night has been dark, and 
 Jesus far away — how blessed, when the day begins to break, 
 to see Jesus walking amid the storm-tossed sea, and at last en- 
 ter into the ship ! How sweet is the peace, how great is the 
 calm, that immediately overspreads the soul !" 
 
 " January 2, 1846. — The good Shepherd often leads His 
 people by a rough and rugged way ; but it is the right way. 
 It is a straight and narrow way, and He hedges it up with 
 thorns ; for He knows His sheep would be ever wandering. 
 
 " When God's children ask for sweet, He sometimes gives 
 them bitter ; but it is because He knows what they require. 
 
 " Predestination is one of the strongest bulwarks of the 
 
SPIRIT OF HIS MINISTRATIONS. 221 
 
 believer's faith. It is a most comforting assurance to know, 
 that every step of our way, every circumstance in our life, 
 however minute, has been all ordered and arranged for us by 
 God." 
 
 " Friday, January 30. — ' I will write my law in their 
 hearts.' If we are children of God, the Spirit has written His 
 law on our hearts. Satan may at times appear to have taken 
 possession of the heart, to have set up his throne in it, and to 
 keep, like Belshazzar, a feast there ; but, like Belshazzar too, 
 in the midst of the feast, he descries a handwriting on the wall 
 of that heart, which causes him to tremble." 
 
 " Tuesday, March 10. — Last night Mr. H. remarked — 
 Nothing makes this world such a wilderness as desire after 
 holiness. Like the Lord Jesus, we must often feel weary and 
 thirsty — it is pre-eminently the ' Valley of Baca ;' but the rain 
 also filleth the pools. Sometimes one pool, then another, is 
 dried up ; but it is a journey we are on, and as we move our 
 tents, step by step, we shall meet with another and another 
 pool, filled with the rain and dews from heaven." 
 
 These extracts give some idea of Mr. Hewitson's 
 holy walk at that period. He was the Christian on 
 every scene. His conversation was "alvvay with 
 grace, seasoned with salt." Brainerd nsed to saj^, that 
 he met with many who talked about religion, but few 
 who talked religion itself. It was Christ that Mr. 
 Hewitson carried with him everywhere. All who saw 
 him felt that his Christianity was not a cold abstrac- 
 tion, but a living fellowship with a living Lord. 
 
 The same feature characterized all his ministrations 
 to the Portuguese. The power of his ministry among 
 them lay in the simplicity and fulness and unction 
 
222 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 wherewith he preached Christ. A touching illustra- 
 tion of this occurs in the Pastoral Letter referred to in 
 the preceding chapter. That letter may be regarded 
 as a summary of his preaching when he spoke to 
 them face to face. It has an additional interest, as 
 being the last message delivered to the little church 
 in the land of their fathers. Did not the gracious 
 Lord Himself send it, to stimulate their faith and pa- 
 tience under the calamities then impending ? 
 
 " Grace, mercy, and peace, from our Father and our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, be greatly multiplied to you. I remember you 
 every day in my prayers before God, giving thanks to Him 
 who called you out of darkness to His marvellous light. 
 
 " It is true that formerly you were children of darkness, 
 dragged along to eternal perdition by the prince of darkness, 
 but now ye are children of light, being born of the Spirit by 
 the Word of the living God. Walk in a way worthy of the 
 Father of lights, who shone into your hearts to enlighten you 
 into the knowledge of His divine glory in the face of Jesus 
 Christ. Walk constantly, very dear brethren, after our beloved 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; for He assures you, in the Gospel of John, 
 viii. 12, 'I am the light of the world; he that followeth me 
 shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' 
 
 " It is evident, then, that we cannot walk in the saving light 
 which brings us eternal life without continuing to walk after 
 Christ. Light, life, salvation, the hope of glory, all spiritual 
 and eternal blessings, are found in Christ Jesus our Lord ; 
 neither can they be found anywhere else. Christ is the store- 
 house of all the heavenly goods — Christ is the treasure of all 
 the riches of Divine goodness — Christ is the fountain from 
 which rivers of living waters are always flowing — Christ is the 
 sea, without either bottom or shore, which makes all the waves 
 of grace, mercy, and love, pass on the believing soul — Christ is 
 
PASTORAL LETTER. 223 
 
 the Sun of the highest heavens, which scatters and throws all 
 the rays of Divine wisdom and knowledge both among the 
 angels above and the believers below. Whatever blessing 
 you need, seek from Christ Jesus. It hath pleased the Father 
 that in Him should be fully and abundantly all things. In 
 Christ dwelleth all the grace and glory of the Godhead bodily. 
 It is in Him that ye are full. 
 
 " If ye depart from Jesus, ye are poor, miserable, blind, and 
 naked — ye have nothing : coming to Jesus, ye become partakers 
 of His riches, His white robes, His light, wisdom, happiness, 
 joy, grace, and love — His kingdom and glory. Come, there- 
 fore, nearer and nearer to Jesus, and never leave off living and 
 walking with Him. Be very close to his pierced side. Hide 
 yourselves within His heart. Bathe your souls in the waves 
 of His eternal love — bathe your consciences in His blood — 
 bathe them every morning and evening — bathe them continu- 
 ally. There is no pardon — none — for those who will not take 
 it solely from the blood of Jesus ; because, without the shedding 
 of His precious blood, there is no remission of sin, nor can any 
 sinner be ransomed. 
 
 " If you do not trust in Christ only, who about eighteen 
 hundred years ago died on the cross for our sins — the Just for 
 the unjust — you cannot be saved. Christ is the only Saviour. 
 And Christ saves none but only through His blood. If you 
 trust in your tears, prayers, works, persecutions, or tribulations 
 borne for the sake of Jesus — if you trust in such things, you 
 are certainly wrong, and walk far from the way of salvation. 
 Such things are not Christ — such things are not your Saviour. 
 Do not trust in them, but only in Christ ; for out of Christ 
 there is no salvation whatever. 
 
 " It is good to shed tears of sadness, thinking on your sins ; 
 but shed them looking to Christ crucified. It is good to pray, 
 and to pray more and more earnestly ; but you ought to pray, 
 trusting only on the merits of Christ. It is good to do the good 
 works of faith and love — it is good to increase more and more 
 
224 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWITSON. 
 
 in fortitude, charity, purity, and meekness ; but see you don't 
 put any confidence in your own works. Put all your confi- 
 dence and hope in the perfected work of the holy Son of God. 
 Confidence in your own works will bring to you condemnation 
 and death. Faith in the death of Jesus Christ will make us par- 
 takers of the merits of His death, and consequently of the bless- 
 ings of His resurrection. It is good, if necessary, to suffer perse- 
 cution, shame, and death itself, for the sake of the name of Jesus. 
 But we ought always to remember, that it is not for the sake 
 of our personal sorrows and sufferings, but only for the sake of 
 the sufferings which Christ endured, that we are saved. 
 
 " In Christ we have redemption through His blood — the 
 complete forgiveness of our sins. In Christ 'all things are 
 ours.' Out of Christ we have nothing. Do you wish for par- 
 don and peace ? — go to Christ. In Him you will find all you 
 want. Do you wish for light and wisdom ? — do you wish to 
 understand more the meaning of the Word of Cod ? — go to 
 Christ. He will send you the Spirit of light and truth. Do 
 you wish for growth in grace and in holiness — more faith and 
 strength to overcome sin within aud the world without ? — go, 
 my brethren, go again and again to Christ. Christ has for 
 you all the gifts of faith and strength and gra 3e and holiness. 
 Anything you want, either for the soul or for the body — for 
 the life which now is, or for that which is to come — go to 
 Christ : all things are found there in Christ. Christ is ready 
 to give you all things abundantly. To be far from Christ is to 
 be far from light, from life, from mercy, and from heaven — to 
 be far from Christ is to be near death, misery, hell — to be 
 without Christ is to be without God, without hope in the 
 world. 
 
 "If we have Christ, we have all — without Christ we have 
 nothing. You can be happy without money, without liberty, 
 without parents, and without friends, if Christ is yours : if you 
 have not Christ, neither money, nor liberty, nor parents, nor 
 friends, can make you happy. Christ, with a chain, is liberty — 
 
PASTORAL LETTER. 225 
 
 liberty, without Christ, is a chain. Christ, without anything, 
 is riches — all things, without Christ, is poverty indeed. 
 
 " Therefore, my brethren, ' persevere in the Lord with full pur- 
 pose of heart.' ' Be firm in the faith, and strong in the grace 
 which is in Christ Jesus.' ' All things are yours, whether it be 
 the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come 
 — all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' 
 ' Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribula- 
 tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or 
 peril, or sword ? In all these things we are more than conquer- 
 ors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that 
 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
 nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
 nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
 love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Christ, who 
 loved, and still loves, and will love us forever, is Lord over all 
 in heaven and in earth. Therefore fear no evil. 
 
 " Be steadfast, waiting on the Lord. Now you are perse- 
 cuted : wait with patience, beloved brethren, a little longer. 
 The Lord is about to come to judge the world. ' Behold, Ho 
 cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him ; and they 
 also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth, shall 
 wail because of Him. Even so. Amen.' The Lord grant 
 that ye may be filled with the Holy Spirit, following after holi- 
 ness, having compassion on your enemies, praying for them 
 that they may be saved, waiting for the coming of the Lord. 
 Pray for me, that I may be filled with the Spirit of God. I 
 endeavor to pray for you, remembering all your afflictions. 
 Grace be with every one of you. — Your brother that loves 
 you, W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 " It was remarkable from time to time," writes 
 Brainerd, " that when I was favored with any special 
 freedom in discoursing of the ability of Christ to save 
 sinners, and the need they stood in of such a Saviour, 
 
 10* 
 
226 MEMOIR OF KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 there was then the greatest appearance of Divine 
 power in awakening numbers of secure souls, promot- 
 ing convictions begun, and comforting the distressed." 
 Similar was the experience of Mr. Hewitson. And 
 similar, it may be added, was the experience of Dr. 
 Kalley. It was the Bible-preaching of Christ which, 
 in the hand of the Spirit, told with so marvellous ef- 
 fect upon the consciences of the people. Dr. Kalley, 
 in reviewing the scenes which he witnessed in Ma- 
 deira, and tracing the causes of the work, thus closes 
 the original Notes, quoted in a former chapter. The 
 date is "Beyroot, 15th January, 1851." 
 
 " It was delightful to witness the effects of the belief of God's 
 Word — to see tears of joy gushing over the cheeks as the truth 
 burst upon the soul, for the first time, that the offended God 
 Himself acquits the ungodly — that He in His own Word as- 
 sures the sinner that He delights in mercy, and, for His great 
 lo\e wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, 
 sent His Son to redeem them that had incurred the curse of 
 His broken law. ' He sent His Word and healed them.'' The 
 spiritual results were as striking and more precious than any 
 even miraculous bodily cure. The eyes of the blind were 
 opened — the ears of the deaf unstopped — the lame leapt, and 
 the tongue of the dumb sang. They were ' begotten' of God 
 by His ' Word of truth ;' they grew by the sincere milk of it ; it 
 was sweeter to them than honey — more precious than gold : 
 the words of Jesus were spirit and life to them. They ap- 
 peared to feel that the words of God were addressed to them in- 
 dividually — that the gift of God, even eternal life by Jesus 
 Christ, was freely offered to them, each personally, by the 
 Lord ; and, believing this and accepting it, they in some measure 
 realized the greatness of their debt to the Redeemer. They 
 
NOTES BY DR. KALLEY. 227 
 
 enjoyed peace through His blood — they rejoiced in the 
 Lord. 
 
 " Sometimes the expression of their attachment to Him was 
 very striking; and their sympathy and affection towards each 
 other were truly brotherly. Their enemies witnessed changes 
 upon them which appeared very strange and unaccountable, es- 
 pecially when they persecuted them. The gentleness and pa- 
 tience, the love and joy, of the sufferers, confounded even their 
 persecutors, some of whom were reported to have used expres- 
 ions like these : ' We call these people ugly names, and they don't 
 answer back ; we spit upon them, and they don't get angry ; 
 we beat them, and they seem pleased ; we break open their 
 houses and destroy their property, and they are happy ; we put 
 them in jail, and they sing — we can't make them unhappy.' 
 Some regarded it as a kind of monomania; some, ignorant of 
 any adequate cause, sagely remarked thta they must be well paid 
 for it ; while many, there is reason to hope, were led to examine, 
 and ascertained the true cause, so as to participate in the peace 
 and joy, and in the sufferings too. 
 
 "Thus the believers were epistles — living epistles of the 
 truth ; and they witnessed for the Lord, not by suffering only, 
 or by giving a little money to pay a substitute to do the Lord's 
 work for them, but, when they knew that He desires the gos- 
 pel to be preached to every creature, that all should know Hirrij 
 trust Him, and be happy, almost every one seemed to feel re- 
 sponsible for making known to others — relations, friends, neigh- 
 bors, or acquaintances — the wonders of God's love : and, though 
 unlearned and ignorant, they felt that it was their duty, as well 
 as their inestimable privilege and pleasure to tell their fellow- 
 sinners of the favor shown to men in the redemption by Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 "But it is time," concludes Dr. Kalley, "to acknowledge the 
 working of the great First Cause, without whom all else would 
 have been as vain as ploughing the sand. None but God can 
 change the constituents of a putrid corpse, and make it rise, 
 
228 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 live, and perform the functions of a living man ; and as little 
 can any but He convert a soul, raising it from the deformity, 
 corruption, and death of sin, to the health, beauty, and life of 
 holiness. God the Holy Spirit employed the truths which He 
 has revealed in the Bible for the production of results which 
 are indeed great and glorious. He prepared that instrument 
 His own use ; and, having given it such a nature, edge, and 
 temper, that it pierces to the soul and spirit, and wherever it is 
 really believed must produce its inappropriate results, how does 
 it become the ministers of the Word to use it ! 
 
 " Other things served to shake the people's confidence in re- 
 fuges of lies, and led them to listen to the truth of God ; but it 
 was His testimony concerning Jesus which was most manifestly 
 effectual upon the heart, slaying the enmity, and reconciling the 
 sinner to God." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1846. 
 
 Return Home — Correspondence — Conversation — Tidings from Ma- 
 deira — Appointment to Trinidad — Arsenio da Silva — Character- 
 istic Incident — Departure for Trinidad. 
 
 " Again I am on British ground ! The Lord has 
 brought me so far homeward in safety. From Ma- 
 deira I sailed to Lisbon in six days, and staying there 
 three days with a family very dear to me in the Lord, 
 left for London in a schooner, which, owing to con- 
 trary winds and calm, was detained four whole weeks 
 on the voyage. What portion have we in heaven or 
 earth but the Lord ? A parting word from the Bible 
 — ' Rejoice in the Lord,' for ' the joy of the Lord is 
 your strength.' " 
 
 These characteristic words Mr. Hewitson wrote from 
 London on 12th June, 1846. Many hearts were glad- 
 dened to see once more in the flesh this " dearly be- 
 loved in the Lord." He reached Scotland towards the 
 end of June. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Ayr, June 24, 1846. — Dear 
 brother, — I merely write to inform you of my arrival and 
 
230 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 meditated movements. I left London yesterday, having 
 preached twice at Brighton on Sabbath, and returned to Lon- 
 don on Monday. To-morrow, God willing, I prosecute my 
 journey onward to Dalmellington, and then, probably next 
 week, will be in Edinburgh. Beyond that point I cannot as 
 yet forecast with anything like certainty what may be my 
 movements ; only I wish that they will be all movements in 
 the way of the Lord ; for, if we will not walk with God in His 
 way, He will not leave His way to join Himself to us, and 
 walk with us in ours. It is our wisdom to give up all con- 
 tending with God on this point, for our way is always out of 
 the way, and His way leads us right. ' Amicus est fro vehi- 
 culd 1 — and who so good a friend as God ? We while away 
 the time, and beguile the weariness of travelling, best in His 
 company. The two disciples journeying to Emmaus were but 
 poor company to one another ; but when Jesus joined them, 
 and blessed them with his sweet discourse, their hearts ' burned 
 in them by the way.' His presence made a mile a step, and 
 an hour a minute. 
 
 " Have you been drinking deeply at the blessed streams of 
 prophetic truth ? They are streams of refreshment, and glad- 
 ness, and hope. I hope to find that you are brimful of truth, 
 God's truth, no less respecting the glory than the sufferings of 
 the Redeemer and His Church." 
 
 Again lie writes : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Madeira. — Dalmellington, June 26, 
 1846. — I see not yet what the Lord's thoughts are regarding 
 me, as to my future movements. I leave all, meanwhile, in 
 His hand. He will guide me with His eye, whether it be back 
 again to Madeira or not. I saw little of Madeira, but it will 
 be more worth while to see it when the new heavens and the 
 new earth are made. I care not though I never see the mag- 
 nificent places of the earth till then. The children of God in 
 Madeira ! — I cannot but remember them at the throne. Let 
 
CORKESPONDENCE. 231 
 
 us all now be trimming our lamps, and making ready to meet 
 our Princely Bridegroom. Then — it may be sooner — but at 
 all events then, we shall meet again, with our heaven-lit lamps, 
 and our blood-washed wedding-garments, when the jubilee cry 
 is raised." 
 
 And to another friend, a true helper of the brethren : 
 
 " To James Nisbet, Esq., London. — Dalmellington, June 
 27, 1846. — I am so well in bodily health, that I have engaged 
 to preach here to-morrow I am anxious to hear the re- 
 sult of your proceedings in Commission at Manchester on Wed- 
 nesday last. The chief quali6cation of deacons, who deal with 
 the secularities of the Church, is, that they be 'full of faith 
 and of the Holy Ghost? No amount, then, of qualification is 
 too great in the man who is called to the holy and spiritual 
 work of educating and instructing for the ministry. Thanking 
 you sincerely for your kindness to me in London, I am," &c. 
 
 " To me to live is Christ." The following note tells 
 how striking a commentary on these words was Mr. 
 Hewitson's daily life. Now, more than ever, to him 
 to live was Christ : — 
 
 " To A Friend in Edinburgh. — Dalmellington, June 29, 
 1846. — God willing, I shall have the pleasure of being under 
 your roof on Wednesday. May our meeting be truly in Je- 
 sus,, and our fellowship sweet through the shedding upon us 
 of His sweet ointments. Life is weary if Christ be not in us, 
 revealing the name of the Father. ' As the hart panteth after 
 the water-books, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.' 
 What soul-satisfaction when we are breathing the Spirit, and 
 walking in the light, and enjoying the communion of the Fa- 
 ther, and of His Son Jesus Christ ! Truly then our joy is full. 
 
 " My desire is to know no man henceforth after the flesh, but 
 
232 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 to seek Christ and God above all things, in all companies 
 and places. So much of Christ as there is in every one, 
 so much of beauty and desirableness there is there, and no 
 more. It is sad, in these degenerate and apostate times, in 
 which, because of abounding iniquity, the love of many is 
 waxed cold, to be obliged often to hide ourselves in the secret 
 of God's presence from the strife even of some of His own 
 children's tongues ! How many speak to you with as much 
 ' strife] or earnestness and interest about the vanities of this 
 passing world, as if they were still of the world, and not born 
 from above ! You would ever be looking unto Jesus ; but 
 they will have you to look away to something else, as if some- 
 thing else were more lovely than He who is altogether lovely. 
 Mary sits and looks up to Jesus : even her sister Martha would 
 have her look to something else. 
 
 " More converse with God, and less with man, would be 
 health to our flesh and marrow to our bones. We cannot con- 
 verse with God in the company of our brethren unless we 
 meet in the name of Jesus. If we meet in His name, we have 
 His word for it, that we shall not be without His presence and 
 fellowship. When we meet a friend in the Lord, we should 
 frame our hearts towards him into the prayer, ' Grace be with 
 thee !' and when we part, the breathing of our hearts towards 
 him should be, " The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit ! 
 Grace be with you till we meet, and then, and forever. I am 
 your affectionate brother in Jesus, 
 
 " W. Hewitson." 
 
 " Do you know," said he one day, " what the word 
 conversation is derived from ? It is from a term which 
 signifies the going or turning together of the oxen in 
 treading out the corn. Christians should walk in fel- 
 lowship with each other, and in common fellowship 
 with Christ, as they tread out ' the finest of the wheat' 
 
CONVERSATION. 233 
 
 — the precious word of God." Avoiding, and at times 
 almost impatient of, fellowship which was not " in the 
 Spirit," he rejoiced in a congenial companionship more 
 than in any other earthly joy. We give a few extracts 
 in illustration : — 
 
 " To A. A. Walker, Esq. — Don't you find that there are 
 some of God's children with whom you have more congeniality 
 than you have with others ? Does not this arise from your 
 seeing in them more of the image of Christ ? Wherever we 
 see Christ's image, we should love it, for Christ is there ; but 
 it is natural to the new man to love that most in which the 
 image of the Beloved is seen shining with greatest brightness 
 and beauty. There is in some, whom we cannot but regard as 
 children of God, such a residue of self and corruption still un- 
 subdued, as, like an opaque medium, refuses to transmit the 
 heavenly light of truth, except in faint and straggling beams, 
 at the same time that, like an icy mountain, it freezes the warm 
 breath of Christian affection." 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Baillie. — We must be hated by sinners 
 if we deal faithfully with them in the pulpit, and in private re- 
 fuse all communion with them on the principles of the flesh. 
 All unsavory peculiarism of manner, however, we ought to 
 avoid, and will avoid, if only the chamber of our heart be 
 kept fresh and pure by an uninterrupted circulation of wind 
 from heaven. We need spiritual ventilation at home, that we 
 may carry with us into every scene and circle the freshness 
 and purity of a spiritual atmosphere. The sinner is overawed 
 by what is holy — he is disgusted by what is sanctimonious. 
 Christ was marvellous in being without personal peculiarities. 
 What breadth, depth, catholicity in His character ! He was 
 living truth. O to be like Christ !" 
 
 " To the Rev. A. A. Bonar, Collace. — It will be pleas- 
 ant to me to remember the times when our tents were pitched 
 
234 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 side by side in the wilderness. To me our common meditation 
 of God was sweet. Often have I found the Lord present in 
 the midst of conversation with Christian friends. On many 
 such occasions has ' the south wind' come, wafting fragrance 
 from ' the mountain of myrrh, the hill of frankincense.' Little 
 do Christians think that they lose so much when they waste 
 their moments of intercourse in idle and unprofitable talk, or, 
 it may be, in religious conversation, without seeking the pres- 
 ence and fellowship of the Beloved. 
 
 " The character and spirit of the now aged apostle John's 
 conversation, are gathered from what he says to his friend, ' the 
 elect lady :' ' Having many things to write unto you, I would 
 not write with paper and ink ; but I trust to come unto you, 
 and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.' His conver- 
 sation on meeting with the brethren was just a continuation 
 of what he wrote about to them when absent ; and in such 
 conversation ' his joy was full,' for the Lord was present ac- 
 cording to promise, ' Wheresoever two or three are met together 
 in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' To get always 
 a fulfilment of this promise, we should always meet in the 
 name of Christ. If Christians ever meet to do or say what 
 they cannot engage in doing or saying in the name of Christ, 
 it were better for them not to meet at all ; for the Scripture 
 says, ' Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus.' " 
 
 " Mr. Hewitson's most singular talent," writes Mr. 
 Dodds, " lay in his conversational powers. I do not 
 speak of that literary, scientific, or general conversation 
 in which many worldly men have eminently excelled, 
 and in which he also, with his fine fancy, high scholar- 
 ship, and extensive information, was, or could have 
 been, no mean proficient. But his peculiar faculty 
 was that of Christian conversation, in which he be- 
 
CONVERSATION. 235 
 
 came such a master. During the latter period of his 
 life, as he grew in grace and in holiness of spirit, he 
 seemed to consecrate all his correspondence, intercourse 
 with friends, and private conversation, to Christ. As 
 others often strive to turn conversation away from 
 spiritual things, so did he watch and strive to turn it 
 into that channel. As an expositor of the Word in 
 the family circle, as a preacher of Christ in the house 
 or by the wayside, I never knew his equal. He had 
 none of that backwardness or false delicacy which is 
 so frequently a snare to ministers who desire to be 
 useful in private. With becoming boldness and reso- 
 lution, yet with suitable tact and gentleness, he often 
 succeeded in introducing a Christian element even into 
 a worldly company ; and, instead of yielding to the 
 current of conversation around him, he would lead it 
 in a different direction by the firmness and consistency 
 of his deportment." 
 
 " He never opens his mouth," was the observation 
 of a distinguished member of the Scottish bar, respect- 
 ing his ordinary conversation, "but something comes 
 forth worth remembering." The reason was, he sought 
 to utter ever} 7 thing as before the Lord. His conversa- 
 tion was so fragrant of Christ, because he held so 
 constant fellowship with Him through the Word. " I 
 know not," says Mr. Wood, who was with him in 
 Madeira, " that I ever met with any one more thorough- 
 ly acquainted with his Bible. He was truly mighty 
 in the Scriptures. He was also eminently a man of 
 
236 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. IIEWITSON. 
 
 prayer." lie himself thus indicates the way in which 
 the Word was studied : — 
 
 "To the Rev. A. A. Bonar. — When the Word, as we 
 read it, shines with the light of God's glory, what a token this 
 is of His goodness towards us ! When I read the Scriptures 
 and find nothing, I cannot but attribute this to His fatherly 
 displeasure. An earthly parent, when offended by the con- 
 duct of a child, observes an unusual silence, and his face is not 
 toward the child as before. God deals with His children in 
 the same way. Did not the Psalmist refer to such fatherly 
 discipline when he cried aloud, ' Be not silent unto me V To 
 be taught more and more, we must abide in the love of God. 
 All the disciples wished to ask the Lord a question, but it was 
 only the disciple that lay in the Lord's bosom that had con- 
 fidence enough to ask it. ' The secret of the Lord is with them 
 that fear Him.' " 
 
 During Autumn, he occupied various pulpits suc- 
 cessively, in the room of absent brethren. For four 
 Sabbaths he was with the congregation of the Eev. C. 
 J. Brown, in Edinburgh; and double that number 
 were spent at Linlithgow. A few incidental notices 
 will exhibit his deepening and chastened spirituality. 
 
 The first extract is addressed to a bereaved friend : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — July 28, 1846. — Bereavement 
 is necessarily painful, but I think that I could forego with glad- 
 ness the comforts of living fellowship with even the dearest on 
 earth, had I the blessedness of good warrant to believe that 
 the soul of that dearest one was with Jesus in paradise. 
 Blessed and sweet are the tears which wet the cheek that shines 
 with the radiance of joy like this ! It were to me as many 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 237 
 
 salvations, and as many heavens as I have souls dear to me, to 
 see these souls each and all saved and in heaven. 
 
 " Alas ! now-a-days most Christians are spending their faith 
 in laying the foundations of hope, which lie deep among the 
 facts of history, and they seem to have little time for those 
 heaven-reaching exercises of adult faith which fit the soul for 
 dwelling among the perspective glories and purities of perfected 
 salvation. Faith now-a-days looks back to the Red Sea, but 
 not forward to the Jordan. It fixes its eye on the Alpha alone 
 for redemption ; — the Omega of redemption scarcely even en- 
 gages its thoughts. It thinks of what it is called from, not of 
 what it is called to. Oh, to know what is the hope of God's 
 calling !" 
 
 The next extracts are in a similar strain : — 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — August 8, 1846. — how 
 delicate is the organization of the spiritual economy ! It needs 
 to be kept as the apple of the eye. How holy is the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! The smallest sin unforgiven 
 will interrupt our communion with Him, and 'heaviness will 
 make our heart to stoop,' till 'a good word' from the blood of 
 sprinkling ' make it g^lad' again, and restore to us the privilege 
 of lying down in the bosom of God. 
 
 " Speculation about these things is cold and dreary. To ex- 
 perience their power is, ' Our fellowship is with the Father and 
 with His Son Jesus Christ,' and ' Our joy is full.' .... A 
 blank made in the circle of friendship, in whatever part of the 
 circle it be — (my dear friend, Mr. Mudie, of Glasgow, is no 
 more in the camp of the wilderness — the tent is found no more — 
 there is a sad blank where it stood) — is a place all withered 
 and desolate ; but still the rest of the circle may be full of 
 light and gladness. If the central point of the circle become 
 a blank — if God be taken away, then the whole circle is cov- 
 ered with darkness and desolation — there is a dreary void, and 
 joy is gone. Take away God, and leave all besides, we are in 
 
238 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 a waste howling wilderness, and a land of drought. Take 
 away all, and leave God behind, ' our joy is full.' " 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq. — September 16, 1846. — God 
 has taken from you, as it were, a pledge that you will live for 
 eternity. The bereaved soul goes across the border of time 
 in quest of the departed spirit, and so acquaints itself better 
 with eternity and its unseen realities. How real is the distant 
 isle to which a friend has gone, though it seemed formerly but 
 a dim fog on the sea ! How real is eternity when one that we 
 have loved, and love still, is there ! ' One that I love is there' 
 — that gives our hearts a local habitation in eternity. 
 
 " This event tells that we are nearer our journey's end now 
 than we were yesterday. The Jordan is not far off. A few 
 breathings of the air of the wilderness, a few steps across its 
 dreary sands, and then we reach home !" 
 
 About the beginning of September lie had a return 
 of spitting of blood. t)n a medical examination, how- 
 ever, he was pronounced very considerably better 
 than he had been two years previously. Whilst still 
 contemplating the possibility of ere long returning to 
 Madeira, the startling news reached him of the scat- 
 tering of his beloved flock. Afflicted in their afflic- 
 tion, he thus writes :— 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Glasgow, September 17, 1846. 
 — An! the tidings from Madeira are truly sad. The dear peo- 
 ple, hunted like wild beasts on the mountains by their savage 
 foes, and forced on the resource of emigration, as the only 
 means of escape from the dreadful alternative of relapse into 
 Popery, or suffering, it might be, in many cases to death ! One 
 man brutally murdered ! Several women beaten almost to 
 death ! Popery would exterminate grace itself from the earth, 
 if it could." 
 
ARSENIO DA SILVA. 239 
 
 " To A Friend in Madeira. — Linlithgow, September 28, 
 1846. — I thank you most sincerely for your kind comrnunica- 
 cation. It relieved my anxiety on account of the persecuted 
 flock. Flight seems the only resource. Will you give to 
 them the third chapter of first Thessalonians to read as from 
 me ? It is truly matter of thankfulness and rejoicing that the 
 Lord has raised up friends for His persecuted flock in this day 
 of trial." 
 
 It was proposed to Mr. Hewitson by the Colonial 
 Committee that he should visit the Portuguese in theii 
 place of exile. To this proposal he at once assented ; 
 and his departure was only delayed until another 
 measure should be matured. 
 
 There was at Lisbon at that moment a Madeiran 
 refugee, who had once been a gentleman of great 
 wealth in his native island. The reader may remem- 
 ber the scene on the morning of 2d August, when, as 
 one of the worshippers was leaving the house where 
 they had been assembled, a crucifix was rudely thrust 
 in his face, and he was ordered to adore it as his god. 
 Rome owed that man a grudge. Touched by the love 
 of Christ, he had left the brilliant circles of which he 
 was the ornament, and, joining the night-meetings of 
 the persecuted Bible-readers, had esteemed it his high- 
 est privilege .to stimulate and to pray with them. As 
 the persecution waxed hotter, Senhor Arsenio da Silva 
 was not a victim to be spared. He soon saw that his 
 only safety was flight. A beloved wife, and an only 
 daughter, married to one of the judges, still clung to 
 Rome ; and these, as well as lands and houses, he 
 
240 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 must forsake for his Lord. The parting scene was 
 most affecting. " I was obliged," is his own account 
 of it, since given by him on his death-bed, "to come 
 from the interior to the city of Funchal, where my 
 family reside, in the night. I engaged a man to stand 
 at the corner of a certain street at an appointed hour. 
 When the hour came I met this man, who conducted 
 me to a house where I should be concealed. I dared 
 not visit my own residence, nor see my family. I 
 sent to my wife and obtained a little money, and then 
 sailed for Lisbon, without the privilege of personally 
 saying ' Farewell' to those who were the dearest to 
 me on earth." They were never again to meet. " I 
 have a letter from my wife," he would be heard say- 
 ing, years afterwards, in his imperfect English — 
 " kind, friendly letter, but no good, no spiritual in it — 
 no faith in Jesus Christ." 
 
 To Da Silva Mr. Hewitson turned his eye as the 
 man of all others most fitted, both by gifts and by 
 graces, to take the permanent oversight of the exiled 
 flock. He had ordained him an elder before leaving 
 Madeira. And now, at his suggestion, the Free 
 Church of Scotland named him as their missionary. 
 Arsenio joyfully went. And thus Mr. Hewitson, ere 
 he returned home, was to have the satisfaction of 
 handing over to this dear fellow-laborer the care of the 
 scattered church. 
 
 The interval occupied by this arrangement was spent 
 chiefly at Blairgowrie. Respecting his four weeks' 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 241 
 
 ministrations there, we find Mr. A. Bonar writing: — 
 " You were blessed greatly to the nourishing of some 
 souls, who have grown in grace ever since." We give 
 a few extracts from his correspondence : — 
 
 " To the Rev. R. Macdo.vald. — Blairgowrie, November 24, 
 1846. — I am glad to bear that the Lord is opening up the 
 way before you. When we fail to observe answers to prayer, 
 and to make them occasions of praise, may we not expect that 
 God will, as a matter of discipline and chastisement, send an- 
 swers to prayer less abundant, less marked ? Our Lord is 
 angry with the wicked for not considering ' the operations of 
 His hands :' how much greater cause for anger He has, when 
 He finds His own children not recognizing, in His dealings 
 with them, tokens of His love and faithfulness as the hearer 
 of prayer ! ' We should seek,' said a brother to me lately in 
 London — ' we should seek to meet God in every circumstance.' 
 In every circumstance we should, I may add, by way of apply- 
 ing the observation, seek to meet God as the answerer of prayer. 
 Praying without ceasing, and praising without ceasing, the be- 
 liever can, without ceasing, walk with God. 
 
 ' Bless'd are they in Thy house that dwell, 
 They ever give Thee praise : 
 Bless'd is the man whose strength Thou art, 
 In whose heart are Thy ways.' " 
 
 "To a Friend in Madeira. — Edinburgh, December 11, 
 1 840. — Yesterday I came from Blairgowrie, and am now in 
 the press of my preparations for setting out on my way to 
 Trinidad. You have referred to our going together to the 
 house of Antonio da Corea up the Camho da Mico. Since 
 the day referred to, the aspect of things there is sadly changed. 
 The garden is a desolation ; the pleasant trees which the Lord 
 planted are almost all plucked up, and transplanted in a foreign 
 
 11 
 
242 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 soil. ' Woe to thee,' Madeira ! for thou hast not known the 
 day of thy visitation. My heart is comforted, amidst all the 
 evil that is befalling the church and the world, by a prospect 
 of the speedy coming in of the promised ' times of refreshing 
 from the presence of the Lord.' " 
 
 "To another Friend in Madeira. — Edinburgh, December 
 11, 1846. — The cross now — the crown to-morrow. Now the 
 bed of languishing — to-morrow the throne of Jesus. What 
 encouragement to 'tight the good fight of faith !' The body 
 now bears the spirit down : wait till dawn of day, and the 
 spirit will bear the body up. A few breathings more in this 
 dull and oppressive element, then all will be health and buoy- 
 ancy, strength and gladness, purity and peace — the body 
 changed, the heart all holy. 
 
 "Even now the Lord is with you, but you cannot see Him 
 for the darkness of night. You walk by faith, not by sight. 
 Yet you can say, ' I know that my Redeemer liveth.' He lives 
 — He thinks upon you — He is with you — He will never leave 
 you nor forsake you. He is a Friend, a Brother, a Lord ; a 
 Friend, to guide you with His counsel ; a Brother, to sym- 
 pathize with you in all your sorrow ; a Lord, to defend you 
 from all evil, and make all things work together for your good. 
 No safety but at His side ; no comfort but in His bosom ; no 
 strength but in His arm ; no holiness but in His steps." 
 
 The next extract illustrates a feature of character 
 ■which, those who knew him will recognize. In con- 
 versation, he had been betrayed into warmth of argu- 
 ment. He had abruptly left the table, and sat alone 
 on the sofa all the rest of the evening, uttering scarce- 
 ly a word. The occasion called forth the following : — 
 
 " Dalmellington, December 21, 1846. — My last visit was, in 
 one respect, to myself, a memorable, because an humbling one. 
 The Spirit of the meek and lowly-hearted Jesus was grieved 
 
CONVERSATION. 243 
 
 by my want of long-suffering. If my sin had been secret, I 
 would have spoken of it to the Lord alone ; but, when we sin 
 in one another's presence, we should remember the words, 
 ' Confess your faults one to another.' We are Christ's witnesses 
 in the world, called on to show forth His glory by our lives as 
 well as by our lips. We must live over the life of Christ on 
 earth ; we must breathe the breath of Christ among men ; we 
 must show what He is, by being in the world even as He was 
 in the world ; we must be holy as He is holy. We need to 
 walk circumspectly, ever identifying ourselves with Christ." 
 
 " I am sure," remarked Mr. Hewitson on one occa- 
 sion, " many think me very disagreeable." Without 
 waiting for a reply, lie added, " I never utter my 
 mind on a subject till I have studied it, and formed 
 my judgment. I like then to meet with sympathy, 
 and shrink from those who cannot extend it to me." 
 This often gave to him an air of dogmatism, which 
 strangers did not relish. But the instance narrated 
 will show how tenderly alive he was to this failing. 
 Indeed, others often wondered at what seemed an ex- 
 cess of tenderness of conscience. 
 
 At length he was in circumstances to set out for 
 the West Indies. " I longed," writes Brainerd in his 
 diary, " to be as a flame of fire, continually glowing 
 in the Divine service, preaching and building up 
 Christ's kingdom to my latest, my dying hour." The 
 glow in Mr. Hewitson's soul at this period is seen in 
 the following notes written on the eve of his de- 
 parture : — 
 
 " To a Friend in Glasgow. — Dalmellington, December 21, 
 
244 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 1846. — .... I am on ray way for Trinidad at last. By the 
 earliest steamer I intend to leave Southampton. O that the 
 church throughout the world were aroused from sleep ! Faith 
 is feeble to wean our hearts from earth, and lift thein up to 
 heaven, unless its roots be in Calvary, and its branches aloft in 
 the light of the yet unmanifested glory. Christ crucified is the 
 ground of our faith ; Christ coming in glory is the end. The 
 first advent is the foundation of hope ; the second advent is the 
 object of hope. Meanwhile ' occupy till I come' is the mind of 
 the Lord." 
 
 " To the Rev. R. Macdonald. — Same date. — Have faith 
 in God. Faith will be staggered even by loose stones in the 
 way, if we look man-ward ; if we look God-ward, faith will not 
 be staggered even by inaccessible mountains stretching across, 
 and obstructing apparently our onward progress. ' Go forward' 
 is the voice from heaven ; and faith, obeying, finds the moun- 
 tains before it flat as plains. ' God with us' is the watchword 
 of our warfare — the secret of our strength, the security of our 
 triumph. ' If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him 
 that believeth.' How strong faith is when we are just fresh 
 from the fountain of redeeming blood ! A good conscience, 
 and then faith will do all things, for it is in its very nature such 
 as to let God work all. We may say that it is most active 
 when it is most passive, and that it wearies least when it does 
 most work." 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Same date. — I just write 
 you a few lines to bid you farewell before I leave Britain. . . . 
 No converted soul should rest satisfied till it think every thought 
 and speak every word in communion with Jesus. To have a 
 lower standard is to be ignorant of our standing in Christ — of 
 what we have in Him, of the closeness of our union with Him, 
 and of the character we should maintain to be in keeping with 
 our profession of faith in His name. 
 
 " My impression of the godliness of Scotland has been some- 
 what modified since my sojourn in Lisbon and Madeira. Scot- 
 
DEPARTURE FOR TRINIDAD. 245 
 
 tish Christians, in general, seem not to realize everywhere, in 
 all companies, and at all times, the presence, the indwelling of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; nor to realize in any great measure 
 that they are not of this world, but sent into it by God as 
 messengers with a message from Him. But if this remark 
 applies to Scotland, to what land does it not apply ? Where 
 is godliness more flourishing ? Where profession more rife ? 
 Where the church more conspicuously set on a hill before the 
 world's eye ? 
 
 " Christ dwelling in us — that is light, life, fragrance, holi- 
 ness. Many seek Christ within before finding Christ without, 
 and so cannot attain to peace ; many, after finding Christ 
 without, don't seek diligently to have Christ within. To have 
 both Christ without and Christ within is peace and purity." 
 
 Again, as two years before, many sympathizing 
 hearts " accompanied to the ship" the dear brother by 
 whom they had been so pleasantly refreshed. One 
 of his friends, (Mr. A. Bonar) thus expresses what 
 not a few others felt. The date is " December 25, 
 1846":— 
 
 " I can almost, with Paul, say, ' I give thanks at every re- 
 membrance of you,' and I think I cannot fail to follow you 
 with many prayers. It was pleasant for the Ethiopian to have 
 fellowship with Philip, while the Spirit himself was the guide 
 of both. Yet their after way was pleasant too, because of that 
 Jesus, whom they both loved better than they did each other, 
 and to love whom better the one had helped the other. Still, 
 dear brother, do you not think you hear the Ethiopian on his 
 knees upon some Abyssinian hill, or under some fig-tree, re- 
 membering Philip before the Lord ? How he prays for him ! 
 How his heart longs to meet him again ! I feel this way of- 
 
246 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON". 
 
 tentimes toward all that have been refreshing to my soul ; and 
 these words, ' our gathering together in Him,' have often been 
 to me unspeakably sweet. We will often pray for you, and 
 for your scattered flock. The very God of peace be yours !" 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Sails for Trinidad — Voyage — Madeira — Arrival — Joyful Meeting — 
 State of Portuguese — Their Hardships — Spiritual Condition — Por- 
 tuguese Hymn Book — Thirst for the Word — His Self-forgetting 
 Zeal — Arrival of Arsenio da Silva — Church Organized — Leaves 
 Trinidad — Death of Da Silva. 
 
 Mr. Hewitson was a man of action. Living for 
 the Lord, he was ever ready for the Lord's work. No 
 details, however dry and tedious, which bore on the 
 great end, did he regard as unimportant. This fea- 
 ture of his character was illustrated by his ministry in 
 Trinidad. The object of his mission to the exiles, as 
 he himself states it, was " not only to administer gos- 
 pel consolation, but to re-organize them into a com- 
 pacted church-order." And the mission was not un- 
 successful. 
 
 He sailed from Southampton on January 2, 1847. 
 Some incidents of the voyage are thus narrated : 
 
 "To his Father. — Barbadoes, January 26, 1847. — It will 
 be two weeks to-morrow since we reached Madeira. Danger 
 of interception by the authorities ashore had made me averse 
 to landing ; but the kind conspiracy of friends, who were ex- 
 
248 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWITSON. 
 
 pecting me, forced me away from the vessel. I landed at a 
 secluded point to the west of the city, and was escorted by two 
 gentlemen to the house of a friend, in a retired situation. A. 
 palanquin, shrouding me from hostile eyes, conveyed me 
 
 through the midst of the city to the house of , where 
 
 I spent some time in pleasant Christian fellowship. While 
 there, I was visited by several friends and acquaintances. I 
 likewise had an interview with seven or eight Portuguese con- 
 verts, or inquirers. Again, in the veiled palanquin, I threaded 
 my way through the narrow streets of Funchal, passing, on a 
 very limited visit, by the house of dear Dr. Millar, and arriving 
 safely at the house in which I had found an asylum after land- 
 ing. Leaving my friends there, and in company with a gen- 
 tleman, who had kept at my side during the whole adventure, 
 I reached in safety, and much refreshed in spirit, the steamer, 
 which a short time afterwards was leaving Madeira in the dis- 
 tance. That I had been privileged to enjoy so much a visit so 
 unexpected, in a place so full of painfully as well as joyfully in- 
 teresting associations, and that I had been preserved by the 
 Lord, my shield, amidst the dangers that attended such an en- 
 joyment, was cause of thankfulness and praise. 
 
 " Barbadoes is 2610 miles from Madeira. We leave it to- 
 day for Grenada, which is distant only 140 miles ; and, after 
 staying there a few hours, sail for Trinidad, which is no more 
 than ninety-four miles from Grenada. For a few days past the 
 heat has been oppressive, the thermometer at eighty-one degrees 
 in the shade. lam now suffering from its relaxing influence." 
 
 " Wednesday, January 27. — It is about eight o'clock, a.m., 
 and we are going along the coast of Grenada. I may here set 
 up my JLbenezer, and say, ' Hitherto hath the Lord helped me.' 
 Blessed be His holy name ! O that the blood of the Lamb 
 may be on all our door-posts, and the oil of the Spirit in all 
 our vessels !" 
 
 In a letter of a later date, we find him referring to 
 one incident of the voyage, thus : — 
 
ARRIVAL AT TRINIDAD. 249 
 
 "To William Dickson, Esq., Edinburgh. — In the steamer 
 which brought me from England, there was, among many un- 
 godly, one who feared the Lord, and with whom I contracted 
 an intimacy. He gave me £10 for my little Trinidad fund ; 
 and, a few days afterwards, on my presenting him with ' The 
 Marrow of Modern Divinity, 1 which I had previously given him 
 for a perusal, and with which he had expressed himself greatly 
 delghted, he put an additional £o note into my hand for the 
 poor Portuguese, saying, ' This book is worth that to me.' 
 Another, and to me an interesting, circumstance connected with 
 our intercourse, was that, in the course of it, he was led to em- 
 brace the hope of Christ's pie-millennial advent. He was so 
 deeply impressed with the solemnity of that subject, that on 
 parting, as we did at Grenada, he said, especially in reference 
 to it, ' I believe — -nay, I am fully persuaded — that it is of God 
 that you and I have met. The subject of the Lord's coming 
 is of the greatest importance, and till now my attention has 
 never been fully directed to it.' " 
 
 He next describes his arrival at Trinidad : — 
 
 " To his Sister. — Port of Spain, Trinidad, February 4, 
 1847. — I reached the Gulf of Pariah, and anchored in the Roads 
 of Port of Spain, on Thursday the 28th of January. Detained 
 beyond expectation for want of a boat to carry me ashore, I 
 was at last moving towards land, pulled by two Africans, when 
 I was met in another boat by the Rev. Mr. Kennedy, missionary 
 in connection with the United Secession, who, with Christian 
 kindness, conducted me to his hospitable roof, and placed his 
 church at my service as a place of meeting with my Portuguese 
 flock. Passing by the meetings and greetings and embraces, 
 the tears and laughings, of kind and cordial welcome on the 
 part of many well known in Madeira, — I had a meeting for 
 worship on Saturday evening, and on Sabbath I entered upon 
 a regular system of ministration once more in a foreign 
 tongue." 
 
 11* 
 
250 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Port of Spain he found 
 three hundred of the converts, and in other parts of 
 the island one hundred and fifty more, the number 
 afterwards rising to seven hundred in all, exclusive of 
 some who had found a refuge in other islands. Some 
 extracts will indicate his solicitude in watching over 
 and relieving at once their physical and spiritual ne- 
 cessities : — 
 
 " Trinidad, March 4, 1847. — Something must be done with 
 a view to the more safe employment of the exiles. I am re- 
 volving a scheme which none but an Oberlin could carry vig- 
 orously into effect, and I am not an Oberlin. Every weak 
 muscle in my body ecboes, ' Not an Oberlin.' But more will 
 be required than an effective and animating superintendence ; 
 there will be need of more funds. English Christianity has 
 placed £200 at my disposal. Will Scottish Christianity give 
 nothing in addition to my services ?" 
 
 " To the Convener of the Colonial Committee, Rev. 
 J. Bonar. — Trinidad, March 16, 1847. — Mr. Kennedy has 
 shown no small kindness to the Madeiran refugees. He has 
 both ' spent and been spent' in endeavoring to promote their 
 comfort, and contributing to supply their wants. The Lord 
 reward him, and others also, who showed bowels of compassion 
 to those homeless exiles, who, for the sake of eternal life, had 
 willingly, though not without pangs of natural regret, forsaken 
 all that was dear to flesh and blood. 
 
 " One of my chief reasons for not merely consenting, at the 
 desire of the Colonial Committee, but even anxiously desiring, 
 to visit the Portuguese brethren here, and spend a few months 
 amongst them, was, that I apprehended, as the almost inevi- 
 table consequence of so great a change in their outward cir- 
 cumstances, a diminution of their Christian watchfulness, and a 
 relapse, by imperceptible degrees, into perilous conformity with 
 
EXILED CHURCH. 251 
 
 this ' evil world.' My apprehension, as I very soon discovered, 
 was already, in several instances, being sadly enough verified. 
 The pressure of the iron hand of persecution — which had been 
 formerly a means of restraining, and so of concealing from the 
 converts themselves, much of the natural corruption that was 
 in their hearts — had now been removed : set free from that 
 outward restraint, and solicited by the temptations of a world 
 wearing the mask of friendship to the gospel, carnality had 
 begun to break out, and discover itself in various forms. The 
 enemy formerly sought to overwhelm the little band of wit- 
 nesses for Jesus with the tide of open battle, and then they 
 were in arms, and on the watch ; but here the enemy had re- 
 course to a different system of tactics. He carries on his ope- 
 rations covertly, and seeks opportunity of surprisal. It is not, 
 therefore, to be wondered at that some should be thrown off 
 their guard, and lulled into a false security. 
 
 " My first conversation with one or two of the elders regard- 
 ing the spiritual condition of their fellow-countrymen in Trini- 
 dad, created the painful apprehension that it might be necessary 
 to suspend some of the communicants from the enjoyment of 
 church privileges. It was, therefore, no small relief to find 
 afterwards, at a regular meeting of session, held for the pur- 
 pose of reviewing, and, if necessary, in some instances of tem- 
 porarily excluding from, the communion-roll, that there had not 
 been among the communicants any commission of such open 
 sin as could become matter of church-cognizance and discipline. 
 It appeared that a spirit of carnal security and worldly confor- 
 mity had been creeping over the minds of some, and discov- 
 ering itself in a less circumspect and holy walk, in a diminished 
 relish for spiritual exercises, and a greater levity of disposition ; 
 but there had been no outbreak of flagrant immorality or open 
 ungodliness among; the communicants. 
 
 " I found it necessary to have dealings in private with some 
 whose deportment had given evidence of a falling off from the 
 degree of spirituality which they had formerly exhibited. One 
 
252 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of the individuals in question said, ' In Madeira it was not so 
 difficult as it is here to walk with God ;' and again, ' I had 
 some striking answers to prayer in Madeira, but here God has 
 not given such answers to my prayers.' The reason of this 
 latter experience was obvious. The person referred to had 
 not been offering up for some time past such earnest and be- 
 lieving prayers to God, and had even begun to be indifferent 
 about family worship. Another, to whom the Word was once 
 ' sweeter than honey or the honey-comb,' listened to what I 
 said in regard to the things of his peace, with a painfully cold 
 expression of eye, and half averted countenance. The reason 
 was, not that he disliked the truth, but he had become care- 
 less and unwatchful, and so had lost the blessed confidence to- 
 ward God which he once enjoyed. ' Amidst the persecutions 
 which I suffered in Madeira,' he said, ' I had great peace with 
 God ; but I have scarcely known what that peace is since I 
 came to Trinidad.' 
 
 " These and similar facts are fitted to teach a lesson of jeal- 
 ousy and watchfulness over their own spirits to believers in 
 Scotland who are subjected to the same soothing and soporific 
 influences of a world outwardly doing homage to Jesus, but in 
 reality ' lying in the wicked one.' ' Ephraim, he hath mixed 
 himself among the people. Strangers have devoured his 
 strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are here and 
 there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.' 
 
 "Though a few of the Portuguese in Trinidad have, under 
 the powerful influence of new temptations, declined somewhat 
 in spirituality of mind, yet I have discovered no good ground 
 for suspecting the sincerity of any whom I was accustomed to 
 regard in Madeira as having ' the things which accompany 
 salvation.' A considerable number seem to be truly desirous 
 of growing in grace, light, and holiness. The elders and 
 deacons have been faithful and exemplary. Three of the seven 
 elders who were ordained in Madeira have come to this island, 
 and four out of the nine who were ordained to the office of 
 
STATE OF PORTUGUESE. 253 
 
 deacon. I found that eighty-five — a very large proportion — of 
 the communicants had come to Trinidad. 
 
 " Since coming here, I have admitted eight new candidates 
 for the communion, after due examination. A considerable 
 number besides have applied to be taken under examination — 
 perhaps twenty individuals — some of them well reported by 
 the elders, as being consistent and exemplary in their lives. 
 We have had the communion thrice here, and once at Arouca, 
 a place fourteen miles distant. Seventy-five or eighty com- 
 municated here last Sabbath. 
 
 " About three weeks ago an American vessel arrived, bring- 
 ing the additional number of eighty-eight Protestant Portu- 
 guese. These brought the intelligence that above one hun- 
 dred more Protestants were preparing to follow them. Madeira 
 is swept well-nigh clean of its choicest and worthiest sons. 
 Now, in Madeira, ' a lily' is to be found only here and there 
 ' among the thorns.' Still are there a few believers left, who 
 mourn over the desolation that reigns around them, and who, 
 did circumstances not forbid, would gladly join their brethren 
 in the land of their exile. Still a very few remain to hold up 
 there the banner of the truth, and to testify amongst the ungodly 
 that ' there is a judgment.' 
 
 " The people here, among whom I am at present preaching 
 the gospel, have, since their arrival, suffered considerably from 
 the effects of the climate. Fever and dysentery have attacked 
 many ; and about twenty cases have terminated fatally. A 
 process of acclimatizing is absolutely necessary to qualify the 
 European constitution for bearing up, in any kind of labor out 
 of doors, against the injurious operation of this burning sun, 
 and this humid atmosphere. Comparatively only a small 
 number of the Portuguese are occupied in cane cultivation. 
 Almost all the rest have, through the gracious providence of 
 God, found employment in other departments of industry. 
 
 " I have engaged one of the elders, Martinho da Sonza, as 
 schoolmaster for two or three months, to teach the Portuguese 
 
254 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 children and adults who choose to profit by the opportunity of 
 learning to read. 
 
 " On coming to Trinidad, I was sorry to find that a number 
 of the Portuguese converts, thirteen in all, had been led to 
 embrace, at least in part, the views of the Baptists, and to re- 
 ceive immersion. The error was threatening to spread, schismatic 
 contentions were being engendered, and outward observances 
 were, by the sleight of Satan, beginning to occupy that place 
 in the thoughts of some which should be given to the things 
 that are of the ' spirit and life.' I found it necessary to preach 
 on the subject, giving an exposition of what I hold to be the mind 
 of the Lord, as revealed in His word, in regard to baptism ; 
 and it is matter of thankfulness that the progress of the op- 
 posite doctrine has been arrested. 
 
 " Praying that you and all our fellow-laborers, with all saints 
 in the Free Church of Scotland, may have abundance of grace 
 and blessing from our common Lord, I am, Rev. and dear Sir, 
 yours affectionately in gospel bonds, W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 In another letter, written ten days earlier, some 
 minuter features are brought out : — 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq., Edinburgh. — .... Ten 
 days ago another band (eighty-eight in all) of immigrants — I 
 should rather say exiles — from the Gadarene coast of Madeira, 
 reached the shores of Trinidad, and, under Britain's heaven- 
 blessed banner, they found themselves for the first time on 
 ground where they were at liberty to hear God speaking His 
 Word, and to speak to God in prayer. Among the number is 
 Maria Joaquina, whose blood was once likely to be poured into 
 the cup of the drunken harlot, Babylon. Another was Philippa 
 Rosa, who, like Peter, denied her Lord, and in answer to prayer, 
 
 was like Peter again restored amidst floods of 1 was 
 
 going to write ' tears,' when I was interrupted, and called 
 away to speak to one of my Portuguese flock, who, shedding 
 tears, has just told me that she is persecuted in the family 
 
INCIDENTS OF THE WORK. 255 
 
 where she is serving — a Roman Catholic family — being treated 
 harshly for refusing to do what involves a violation of her duty 
 to God. ' I left Madeira,' she has just been saying, ' that I 
 might be able to follow God, and for nothing else, and I wish 
 to leave that family.' This is a specimen of the avocations 
 which have occupied much of my time since I came here. 
 Were it not that I got my servant, Jose Marques — a great 
 and indispensable help to me in my work — placed as a sentinel 
 sometimes to receive the people who come to speak with me, 
 and to question them about their wants, «fec, I could scarcely 
 find time for letter-writing, even on so small a scale. The 
 specimen here given above of the nature of a very fagging 
 portion of my labors shows that Popery has the same Gadarene- 
 devil in it here as it had in Madeira." 
 
 The opening sentences of the following letter, though 
 somewhat retrospective, indicate an interesting little 
 feature of his work. The two metrical translations 
 afterwards grew into a book of psalms and hymns for 
 the Portuguese Church. 
 
 "To the Rev. A. A. Bonar. — Trinidad, March 17, 1847. — 
 Setting off from Southampton by the steamer on the 2d of 
 January, I soon found myself lying sick in my cabin, and, unfit 
 for almost every other species of effort, drawn away insensibly 
 by a strange disposition to versify into Portuguese. I en- 
 deavored to turn this disposition of mind to account, and the 
 result was a metrical translation of the 23d Psalm, and of your 
 sweet hymn — ' The Fulness of Jesus.'* These I have got 
 printed for the use of my Portuguese flock in public and private 
 worship. Last night, at our ordinary meeting for worship, we 
 sang part of the ' Plenitude de Jesus,' beginning with — 
 
 ' Todo o meu vil peccado 
 Ponho, Jesus, sobre Ti : 
 
 * This is a mistake ; the hymn was Mr. H. Bonar's. 
 
256 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Hum Cordeiro immaculado 
 Padeceste Tu pormi.' 
 
 The paraphrase is so wide, owing to the unaccommodating char- 
 acter of Portuguese words. Last Sabbath we had a sweet 
 and refreshing communion. Seventy-five or eighty encom- 
 passed the Lord's table, four or five of them for the first time. 
 On the preceding Sabbath, I was at a place called Arouca, 
 fourteen miles distant, where I preached the gospel to about 
 forty Portuguese, and administered the Supper to six of their 
 number. Several Madeirans, who came here Roman Catholics, 
 have embraced Protestantism, and attend our meetings." 
 
 " March 19. — Yesterday I went to Santa Cruz — nine or ten 
 miles from this — in search of Portuguese, and found twenty — 
 twelve Protestants and eight Roman Catholics. The former 
 were all together on the same estate ; and after they had 
 finished their day's work, we had worship together. It was a 
 refreshing meeting. The Roman Catholics that I met listened 
 to the Word of God with apparently deep interest. "Working 
 in this hot climate suits me ill. I scarcely know what it is to 
 be free from fatigue. My health is not so good as when I left 
 Britain. But I am glad that I have come on a visit to the 
 Portuguese. My coming has been, I truly believe, of the 
 Lord. 
 
 " I trust that your work on our Lord's coming will ere long 
 be published. Many, in these days, seem to be predisposed to 
 embrace the doctrine of the pre-millennial advent, and they 
 only need to have the subject placed before them in the light 
 of Scripture. I find that to say 'Come quickly' is the result 
 only of close ' walking with God.' Out of ' the light,' and of 
 communion with God, there is not a true and sincere longing 
 for the coming of the Lord. To be a pre-millenarian indeed 
 requires habitual heavenly-mindedness, and abstraction of the 
 heart from earthly things. An earthly-minded man and a 
 pre-millenarian are mutually opposite and incongruous. He 
 who knows best what is ' the hope of God's calling,' knows best 
 
CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 257 
 
 also, and knows from experience, the meaning of these words 
 — ' Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.' " 
 
 The next letter contains some solemn thoughts on 
 the Christian ministry, suggested by his experience 
 among the Portuguese : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Trinidad, March 19, 1847. 
 — .... I have not been without grounds of encouragement 
 and thankfulness. I have had misgivings and anxieties in re- 
 gard to some who, on a new field of conflict, have been sur- 
 prised and taken at a disadvantage by new expedients of the 
 adversary. Grace is, nevertheless, manifestly working, and up- 
 holding the goings of God's people. 
 
 y The vessel which contains the heavenly treasure is truly 'an 
 earthen vessel;' but what then? It is manifest that 'the excel- 
 lency of the power is God's, and not of man. This is what 
 we aim at, and to be more direct, steady, and sure in our aim ! 
 Man is nothing — God is everything. As ministers of the gos- 
 pel of God's grace, we ought always to look for, and surely ex- 
 pect, some fruit of our ministry. God in Athanasius against the 
 whole world — what shall He find impossible ? The whole world 
 against God in Athanasius — it will contend in vain. ' Old Adam 
 is too strong for young Melancthon.' It is true ; but Imman- 
 uel — God with us' — is infinitely too strong for old Adam. When 
 a minister desponds, saying, ' What can I do ?' he may well de- 
 spond, for he will do nothing : but when he girds himself for 
 conflict on praying ground, saying, ' What can the Lord not 
 do?' he will go forth 'in this his might,' and do 'all things.' 
 ' If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believ- 
 eth.' Omnipotence pledges itself to faith. 
 
 "The world cannot stand before a ministry that is strong in 
 the grace of God. It can stand before eloquence in the preach- 
 er ; it can stand before philosophy and before learning in the 
 preacher ; but before grace in the preacher it cannot stand. The 
 
258 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 sword of the Spirit in the hand of faith tells at every stroke. 
 You cannot give faithful testimony to the world in vain ; the 
 effect will be ' unto death' in many ; it will be ' unto life' in all 
 who shall be saved. O how solemn, how awful, the position 
 of a minister of God pleading with — preaching to — lost sinners ! 
 He is the Sower's hand ; he is the voice or mouth of God : he 
 is the accredited ambassador of Heaven. 
 
 " After leaving this, if the Lord spare me to do so, I intend 
 going to St. Kitt's and St. Vincent's for a short time. My vigor 
 is considerably less since I recommenced my labors in a hot 
 climate. The thermometer stands in the shade during the day 
 between 80 and 90 degrees. It falls to between 70 and 80 de- 
 grees during the night." 
 
 Farther details of his labors are given in subsequent 
 letters : — 
 
 "To his Sister. — Trinidad, March 19, 184 7. — On Sab- 
 bath last we had the communion again here. It was the most 
 refreshing season of the kind that I have had since I came to 
 Trinidad. There were a few whom I had recently examined, 
 and who communicated for the first time last Sabbath. After 
 the communion service was over, I baptized two children, so 
 that we had both sacraments at one diet of worship. One of 
 the new communicants, a young woman, gave, in the course 
 of the previous examination, very satisfying evidences of heart 
 experience as well as head knowledge. She seemed clearly to 
 have discovered the corruption of her nature, the sinfulness of 
 her life, the efficacy of Christ's blood, and the power of Divine 
 grace." 
 
 "To another. — Same date. — Till Tuesday last I did not 
 deliver my message from the Free Church to the Portuguese 
 converts, — I did not, I mean, convey to them an expression of 
 the Free Church's sympathy. Then, however, I did so ; and 
 that they might understand something about the Free Church, 
 I gave them a sketch of the history of the Church of Scotland 
 
THIRST FOR THE WORD. 259 
 
 down to the present day from the time of the Reformation. 
 When I was giving an account of the Disruption, tears were 
 shed by some of the hearers. A considerable number were 
 present, as is usually the case on Tuesday evenings. I always 
 lecture or preach on Tuesday evening, besides having two meet- 
 ings every Lord's day. 
 
 " A Portuguese, whose leg is in such a state that it is to be 
 amputated, and who had come to this island a Roman Catholic, 
 has of late manifested something like an awaking to the dis- 
 covery of his lost state, and his need of a Saviour. So desir- 
 ous was he of hearing the Word more fully, that, at the risk 
 of great injury to his wounded leg, he last Sabbath came a 
 distance of nearly a mile on crutches, and in the same manner 
 returned home — his leg swollen, but, as he said, his soul re- 
 freshed. This man, this poor Portuguese, will rise up in judg- 
 ment against many who, instead of being so anxious to hear 
 the Word of God, neglect privileges and means of grace such 
 as he never possessed. He will perhaps be found among 
 those who take the kingdom of heaven by violence, who press 
 into it through the midst of difficulties, while many pass by 
 the open door of heaven without seeking to enter. The poor 
 Portuguese, with all his disadvantages, may yet perhaps be 
 admitted to the marriage supper, while, with all their advan- 
 tages, many in favored Scotland are cast forth into outer dark- 
 ness. The neglect of ordinances will perhaps lead to a with- 
 drawal of ordinances altogether. God's holy things have been 
 wofully trodden under foot in Scotland, and His pearls despised. 
 A day of recompense is at hand." 
 
 " To his Parents. — Trinidad, March 31, 1847. — On Wed- 
 nesday last week I left this in a gig at a little after six o'clock, 
 a.m., and, travelling ten miles, preached to forty Portuguese in 
 the open air, under the shadow of a large tree. Afterwards I 
 went a distance of six or seven miles more, and preached in an 
 upper room to about twenty Portuguese. Then returning four 
 or five miles, I preached again in Mr. Brodie's church, at 
 
260 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Arouca, to a number of Portuguese, who assembled, after their 
 day's work, from a distance of two miles. On Thursday morn- 
 ing I was here to breakfast, having left Arouca pretty early. 
 If the Lord will, I shall be in Arouca again next Sabbath, ad- 
 ministering the communion, and preaching twice. 
 
 " A day or two ago I heard that Signor Arsenio, the Madeira 
 gentleman who was appointed by the Free Church to labor 
 here among his brethren, has at length sailed from the Clyde, 
 and is on his way to Trinidad. I am glad and thankful for 
 this. I expect that he will arrive here in about a fortnight. 
 
 " The cases of the prisoners in Madeira have at last been 
 decided. One who was sentenced to five years' banishment has 
 had his sentence commuted into six months' additional impris- 
 onment. Another has been sentenced to continue in jail till 
 March, 1848. The rest are probably now at liberty, and may 
 be expected to arrive ere long in Trinidad. 
 
 "Last Sabbath I administered the Lord's Supper here to 
 eighty-four Portuguese communicants. All present were Por- 
 tuguese but myself." 
 
 These were no ordinary labors. Most other men 
 would have long ago laid themselves aside as disabled. 
 But with a self-forgetting energy, and a holy elevation 
 of spirit, rarely, if ever surpassed, do we find this 
 dear servant of the Lord counting not his life dear 
 unto himself, so that he might finish his course with 
 joy, and the ministry Avhich he had received of the 
 Lord Jesus, that he might testify the gospel of the 
 grace of God. 
 
 And the Lord did not leave his labors without a 
 blessing. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Trinidad, March 31, 1847. 
 — Upon the whole, I may say, in reference to the present state 
 
CHURCH ORGANIZED. 261 
 
 of religion among the people under my charge, that there is 
 very much to afford encouragement, and to stir up thankfulness 
 to God. Among the unconverted Protestants there is manifest 
 neglect of divine things ; but among those who seem truly to 
 have ' the things which accompany salvation' there are at pres- 
 ent evidences of a lively and fervent spirit, with much concern 
 about the salvation of the soul. There have been some cases 
 of backsliding from the first love and the first works, but even 
 in most of these cases I have reason to believe that there has 
 been a repenting and a remembering of the former paths. 
 For all the good, praise be to the God of all grace !" 
 
 " To the Colonial Committee. — Trinidad, April 20, 1847. 
 — I was gladdened a week or two ago by the arrival of Mr. Da 
 Silva. He was obliged to come hither from Lisbon by the way 
 of Britain. His converted countrymen rejoice at his presence 
 amongst them ; and I trust that, by the grace of God and of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ resting both on him and them, they will 
 derive much good from his labors amongst them. In the 
 course of another fortnight I expect to be on my way to St. 
 Vincent. 
 
 " I write in haste, not more for want of time than for want 
 of strength. At present I am exhausted by the fatigues to 
 which I have been necessarily subjected." 
 
 Mr. Hewitson bade farewell to the exiles in Trini- 
 dad in- the beginning of May, 1847. " When I left 
 the island," we find him writing afterwards, " all was 
 satisfactory and cheering. The refugee-church is now 
 in good order, and everything is full of promise. 
 Their pastor, Senhor Arsenio, is well qualified for the 
 work, I mean especially by the grace of God. He is 
 a dear brother in the Lord, and a zealous minister of 
 the church for the Lord's sake. The Lord is blessing 
 
262 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 him beyond all his expectations with grace and 
 strength for the work. Tnej have the Lord's Supper 
 once a month, according to an arrangement made be- 
 fore I left them. Our dear brother Arsenio seems to 
 have the Bible always in his heart, and his heart al- 
 ways in heaven. ' Praise waiteth for thee, O Lord, in 
 Sion.' " 
 
 Though almost prostrated by a tropical sun, he 
 visited St. Kitt's, and preached there fourteen times, 
 and twice administered the sacrament of the Supper. 
 He found in that island about fifty members of his ex- 
 iled flock. Before he left them he provided them 
 with regular ministrations, having brought with him 
 one of the elders from Trinidad for that purpose. 
 
 The reader may be interested by a parting glimpse 
 of the exiles. It is given in a letter to Mr. Hewitson 
 from the Eev. Mr. Gonsalves, himself a Madeiran, and 
 a converted Romanist, who had been sent by the 
 " American Christian Union" to the West Indies, to 
 arrange for their removal to the United States. En- 
 couraged by the generous sympathy and aid of the 
 American people, the converts were already arriving 
 in successive groups in New- York, when a bereave- 
 ment overtook them which touchingly illustrated what 
 God had wrought among them. It was the death of 
 their beloved pastor, Senhor Arsenio da Silva. Mr. 
 Gonsalves thus writes : — 
 
 " Neio York, February 27, 1849. — .... I was with our 
 much beloved brother night and day for two weeks. His doc- 
 
DEATH OF DA SILVA. 263 
 
 tor, Dr. Beadle (one of the most pious and skilful in this city), 
 said it was very important that he should have his medicines 
 and nourishment with great regularity, as he was in a very 
 critical state, and also that he should be kept very quiet ; so I 
 felt it my duty, to see that all these important rules were ob- 
 served faithfully. And it was quite a trial, I assure you, to 
 keep the weeping anxious Portuguese converts from talking to 
 the afflicted man of God, their pastor, for they were anxious to 
 gather themselves around him, like children around the couch 
 of a dying parent. It was a sight that might have made an 
 angel weep, to see the affectionate tears rolling down the 
 checks of the flock, while the pastor smiled in hope of the glory 
 of God, although suffering much pain from the dreadful dis- 
 ease he brought from Trinidad. 
 
 " But all human efforts availed nothing. On the 8th of 
 January he was evidently near the river of death. In his last 
 prayer he remembered most affectionately the Free Church of 
 Scotland, his precious flock, his wife and daughter and grand- 
 children — prayed most earnestly for the conversion of his dear 
 wife, and that his flock might not be scattered, and for all 
 of them to abide in Christ in the bonds of love. 
 
 " He was very anxious to know of the American Protestant 
 Society, to whom he wrote a letter some time since from Trini- 
 dad, whether his flock could have a portion of good land in the 
 United States to cultivate, very near each other, where they 
 might have a church built, and schools for their children, and 
 where they might, by honest industry, earn their daily bread, 
 and worship the Lord God of Israel in spirit and in truth. He 
 said he felt great anxiety especially for the lambs of the flock, 
 who were mixed up in Trinidad with a low, vicious, degraded 
 Roman Catholic population, who were as bad, or worse, than 
 the rabble of Madeira ; and that, as his people could not get 
 lands in Trinidad where they might live by themselves, they 
 were all anxious to remove to this land of civil and religious lib- 
 erty. The Rev. Mr. Norton and M. Demotte, Esq., secretaries 
 
264 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of the American Protestant Society, assured him that lands 
 could be obtained, and that all should be done according to the 
 desire of his heart. 
 
 " After this he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, in a 
 spirit of sweet communion and great faith, ' Senhor Jesus, 
 deixaime caminhar em paz porque os meus olhos ja virao a tua 
 salvaqao.' On the 10th of January (Wednesday) the doctor 
 called and said, ' We can do nothing more ; he will not live 
 through the day.' Brother Da Silva was calm, with his eyes 
 closed, during the last three days. Sometimes I would speak 
 to him softly of the great love of Christ, and I would say to 
 him, ' Senhor Ministro, meu caro Irmao, conheceme ?' He 
 would say, ' Sim, Senhor, perfeitamente, Jesus he sempre a 
 minha esperanca.' And although he could not open his eyes, 
 yet the affectionate tear of love towards his dear Saviour would 
 roll down the emaciated cheek of the man of God. 
 
 " Oh, my dear brother, it was a painful, yet precious privi- 
 lege, to witness so much suffering without a murmur — to see 
 one, rescued by grace from the power of the Man of Sin so re- 
 cently, die like an apostle, full of faith, giving glory to God ! 
 Oh, what would T have given to have had you and our excel- 
 lent brother in Christ, Dr. Kalley, present, to see how impor- 
 tant were those precious efforts which were made in my poor 
 unfortunate native land, to save Romanists from sin and hell ! 
 Yes, all glory to God, I hope the time is not far distant when 
 all Portugal, and Spain, and the isles, will enjoy the inestima- 
 ble blessings of the gospel of Christ. I say you and dear Dr. 
 Kalley, because I know, from conversations which I had with 
 our now glorified happy brother, that you both were particu- 
 larly dear to him. 
 
 "On the 10th of January, at ten minutes before three p.m., 
 I knelt down with a number of our Portuguese brethren to 
 pray. Before I had concluded my supplication, the happy re- 
 deemed spirit of our brother left for the heavenly land, without a 
 struggle or a groan. It was a happy death — like one falling asleep. 
 
PORTUGUESE — NEW YORK. 265 
 
 "The funeral took place on the 12th, in the Rev. Dr. De- 
 witt's church, Fourth Street. It was a bitter cold day ; but 
 many were present to pay their respects. The weeping Portu- 
 guese felt like Rachel. The large American audience also shed 
 tears of sympathy for the bereaved flock. The Rev. Mr. Nor- 
 ton spoke on the occasion ; and I addressed the Portuguese in 
 our own language. The Rev. Drs. Devvitt and Dowling offered 
 prayer ; and I related something of the happy death of our 
 brother, in English — of his great confidence in Christ in the 
 last days of his life. 
 
 " The Portuguese here are a very devoted band of pilgrims. 
 They love one another. They search the Bible with great dil- 
 igence. They enjoy a blessed prayer-meeting morning and eve- 
 ning. Sometimes eight or ten prayers will follow in rapid suc- 
 cession. My sister and sister — — — are very 
 
 active among the females, encouraging them to every good 
 work. They are what Paul would call ' helpers in the gospel.' 
 The brethren are also faithful in exhortation. They are all very 
 industrious. 
 
 " Seldom a prayer is offered to the throne of grace, from any 
 one of the flock, that I do not hear your name, and that of Dr. 
 Kalley, and the Free Church of Scotland. They will need a 
 faithful, devoted pastor, one well able to instruct them in the 
 deep things of God, and render assistance in the education of 
 their children, Sabbath school, &c. Can you, dear brother, 
 come to Illinois next fall, and take charge of this interesting, 
 precious flock ? I know they all love you as they love their 
 own souls. 
 
 " It is my wish that they may remain attached to the branch 
 of Sion which has been the instrument, in the hands of God, 
 of doing so much for them, and of sustaining their lamented 
 pastor — I mean the noble, self-sacrificing Free Church of Scot- 
 land. I am a missionary, and have been for many years, in 
 the employ of the American Protestant Society. We are not 
 sectarian — we embrace all in our fellowship that love the 
 
 12 
 
266 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 blessed Master and His cause, who believe in the Christ of 
 God. We are not sent to baptize, or to make Baptists, but to 
 preach Christ and Him crucified. Our great anxiety is, that 
 precious souls should be baptized with the Holy Ghost. It 
 makes very little difference whether a man is baptized with a 
 gallon of water or with an ocean. If he has not been baptized 
 with the spirit of Christ, he will sink to hell. 
 
 " When I was in Trinidad last year, I was grieved to learn 
 that one individual tried to introduce wranglings and contro- 
 versy. It gave our late brother much pain of heart to witness 
 the hot dispute that arose in consequence, for it led to much 
 hard feeling. But thank God ! the whole flock is now perfectly 
 united, and will soon, I hope, be together, and be united as one 
 bread. 
 
 " Be assured, my dear brother, that I shall do all in my 
 power to cherish this heavenly spirit of love, union, sweet com- 
 munion, and Christian fellowship. I shall wait for another let- 
 ter from you with pleasure. I wish very much your kind ad- 
 vice and mind as regards our present plans. Accept much 
 love from us all. Pray for us. And may the God of Abra- 
 ham, Isaac, and Israel, bless you and yours forever ! Your un- 
 worthy but affectionate brother in Christ, 
 
 " M. J. GONSALVES.'' 
 
 At the time this letter reached him, Mr. Hewitson 
 was ministering to another flock ; but one who was his 
 own " son in the faith," and had nearly completed his 
 college training for the ministry, was selected to be the 
 pastor of his fellow-exiles. " The Lord seems now," 
 said Mr. Hewitson, one day in his sick-chamber, a few 
 months before his death, "to be making all things 
 ready for my departure. I have just received from 
 America the gladdening intelligence that the dear Por- 
 
CHURCH ORGANIZED. 267 
 
 luguese are at length settled in Illinois; their new 
 pastor has arrived among them ; they are organized 
 into a fully-constituted church; and great grace is 
 upon them all." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1847, 1848. 
 
 Voyage Home — Conversion of a Sailor — Death of Dr. Chalmers — 
 Labors — Singular Holiness — Correspondence — Call to Dirleton. 
 
 " I never had a voyage like this," was the remark 
 of the captain of the vessel in which, on the 15th 
 July, 1847, Mr. Hewitson reached the Clyde. And 
 so, we have been told, felt all the ship's company. 
 Not a Jonah had been on board, fleeing from the 
 presence of the Lord, but a Caleb, walking in the 
 light of His face. Daily had they all assembled at his 
 invitation, morning and evening, to pray and to hear 
 the Word. There was something, besides, about his 
 whole walk and bearing, which made them feel that 
 one from God was among them. The Lord did not 
 leave His servant without fruit. One of the sailors 
 became a marked trophy of grace. " I am not in 
 want of a closet to pray in," said he one day as the 
 voyage drew near its termination ; "I can just cover 
 my face in my hat here at the helm, and I am as much 
 alone with God as in a closet." The man had sailed 
 from Antigua a careless sinner : Mr. Hewitson now 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 269 
 
 rejoiced over him as another of his many spiritual 
 children. 
 
 And whence that so impressive walk ? In a brief 
 note, written during the voyage, we discover indirect- 
 ly its source : — 
 
 " To his Parents. — Atlantic Ocean, 40 miles west of Cape 
 Clear, July 10, 1847. — To-day I read Luke ix., as the chapter 
 for our reading in fellowship. It is rich in truth, and full of 
 blessing, because full of Christ. Christ is the life, and soul> 
 and meaning of the Word of God ; and if we seek Christ in 
 the Word, we shall surely rind Him, and have cause to rejoice 
 more than one that findeth great spoil. The Word is the gold 
 mine — Christ is the gold itself. The Word is the well — Christ 
 is the living water that fills it to the brim. Let him that 
 thirsteth take freely." 
 
 On landing, a stroke fell upon him, by which he 
 was deeply affected. He briefly alludes to it in a 
 letter from Dalmellington : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — July 29, 1847. — Dr. Chalmers! 
 The angels have carried him away into Abraham's bosom ! I 
 did not hear of it till I reached Ayr. Opening a book, 1 read 
 the words — ' The late Dr. Chalmers.' This was the first an- 
 nouncement." 
 
 And in another letter : — 
 
 " Dr. Chalmers ! He is among ' the spirits of the just 
 made perfect.' " 
 
 Chalmers he had not only revered as a master, but 
 loved as a father. "The child-like simplicity, the 
 
270 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 saintly meekness of Chalmers," he used to say, " always 
 made me feel at home with him. He relished spirit- 
 ual converse. He was one of the humblest men I 
 ever met." 
 
 " We are travellers ; we ' go from strength to 
 strength' (no weakness in the pilgrim -journey of those 
 who are one with ' the mighty God',) till ' every one 
 of us in Sion appeareth before God.' " So wrote a 
 fellow-laborer to Mr. Hewitson respecting their mutual 
 journeying. The words are strikingly descriptive of 
 his remaining course. 
 
 For several months he visited successively different 
 parts of the country, preaching on Sabbaths and week- 
 days, and leaving in every place the savor of his 
 heavenly walk. His letters indicate that growing 
 mellowness which was the characteristic feature of this 
 period. We select a few brief extracts : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dalmellington, August 
 12, 1847. — .... I have much work before me, some of it 
 not pleasant to my sluggish nature ; but the Lord can make 
 all things pleasant, if we do them unto Him. Oh, it is a 
 sweet service the service of the Lord, because His smiles are 
 sweet — His very frowns are frowns of love ! He is altogether 
 ' wonderful,' and ' altogether lovely.' If we be going to spend 
 eternity in looking on His glory, surely we will not grudge to 
 look often on His glory during time. The more we look to 
 Him, the more blessed we are." 
 
 "To A Friend in England. — Edinburgh, August 19, 
 1847. — .... Don't you long to be filled with the love of 
 Jesus, and to be holy altogether, as He is holy 5 The time is 
 drawing nigh when this longing shall be satisfied. We shall 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 271 
 
 soon see His face. We shall soon be with Him in glory ; and 
 we shall be like Him then — free from sin — all spiritual, all 
 pure, all heavenly-minded. The wounded hands, we shall see 
 them soon ; the pierced side, we shall soon behold it, and fall 
 down before the Lamb. Yet a little while, and He will appear 
 in His glory. Let us watch and be ready. 
 
 " Tribulation cannot separate you from the love of God 
 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ; but the love of God will in 
 the end separate you from tribulation, bring you out of it, and 
 give you fulness of joy. Lift up your head, for your redemp- 
 tion draweth nigh. May you be sealed till that day, and have 
 the earnest of the Spirit continually in your heart. The Spirit of 
 Jesus loves the humble and broken heart; and He abides 
 there, sprinkling the blood, and creating peace." 
 
 "Edinburgh, September 29, 1847. — I wish you and Mrs. 
 
 all joy. May your journey towards ' the Holy City' be 
 
 in one respect like that of the two disciples to Emmaus. May 
 the Lord himself be with you, and abide with you, until your 
 journey be ended, and you set up your last Ebenezer in Gilgal, 
 on the other side of Jordan." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Edinburgh, October 1, 1847. — 
 Have you seen A. Bonar's work on Prophecy, entitled, ' Re- 
 demption Drawing Nigh V The more I study Scripture, the 
 more am I convinced that the Lord is at hand — in other words, 
 that His arrival must be previous to the 'thousand years.' 
 When He comes, may we be found of Him in peace, without 
 spot, and blameless. We shall lose nothing by being always 
 watching and always ready. Love is, in its nature, a thing of 
 expectation, and waiting, and longing, if the object of it be 
 absent, and especially if he have sent beforehand an intimation, 
 ' Behold, I come quickly.' Love, catching at the intimation, 
 cries out, ' Even so, come.' " 
 
 Not in a spirit of censoriousness, but in real grief of 
 heart, we find him lamenting the low tone of personal 
 
272 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 godliness prevailing around him, and the consequent 
 hiding of the Lord's arm : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Dalmellington, October 12, 
 1847. — I preached here on Saturday afternoon, addressed the 
 communicants on Sabbath at the table of the Lord, and, the 
 
 same day, preached in the evening Strange it seems 
 
 that at this time there should be such a restraining of grace, 
 such a general and prevailing drought over the land. ' Is my 
 Spirit straitened, saith the Lord V What is it in the church 
 that is causing the Lord's marked silence, and hindering the 
 Lord's Word in the midst of us ? Forgetfulness among God's 
 people of their heavenly calling, and a cleaving of their souls 
 to the dust, seem to be one great hindrance in the way of the 
 truth. Men are content with a little grace and a little peace, 
 but they do not aim at or desire glory — they do not long for 
 the Lord's appearing — they do not exhibit much love of home. 
 This is, no doubt, displeasing to the Lord. There are other 
 causes of displeasure besides. 
 
 " Next week I go, God willing, to preach in Salton for four 
 weeks. Afterwards I hope to be in Kelso for a week or two. 
 I commit my way to the Lord." 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Same date. — If my health 
 were perfect I should have more frequent opportunities of letter- 
 writing than I can now command. The Lord sees good to 
 keep proud nature under, by making bodily infirmity subser- 
 vient to the interests of grace. I may truly say, ' I had fainted 
 unless I had hoped to see the goodness of the Lord in the 
 land of the living.' A time is drawing nigh when ' there shall 
 be no more sorrow nor crying, neither any more pain, for the 
 former things shall have passed away.' If the enjoyment of 
 comfort in the Lord make us to abound in hope — abundance 
 of hope, in its turn, conduces to the increase of comfort. 
 
 " Whatever spiritual disease we labor under, the cause of it 
 is invariably, and in every case, the existence in our hearts of 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 273 
 
 some desire incompatible with the desire of Christ. The battle 
 will be sore, the disease painful, if the desire of Christ be not 
 supreme and reigning within us. We should search out the 
 rebel desire which hinders our growth and straitens our goings. 
 We should seek to have it laid low under the heel of grace." 
 
 In the temporary absence of Mr. Fairbairn in Lon- 
 don, Mr. Hewitson supplied his pulpit for a month 
 with no little profit to the congregation. The high 
 tone of his own walk may be gathered from a few 
 farther extracts : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Salton, November 9, 1847. 
 — My labors have been, though fatiguing, not too great for 
 my strength. In every way the Lord has dealt bountifully 
 with me. ' Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good, for His 
 mercy endureth forever.' We do not praise God according to 
 His goodness and mercy. Well may we cry out, like Ruther- 
 ford, ' O for a harp !' 
 
 " There is a sad want of communion among the saints. The 
 live-coals are scattered on the hearth instead of being piled up 
 and kindled into a glowing flame. There is all the more need 
 of seeking close communion with God Himself. 
 
 " Do not God's people walk in darkness because they dislike 
 the clear light, and shut their eyes ? Most true it is that we 
 cannot be walking in holiness if we be not walking in the light. 
 Let us welcome, therefore, with gladness, every ray of divine 
 truth. Nothing but sin can keep us back from God ; and even 
 sin cannot keep us back from God when we seek to draw near 
 truly by the blood of Christ. 
 
 " If we do not believe that the Spirit of God is in us, we 
 shall not fear sin as we ought, and we shall not triumph over 
 temptation as we might. We will not give diligence to abstain 
 from everything that would grieve the Spirit, if we do not 
 know that we are sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemp- 
 12* 
 
274 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 tion. To know the things that are freely given to us of God, 
 and, in particular, to know that God has given us His Spirit, 
 is a wonderful help and encouragement in the divine life. A 
 watchful spirit is necessary in crucifying the flesh. Watchful- 
 ness implies the fear of evil and the hope of good. Not to 
 fear wrath, nor to hope for glory, creates unwatchfulness and 
 feeds the flesh. — Your affectionate friend, 
 
 "W. H. HEWiTsoy." 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Linlithgow, November 25, 1842. 
 — May the Lord be with us to-morrow, and make our fellow- 
 ship exceedingly sweet and edifying ! What privileges we 
 have as God's children ! We need to exhort one another to 
 live, in some measure, according to our privileges. It is one 
 of our privileges to have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, but few 
 of God's people now-a-days seem to believe even that the Holy 
 Ghost is in them at all. I feel the effects of the deadness 
 which is reigning all around. There is a much-to-be-lamented 
 want of lifelikeness and of spiritual sensibility in the church at 
 the present hour. O that these brassy heavens were rent !" 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq. — Belhaven, November 26, 
 1849. — Next Sabbath I have promised to preach again at 
 Dirleton, and likewise to hold a prayer-meeting on Monday 
 evening. In Salton I was encouraged by knowing that there 
 were some truly spiritual people in the congregation, as well as 
 by the appearance among all of earnest attention to the Word. 
 We must sow in faith ; and if we do, we shall expect success. 
 We should not only walk in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit, 
 but we should likewise speak and declare the testimony of 
 God in the Spirit. ' Who made man's mouth ? Have not I 
 the Lord V The promise is given, ' I will be with thy mouth.' 
 
 " Abraham needed rest at Mamre, or elsewhere, — he would 
 have been brought low in spirit if he had been wandering 
 daily from place to place. He liked sometimes to tarry where 
 he had a fixed altar consecrated to the Lord. In such places 
 he enjoyed lengthened seasons of repose and fellowship with 
 
SINGULAR HOLINESS. 275 
 
 his God. My movements, after I return to Edinburgh, I know 
 not what they may be, or whither. I too am a wanderer, a 
 stranger in every way on the earth." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. M'Clymont. — Kelso, December 14,1847. 
 — I purpose being with you on Tuesday next. On Thursday 
 first, if the Lord will, I go to preach at Dunse, and on Sabbath 
 
 have to preach for Mr. Bonar In Kelso I found many 
 
 godly people, who are waiting for the Lord's coming. Our 
 hope is truly a blessed one, and much to be cherished. It 
 has power, more than anything else, to make us feel that we 
 are set down as strangers in a strange land, and to wean our 
 affections from the things of this evil world. Anything that 
 keeps us near the living person Christ Jesus, transforms us into 
 His likeness ; and the expectation of his advent is especially 
 fitted to have this effect." 
 
 "The world," says Mr. Cecil, "looks at ministers 
 out of the pulpit, to see what they mean in it." In- 
 terpreted by such a commentary, it was not difficult 
 to understand what Mr. Hewitson's preaching meant. 
 The friend whom he went to visit after writing the 
 note last quoted, thus narrates the impression left by 
 his visit : — 
 
 " The holiness and heavenliness of his whole conversation 
 were such as to make me feel that he was more like a being 
 come for a time from another world, to declare his message 
 and return to it again, than like an ordinary Christian. The 
 effect was to make ordinary Christians almost ashamed of the 
 lowness of their attainments, and their distance from that purity 
 and devotedness which ought to fill us all. By one individual 
 amongst us, who was reckoned — truly, I believe — a sincere 
 Christian, this effect was felt so profoundly, that she was seized 
 with alarm that she had never been a Christian at all, but 
 had only been mocking God with false professions." 
 
276 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEW1TSON. 
 
 None who knew Mr. Hewitson will deem this pic- 
 ture overdrawn. These pages, we are persuaded, 
 will meet the eyes of many throughout the church, 
 who trace to the time when they met Mr. Hewitson a 
 season of new searching of heart, of freshened love, 
 of holier aspirations. 
 
 If to them Mr. Hewitson's loss has proved an al- 
 most irreparable deprivation, there are others to whom 
 it has been a relief. Of the class to whom we refer, 
 liichard Baxter thus tersely writes : — 
 
 " When preachers tell people of a necessity of holiness, and 
 that without it no man shall see the Lord, and yet remain un- 
 holy themselves, the people will think .... these are but 
 words of course. As long as men have eyes, as well as ears, 
 they will think they see your meaning- as well as hear it ; and 
 they are more apt to believe their sight than their hearing, 
 
 as being the more perfect sense How many a faithful 
 
 minister, and private man, is hated and reproached for the sake 
 of such as you ! What say the people to them ? ' You are 
 so precise, and tell us so much of sin, and dangers, and duty, 
 and make so much stir about these matters, when such or 
 such a minister, that is as great a scholar as you, and as good 
 a preacher as you, will be merry and jest with us, and let us 
 alone, and never trouble himself or us with such discourse.' 
 This is the very thoughts and talk of people, which your neg- 
 ligence doth occasion. They will give you leave to preach 
 against their sins as much as you will, and talk as much for 
 godliness in the pulpit, so you will but let them alone after- 
 wards, and be friendly and merry with them when you have 
 done, and talk as they do, and live as they, and be indifferent 
 with them in your conscience and conversation." 
 
diiileton. 277 
 
 To such Mr. Hewitson's presence was distasteful. 
 It was felt to be a silent rebuke. 
 
 Various vacant congregations were turning their 
 eyes towards one whom the Master had so signally 
 honored, desiring to have him as their pastor. The 
 letter which follows indicates his singleness of heart 
 in waiting for the Lord's direction : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Denholm, December 29, 1847. 
 — .... The question which you put in connection with 
 Dirleton I feel to be an important one ; and as you do not re- 
 quire a categorical declaration that I would accept a call if it 
 were given me, I do not, after prayerfully thinking on the sub- 
 ject, experience any difficulty in giving to your question what, 
 I gather from your letter, will be a satisfactory answer. I do 
 not pledge or commit myself by any declaration, which cir- 
 cumstances might afterwards afford ground for regarding as 
 rash. My desire is to be led onward by the Lord in the light 
 of present circumstances, and to walk no faster than by these 
 circumstances the Lord seems to lead. At present, then, I 
 see no reason for declining a call from the people of Dirleton, 
 if they should think fit to give me a call to be their pastor. 
 
 "Future circumstances, such as the call not being an har- 
 monious one, might determine me to decline it ; but, rnean- 
 • while, I cannot see that He who has the stars in His right 
 hand is not pointing to Dirleton as my future place of minis- 
 try. If the Lord see that another would be a means of greater 
 good to souls there, and that I would be more usefully em- 
 ployed in some other corner of His vineyard, then my prayer 
 is, that He may arrange things accordingly. 
 
 " ' The time is short.'' O that we may win souls to Christ 
 wherever we be ! and win souls to Christ we shall, if we 
 preach God's Word in God's way, and trusting in God's suffi- 
 ciency." 
 
278 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Meanwhile, we find him pouring the balm into the 
 hearts of bereaved and afflicted brethren : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Glasgow. — Edinburgh, January 11, 
 1848. — Often in Madeira I had sweet fellowship in the things 
 of the kingdom with you and your dear sister who is now 
 with the Lord. She has fallen asleep. In this way has her 
 Lord appointed for her deliverance from those things which 
 shall come to pass. Her trials are all past — her tears are all 
 wiped away. She is full of joy, waiting for the resurrection. 
 Let such thoughts as these wipe away tears from your eyes. 
 If you grieve, it will be for yourself, and not for her. Her 
 grief is past — her joy is full. To sympathize with her, is to 
 sympathize with joy — joy unspeakable, and full of glory. 
 
 "The words with which the Lord would have His bereaved 
 and mourning people to comfort one another are words which 
 tell that those who have fallen asleep in Jesus God will bring 
 with Him on that day. No words of consolation are more 
 powerful than these. The more that their consolatory power 
 is felt, the more earnest will be the cry, ' Come, Lord Jesus — 
 come quickly.' The cry of the waiting, the afflicted saints, 
 docs not ascend unheard or in vain. ' Surely I come quickly,' 
 says the Lord ; and ' He is not slack concerning His promise, 
 as some men count slackness.' 
 
 "Yet a very little while, and those who sit weeping by Ba- 
 bel's streams, strangers in a strange land, shall be at home, and 
 forever with the Lord. It is difficult for me now to believe 
 that my Christian friends who sleep are really gone away. 
 They are so near in the Lord. The Lord make your tears a 
 blessing to your soul, and wipe them away with His own 
 hand !" 
 
 "To a Friend in Malta. — Edinburgh, January 15, 1848. 
 — .... In the vine, what can keep the sap from circling 
 through the branches ? In Christ, what can keep his life from 
 flowing into our hearts ? We have only to look to Jesus, to 
 
CONSOLATIONS. 279 
 
 lean on Jesus, and He does all within us. We have only to 
 abide in His truth ; and, by the truth, He quickens, sanctifies, 
 strengthens, comforts. If we look away from Jesus, we droop ; 
 if we look to Him, we live. 
 
 '"The time is short.' The last and greatest Antichrist 
 seems now on the point of being manifested. The world is 
 hastening to its crisis. The Lord is at hand. May we be 
 counted worthy to stand before the presence of His glory !" 
 
 " To another Friend in Malta. — Edinburgh, January 
 15, 1848. — Just about this time last year I visited you at Ma- 
 deira, on my way to Trinidad, and now, writing to you all, I 
 have the pleasure of making a short call on you at Malta. 
 Great changes have taken place since we had so frequently the 
 opportunity of calling together on the name of the Lord, at 
 
 's bedside, or with the dear persecuted followers of the 
 
 Lamb, in some place of secret meeting. Mrs. Walker, who 
 grew in Madeira, and flourished like the palm-tree, is now 
 translated into the immediate presence of Jesus. 'Arise, let 
 us go hence.' The Lord, when arising and going hence, called 
 on us to follow Him ; and, one by one, saints pass away from 
 amongst us. Oh, evil world, that seduces the affections and 
 alienates the love of Christ's blood-ransomed bride ! The blood 
 that is in the Holiest of all is like a seal set also upon our 
 sprinkled souls, declaring that we are of the Lord's, and no 
 more of the world. We should therefore repel the world's 
 claims upon us, and keep our hearts free and disengaged for 
 Him who has bought us with His blood. So shall we be glad 
 when the Lord comes — glad now in the hope of His coming 
 — gladder then, when we see Him as He is." 
 
 To another Friend in Malta. — Edinburgh, January 15, 
 1848. — I was glad to receive your last letter. It breathed the 
 air of the wilderness, and sighed after the rest of God — after 
 the home of the redeemed in heaven. 
 
 " Even here we have a resting-place with Jesus. In such 
 seasons of darkness and trouble, what scope there is for the 
 
280 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 manifestation of a bold, all-venturing faith ! To trust in the 
 Word when you have nothing else to encourage confidence — 
 to trust in the Word when everything else tends to create de- 
 spondency — that is faith in its simplicity — faith in its most 
 God-glorifying exercise. That faith is like David, without 
 Saul's armor, confronting the panoplied giant of Gath ; it is 
 like Jonathan and his armor-bearers against all the host of the 
 Philistines; it is like Israel 'going forward' at God's command, 
 while yet no way has been cut, by miracle, through the waters 
 of the Red Sea ; it is like Job, afflicted and oppressed, and 
 ready to die, saying, ' Though He slay me, yet will I trust in 
 Him ;' — to take a nobler and more amazing exemplification 
 still — it is like Jesus, horror-struck, desolate, forsaken by God, 
 still crying aloud, ' My God ! My God !' 
 
 " The Word of God is the anchor of our hope — an anchor 
 sure and steadfast, and it enters into the Holiest of all. The 
 Word is the pole on which Christ is lifted up ; the Word is 
 the glass which reflects Christ's glory ; the Word is the staff 
 which Christ puts in our hand. We know nothing of Christ 
 but what the Word reveals : Christ's thoughts are not in us, 
 unless our thoughts be according to the Word. When we 
 lean on the Word, we lean truly on Christ. If the Word be 
 in us, then we are in the Father and in the Son. To have the 
 Word of God in the hand of faith is to have God— to have all 
 things. By-and-by, when we are in glory, and have perfect 
 knowledge, we shall see how exactly the Word glasses and 
 reflects the heart of God." 
 
 At length his way was opened. The congregation 
 of the Free Church of Scotland at Dirleton — a village 
 in East Lothian, about twenty miles from Edinburgh 
 — called Mr. Hewitson to be their pastor. " The call," 
 wrote the Rev. Mr. Thomson, the official organ of the 
 Presbytery, on 3d February, " is most harmonious. 
 
CALL TO DIRLETON. 281 
 
 I trust it is a call from the Lord ; or rather, I may- 
 say, is it not plainly so ? I hope you will be able to 
 view it as such, and give it your hearty acceptance. 
 And I rejoice to learn that your health is so far re- 
 established as to enable you to undertake a charge." 
 Mr. Hewitson writes : — 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dalmellington, February 8, 1848. 
 — Since your last arrived, I have had a communication on the 
 same subject from Mr. Thomson of Prestonkirk. My mind is 
 very far from being averse to acceptance, but truly I have not 
 at this moment light sufficiently clear to make me free from all 
 doubt as to what the Lord's mind is in the matter. So far as 
 consciousness reveals to me the secret things of my own heart, 
 I am not swayed by any consideration such as ' I would like 
 this,' or ' I would like that,' but by a desire of knowing what 
 the Lord would have me to do. When I went to Madeira, I 
 did so. against the likings of my own heart, but these were 
 overpowered by the plain indications of the Lord's will. If I 
 go to Dirleton, it will not be against my own likings, for the 
 harmoniousness of the call makes me feel something like a 
 strong attachment to the people from whom the call has pro- 
 ceeded. Is it the Lord's will that I should go ? That question 
 settled, then my answer will be, ' Here am I, Lord ; send 
 me.' " 
 
 • "To his Mother. — Edinburgh, February 10, 1 848. — Yester- 
 day I went to Haddington Presbytery, and, having fully made 
 up my mind as to the way in which I should go, I intimated 
 my acceptance of the call. Thursday, the 9th of March, has 
 been fixed as the day of induction ; and on the Sabbath fol- 
 lowing, if the Lord will, I shall begin my labors as the Free 
 Church minister of Dirleton. O that it may be made by 
 God, and by the Lord Jesus Christ, a blessed and fruitful 
 ministry !" 
 
282 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 The aspirations of his soul, as he hastened forward 
 to this new scene, we gather from three brief extracts : — 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Dalmellington, February 24, 
 1848. — Experience teaches me that there is a most intimate 
 connection between personal abiding in Christ and ministerial 
 usefulness. When the truth is living in our own souls, it goes 
 forth living from our lips, and makes a stronger impression on 
 the souls of others. Nothing makes me feel such inability to 
 preach or pray in the congregation as being myself out of com- 
 munion with God. Communion with God is what makes ser- 
 vice sweet and easy, prosperous and successful. It is good to' 
 long for being filled with the Spirit — it is better to be filled. 
 When we are, the Spirit Himself preaches by us, and the Word 
 is in divine demonstration and power." 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dalmellington, February 29, 
 1848. — If the Lord carry me to Dirleton, I shall enter on the 
 work with much desire and buoyancy, through His good hand 
 upon me. The way in which He would have me to go was 
 made so plain before me, that I could not but see it. 
 
 " You seem to have had more recent intelligence than I re- 
 garding France. Troubles are thickening ; but I am not sur- 
 prised, — in the light of prophecy, I have been for years now 
 looking forward for thickening troubles. ' The Lord reigneth.' 
 The floods lift up their voice, ' but,' as it is in our sweet metri- 
 cal translation of the Psalms — 
 
 ' But yet the Lord that is on high 
 
 Is more of might by far 
 Than noise of mighty waters is, 
 Or great sea-billows are.' " 
 
 " To William Dickson, Esq. — Dalmellington, March 1, 
 1848. — At present I am weak, in consequence of a lingering 
 influenza. I trust that the Lord will be pleased to strengthen 
 me for my prospective labors. 
 
CALL TO DIKLETON. 283 
 
 " All things portend change on an unparalleled scale, and 
 disaster such as never yet has been witnessed in any age, as 
 being near at hand to this evil world. Now or never must souls 
 be won to Christ. The door of the Ark will soon be shut by 
 the hand of God." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1848, 1849. 
 
 Ministry at Dirleton — Method of Preaching — New Scene of Labi a- 
 — Expectation of Success — Prayers and Pains — Communions — Speci- 
 men of Ministrations — Simplicity of his Faith — Trials and Conso- 
 lations — Characteristics — Conversation. 
 
 " He who would do some great thing in this short 
 life," writes Mr. Foster, " must apply himself to the 
 work with such a concentration of his forces as to idle 
 spectators, who live only to amuse themselves, looks 
 like insanity." Above and beyond all other men is he 
 who " concentrates his forces" on the work of winning 
 souls pronounced by the world to be " beside him- 
 self." " But he," saith the Lord, " that winneth souls 
 is wise." 
 
 As Mr. Hewitson grew in likeness to the Lord Je- 
 sus, he grew in the intensity of his longings for the 
 salvation of perishing sinners, " in Christ's stead" be- 
 seeching them to be reconciled to God. In immediate 
 anticipation of his settlement at Dirleton, we find him 
 writing : — 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Of all men the minister should 
 be most like Jesus, in bowels of compassion towards souls, in 
 
METHOD OF PREACHING. 285 
 
 travailing for their deliverance from death, and in consuming 
 zeal of the Father's house. The more Christ-like that we are 
 in the work of the ministry, the more Christ-like shall we be in 
 having souls for our crown and joy on that day." 
 
 And in the sequel of the same letter he indicates the 
 method of his ministry. The words are weighty, and 
 deserve to be pondered : — 
 
 " A free, full gospel — pure objective truth, as it is in Jesus 
 — that is what we are bound to exhibit with all fidelity and 
 plainness : the Spirit of God working all subjective experience 
 of the power of that objective truth — that is, what we are to 
 trust in exclusively for success. The keen edge of the Word, 
 and the Spirit striking it home in the hearts of the hearers — 
 the former is our weapon, the latter our strength." 
 
 The distinction here drawn was felt by Mr. Hewit- 
 son to be of great moment. It is often thought that, 
 because conversion work is divine, therefore it must 
 be complicated. Mr. Hewitson had been taught that, 
 just because it is divine, it is accomplished, like all 
 other works of God, by the simplest means. The 
 means is the exhibition of Christ. Waiting on the 
 Spirit reverentially and trustfully for His almighty 
 working, he held up before the sinner the " pure ob- 
 jective truth." The Spirit glorifies Christ, not our 
 faith. Mr. Hewitson sought, therefore, to exhibit, not 
 faith, not anything in us, but Christ, Grod in Christ. 
 The truth about Christ was his weapon : the Spirit 
 was the arm which wields it. 
 
 On the 9th of March he was inducted into his pas- 
 
286 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 toral charge. He thus briefly describes his feelings on 
 the occasion : — 
 
 " The season was to me one of great solemnity, and I had a 
 most comfortable sense of the Lord's presence. I desired to be 
 inducted by ' the good Shepherd' himself, and I felt that He 
 was indeed with me." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " Thursday was to me a day of very great enlargement, and 
 sweet fellowship with the Lord." 
 
 On the following Sabbath, after being introduced by 
 Mr. Moody Stuart, he began his ministrations with a 
 sermon on the text, " I determined not to know any- 
 thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him cruci- 
 fied." The text was the key-note of his ministry and 
 of his life. In the pulpit and in the social meeting, 
 in the sick-chamber and in the incidental conversation, 
 in the house and by the wayside, his one theme was 
 Christ. 
 
 Great was the joy of NerT when God shone into the 
 hearts of the benighted Eomanists of the Alps. But 
 greater was his joy when, in settled congregations, the 
 same Lord owned his ministrations by the conversion 
 of the "outwardly moral and devout;" for this, he 
 tells us, he regarded as a " more striking demonstration 
 of the power of God." Mr. Hewitson, like the Alpine 
 pastor, has not labored in vain, among the poor vic- 
 tims of Home, in Madeira. Now transferred to a scene 
 where all is " outwardly moral and devout," he is 
 
MINISTRY AT DIRLETON. 287 
 
 summoned to a work of even higher faith. Shall he 
 find, here also, that the Word is " able to save the 
 soul?" 
 
 The record of a silent Sabbath, spent elsewhere to 
 recruit his exhausted frame, indicates how carefully he 
 continued to keep his own vineyard : — 
 
 "To his Mother. — Linlithgow, March 20, 1848. — .... 
 Yesterday I communicated in Mr. B.'s church, but did no min- 
 isterial work whatever. The season was to me a very refresh- 
 ing one, and the Lord was sensibly present : the Lord was at 
 His table. Always when I go to the church seeking Christ 
 Himself there, and, as it were, to keep tryst with Him — always 
 when I go expressly for the purpose of meeting Christ, and 
 having intercourse with Him — I experience sweetness in the 
 ordinances of His house, and have reason to return with the 
 voice of thanksgiving. 
 
 " We fail of being blessed in family worship and in public 
 worship, if we do not seek, while so engaged, to meet with Je- 
 sus, and to enjoy His Word and fellowship in the exercise of 
 faith and love. It is Christ in the Word, and in all the ordi- 
 nances of worship, that makes them refreshing and quickening 
 to our souls. Religion is not a form, but a life ; and it is not 
 a solitary, friendless life, but a life of intercourse and company- 
 keeping with God in Christ. To be religious, is to be the 
 friends of God — to realize a sense of His presence, love, and 
 favor — to acknowledge Him as a living person who is always 
 near us, always ready to bless us, and always looking to us for 
 a living obedience. 
 
 " This is our time of education for heaven — these are our 
 school-days ; and, alas ! how many who profess to believe, 
 and to look for eternal life, neglect their soul's education, and 
 play the truant's part, instead of attending the school of God ! 
 Time is near its end — eternity is at the door. O to be ready 
 
288 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 — all ready ! For many will mourn and weep when the time 
 to make ready is past forever ! 
 
 " Next Sabbath, God willing, I shall be in the pulpit myself. 
 Till the house be ready, I go into lodgings. I intend to leave 
 Edinburgh on Friday or Saturday, and afterwards remain with 
 my people. My health is not worse — strength returning, but 
 slowly." 
 
 From the outset, Mr. Hevvitson looked for the 
 quickening power of Gkxl among his people. 
 
 Unlike the scene of the labors of Neff, the scene 
 around him had every outward charm. He thus de- 
 scribes it : — 
 
 " Dirleton is the most beautiful village in Scotland. The 
 houses are almost picturesque — all clean, both without and 
 within. The ruinous ' castle of Dirleton' is a romantic object. 
 Berwick- Law lifts its conical bulk at a distance of three miles, 
 and a little out from shore rises the memorable Bass." 
 
 But he adds : — 
 
 " Physically verdant and beautiful, my field of labor is spir- 
 itually a wilderness, with here and there a fresh spot, adorned 
 by a single ' lily.' The lilies are few, very few ; but still there 
 are some, or the sense of desolation would be intolerable. The 
 soil cries out to heaven for rain." 
 
 "Nothing satisfied Neff," says his biographer, "but 
 clear signs of spiritual life." Mr. Hewitson's standard 
 was not less decided : — 
 
 " The only thing now beautiful in this sin-stained world is, 
 love to Jesus. How the heart of the believer burns within 
 him when he hears expressions, or sees evidences, of love to 
 
EXPECTATION OF SUCCESS. 289 
 
 the Lord ! Where there is not love to the Lord Jesus, I find 
 nothing — thanks to the grace of God — which I can contemplate 
 with satisfaction, or with which I can sympathize." 
 
 But Mr. Hewitson was no sentimentalist, looking for 
 extraordinary results without the use of extraordinary 
 means. " I have often thought," wrote Dr. Paysonto 
 a missionary in the East, " that every minister, and 
 especially every missionary, ought frequently to read, 
 or at least call to mind, Foster's Essay on the epithet 
 Romantic. If you have not his essays at hand, you 
 may perhaps recollect some of his concluding remarks. 
 After showing that it is highly romantic to expect ex- 
 traordinary success from ordinary means, he adds 
 words to this effect : The individual who should sol- 
 emnly resolve to try the best and last possible efficacy 
 of prayer, and unalterably determine that Heaven 
 should not withhold a single influence which the ut- 
 most effort of persevering prayer could bring down, 
 would probably find himself become a much more suc- 
 cessful agent in his little sphere. Very few mission- 
 aries, since the days of the apostles, probably, have 
 tried the experiment. He who shall make the first 
 trial will, I believe, effect wonders." Mr. Hewitson 
 was not romantic. "Praj^ers and pains" God had 
 joined. These he did not put asunder. 
 
 "Though enfeebled in frame and in constitution," writes Mr. 
 Dodds, now his neighbor and co-presbyter, " no sooner had he 
 entered on his new sphere than he set about his ministerial 
 work with all energy and fidelity. Conscious that his ministry 
 
 13 
 
290 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 was a precarious, and would probably be a brief one, he la- 
 bored with all the more diligence, and with a perseverance 
 greater than his exhausted strength could bear. His labors in 
 the pulpit, in the prayer-meeting, in the instruction of the 
 young, in visiting the sick and other members of his flock, and 
 in the discharge of his duties as a member of presbytery, were 
 as abundant, sustained, and various, as those of the most vig- 
 orous and zealous of his brethren could possibly be. In the 
 fervor of his zeal, in his love of souls, in his strong desire to 
 see a revival among his flock at Dirleton, he seemed to forget, 
 or deliberately to disregard, his extreme bodily weakness and 
 exhaustion. In him the spirit, as I often thought, seemed to 
 triumph over the feebleness of the flesh. He accomplished 
 toils, weekly, and almost daily, which well might have tasked 
 the energies of the strongest man." 
 
 A few extracts will show how, by " prayers and 
 pains," he took heed to his ministry that he might ful- 
 fill it:— 
 
 " To the Rev. J. M'Cltmont. — Dirleton, April 8. 1848. 
 — The case of the man that you spoke of is interesting. May 
 
 you have many such in D ! and pray that I may have 
 
 many such at Dirleton. O for a time of rain ! O that souls 
 would awake ! There is here, as well as there, great need of 
 a revival. The congregation yesterday was about four hundred. 
 They lie over a circle of territory of about six miles diameter ; 
 the church, which is in the village, being in the centre of the 
 circle. I have found two or three godly people, who pray for 
 blessing on the people around." 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dirleton, April 3, 1848. 
 — As yet I have had much pleasure in visiting and speaking 
 with my people. Intercourse with them is made exceedingly 
 more interesting, by the fact, that they are my people, and that 
 I am their pastor. On Thursday next I intend to begin a 
 
MINISTERIAL LABORS. 291 
 
 weekly prayer-meeting. In this place the attendance cannot 
 be numerous, but a few can pray together as prevalently as 
 many, and many can be blessed in answer to the prayers of a 
 few. The Sabbath-scbool is going to be well furnished with 
 teachers. The children attending are about thirty in number. 
 We must throw in our net, and catch more. 
 
 " Trouble thickens in the earth. Darkness deepens over the 
 nations. The blood is feverish in the veins of this evil world. 
 ' He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' ' To them 
 that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin 
 unto salvation.' ' Blessed are they that wait for Him :' ' their 
 expectation shall not perish.' It is well to be keeping our gar- 
 ments, and watching, — well to be daily ' washing our robes, 
 and making them white in the blood of the Lamb.' Your 
 brother in the Lord, W. Hewitson." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Dirleton, April 4, 1848. — 
 .... The communion here is, God willing, to take place next 
 Sabbath week. Can you be with me on that day ? Try. . . 
 . . For two Sabbaths past I have preached without over-fatigue. 
 My strength is gradually returning. 
 
 " Events are crowding themselves now into weeks, instead of 
 spreading themselves, as formerly, over centuries. The main- 
 spring of the world's movements has got free from restraint, 
 and is unwinding itself with fearful speed. The round of this 
 evil world's history will very soon be completed. ' What 
 manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and 
 godliness !' What manner of ministers ought we to be ! 
 The Lord is at hand. Your very affectionate brother, 
 
 " W. H." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dirleton, April V, 1848. — . . 
 . . Last night I began a weekly prayer-meeting, and the at- 
 tendance was considerably more numerous than I had anticipa- 
 ted. that ' the Word may run, and be glorified !' To look 
 from the pulpit on an assembly of men who ere long will be 
 either in heaven or in hell, with anything like interest in their 
 
292 MEMOIK OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 eternal well-being, is fitted deeply to solemnize the heart, and, 
 while it increases the sense of ministerial responsibility, to 
 bring into action motives of a more generous character than 
 those which a mere sense of responsibility supplies. Your 
 own experience tells you what I mean. Your own heart has 
 taught it to your intellect, and the grace of God has taught it 
 to your heart." 
 
 In the weekly prayer-meeting he always took pe- 
 culiar delight. It was attended, during the greater 
 part of his ministry, by about seventy or eighty peo- 
 ple, many travelling a considerable distance after the 
 day's toil. He regularly prepared himself for its 
 exercises, delivering several courses of lectures in suc- 
 cession. One of these courses — on the types of Christ 
 — was felt to be singularly instructive and refreshing. 
 The prayer-meeting was not unfrequently the scene of 
 the Lord's manifested presence. 
 
 In the next letter we have some details of his min- 
 isterial Avork : — 
 
 "To his Sister. — Dirleton, April 10, 1848. — .... 
 My strength is, I think, still on the increase ; but the exertions 
 of yesterday, which were sustained for nearly five successive 
 hours, have left me much fatigued. Yesterday I fenced the 
 communion-table, preparatory to the solemn service of next 
 Sabbath. On Thursday evening last the attendance at the 
 prayer-meeting was about eighty. that the Lord, the Spirit, 
 may draw many hearts here out unto Jesus ! It is a serious 
 question for you and me, and each of us, ' Am I prepared to 
 meet the Lord ?' How could we stand in His presence, or 
 look Him in the face, if we had neglected the great salvation ? 
 Delay hardens the heart. The thoughtlessness of to-day begets 
 the equal or greater thoughtlessness of to-morrow, and so 
 
COMMUNIONS. 293 
 
 hands down the sinner into a lost eternity ! Now is the ac- 
 ceptable time." 
 
 It will be observed that lie fenced the communion- 
 table on the Sabbath preceding. This was his regular 
 practice. "I have often wondered," was his remark 
 one day to a parishioner who had been adverting to 
 the change, " that ministers do not see the impropriety 
 of fencing the table after tokens have been given, and 
 the tables are filled. Many might feel they were not 
 worthy or prepared to sit down with the Lord Jesus ; 
 but, being at the table, pride and shame might keep 
 them from rising or returning their tokens." 
 
 Another feature of his communions may be here 
 noted. He never had communicants' classes. Though 
 he held and greatly valued Bible-classes, he never al- 
 lowed them to be considered as a stepping-stone to the 
 table. As the communion approached — perhaps at 
 the distance of four or five weeks — he invited any 
 who thought they had tasted the grace of God to visit 
 him at his house on a particular day. The first ques- 
 tion he put on such occasions was, " What is your 
 reason for wishing to go to the table?" The nature 
 and tone of the reply usually indicated how matters 
 stood. He regarded the opportunities of private and 
 personal dealing thus afforded, as one of the most 
 precious privileges of his ministry. Not a few, we 
 have reason to know, owe to these seasons the search- 
 ing which awakened them, or the setting of their feet 
 upon the Rock. 
 
294. MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 His first communion at Dirleton is further noticed 
 by him thus : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Dirleton, April 13, 1848. — 
 .... There will be three table-services altogether, and an 
 afternoon meeting for worship. How needful what you write 
 about — a melting tenderness of heart! That we may think as 
 Christ thinks, and feel as Christ feels, is an important prayer. 
 The Spirit, who searches the heart and mind of Christ, can 
 shape ours according to the Divine model. As ministers, we 
 should not rest without having a large degree of likeness to 
 the Lord." 
 
 "To his Father. — Dirleton, April 17, 1848. — .... 
 Yesterday we had a full, or very nearly full, church, and the 
 season was exceedingly solemn outwardly. I trust that in 
 many cases the inward experience was of a suitable kind, and 
 that the Lord was working with power in many hearts. His 
 own believing people seemed to be glad. We were in from 
 half-past eleven a. m., till half-past four p. m., and afterwards 
 from half-past five till, I think, nearly half-past seven. I am 
 fatigued this morning, but have great cause to be thankful to 
 the Lord for all the good which he yesterday made to pass 
 before me." 
 
 We well remember that day. It was a season of 
 refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Sitting in 
 his own room, after the protracted services were over, 
 he said, with that holy, calm solemnity which so ha- 
 bitually characterized him, not only in the pulpit and 
 at the communion-table, but in society and at his own 
 fireside : "Oh for an immortal, a spiritual body, 
 which should never grow weary in serving our glorious 
 Lord I" And, as if taking to the Master's feet all the 
 
MINISTRATIONS. 295 
 
 services of the day, and telling Him, like the disciples, 
 all that he had done and taught, he added, with an 
 air of mingled confidence and awe, " Lord Jesus ! 
 what thinkest thou of this day's work? hast thou 
 been seeing of the travail of thy soul ?" 
 
 The tone of his ministrations at this period may be 
 gathered from a few brief paragraphs occurring in his 
 letters. The clear presentation of Christ, the search- 
 ing discrimination, the importunate urgency, the melt- 
 ing tenderness, which marked his pulpit appeals, are 
 here slightly indicated : — 
 
 "To his Father. — April 17, 1848. — 'Christ our passover 
 is sacrificed for us.' Am I a blood-sprinkled dwelling ? Is the 
 blood of Christ really on my soul ? Have I peace with God 
 through the blood of Christ ? Have I no false peace, that is, 
 no peace but that which the blood of Christ gives to my guilty 
 soul ? Do I see and feel that the blood of Christ destroys 
 guilt, even as stubble is destroyed by the flaming fire ? Do I 
 know that the blood of Christ has extinguished the flames of 
 hell that were kindled for me ; or are these flames, in conse- 
 quence of my unbelief, still burning ? 
 
 "Serious questions! and we should put them seriously to 
 our souls. If I have not interest in the blood of Christ, the 
 sinner's Substitute, then my blood must be shed — the blood of 
 my body and of my soul must be shed forever. Oh ! noth- 
 ing but blood can atone for sin ; either my own blood in hell, 
 or the blood of Christ crucified, as the Saviour of the world. 
 
 " "What need of being in earnest ! I flee from the wrath to 
 come, — my dear father, flee with me to the blood of Christ — 
 come with me into the blood-sprinkled dwelling. You will be 
 safe there ; but without there is no safety. The storm is 
 lowering, the flames are burning, the wrath of God is coming ; 
 
296 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 but here is an open door, sprinkled with blood — come in fast ; 
 here is a cleft in the rock — come and hide here ; there is yet 
 room in the wounded heart of Jesus — room for you, room for 
 dear mother, room for all the rest. Oh, come in — come in all ! 
 Let us all hide in the bleeding Saviour, till the indignation, 
 which is coming, be overpast." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " ' Damned,' ' lost' — these are God's words ; and, oh ! who 
 can fathom all the depths of horror, and despair, and woe, that 
 they mean ? When a sinner is dragged to hell, with these words, 
 ' damned,' ' lost,' written upon his forehead, who can tell the mil- 
 lionth part of the pang of anguish that pierces him through and 
 through, and that is doomed to pierce him through and through 
 forever ? Oh ! ' who can dwell with everlasting burning ?' Who 
 can endure the wrath of God, who 'is a consuming fire?' Sin, 
 loved and cherished, kindles ' a fire that never shall be quenched' 
 — breeds ' a worm that shall never die.' Sinners little dream, 
 amidst their sins, that it is what the Scripture of truth declares 
 it to be — ' a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
 God.' 
 
 " to have the ear open to hear God swearing, in His love 
 to sinners, ' As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of a sin- 
 ner ;' that is, of any sinner ! — to have the eye open to see God, 
 in His love and pity, long putting off the day of wrath, and 
 day after day stretching forth His arms to embrace believing 
 and repenting sinners ! ' God so loved the world, that He gave 
 His only-begotten Son.' Such love would melt the heart of 
 sinners ; but sin hardens their hearts, and they despise God's 
 love ; they lift up the heel against the bowels of His infinite 
 compassion. What hard hearts even true followers of Jesus 
 have, or they would live in daily, in hourly wonder and amaze- 
 ment at the love of God in Christ Jesus ! 
 
 " It is awful to be insensible of our lost and ruined state by 
 nature and by wicked works. The house may be all on fire, 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 297 
 
 but a sleeping man is not sensible of his danger — he sleeps on, 
 and perishes in the flames. The clay is drawing nigh when it 
 will be made manifest to lost souls, that Christ long waited on 
 them, and was willing, most willing, to save them, but that 
 they themselves were not willing to come to Him and be 
 saved." 
 
 And again, in another letter : — 
 
 " What a shadow Christ's is ! How broad ! There is room 
 enough under it for all. How thick ! Not a ray of the burn- 
 ing sun can penetrate. Weariness and wandering forever past; 
 so far as our acceptance with God is concerned, ' we sit down 
 under Christ's shadow with great delight.' We work no longer 
 in vain, we sit down under the shadow of Christ's finished work. 
 It is good to be here. ' Taste and see that the Lord is good.' 
 He is free as the air we breathe, to you, to me, to all. None 
 are put away that come. Let us never forget that He to whom 
 we come is a living Saviour. He who is our righteousness is 
 likewise our friend." 
 
 He was a laborious visitor of his flock — not, how- 
 ever, for form's sake, or to go through a dry routine, 
 but kindly conversing with each, family about the 
 great salvation, and always leaving behind him a 
 heavenly savor. His outer and inner life that summer 
 will be indicated by a series of short extracts : — 
 
 "To ms Sister. — Dirleton, May 8, 1848. — To-morrow, 
 God willing, I begin the pastoral visitation of my flock, over- 
 taking perhaps eight or ten households. On Wednesday, I 
 purpose to have another diet of visitation. Both on Thursday 
 and Friday evenings this week, I intend to have a prayer-meet- 
 ing in connection with the proposed union. The three first 
 
 13* 
 
298 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 days of next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I have 
 to attend meetings for prayer of ministers from various parts 
 of the land. 
 
 " The Lord is gathering in some here to be His own forever." 
 
 "To a Friend in Malta. — Dirleton, May 17, 1848. — 
 Often, when I would have written, exhaustion prevented me. 
 The infirmities that beset the present life are fitted to give 
 greater intensity to the longing for a state in which the bless- 
 ings of redemption will be fully realized. Every feeble pulsa- 
 tion, every sleepless hour of the night, every desire to do the 
 Lord service, for which bodily strength is lacking, cry out, 
 ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly !' Every stirring of sin in 
 the soul, every ^sore temptation, every cutting reproach from 
 brethren as well as from the world, every aspiration after a ho- 
 liness yet unattained, cry out, ' Come, Lord Jesus !' The church 
 is low and depressed, the world is growing old and decaying, 
 revolution is maddening the nations, creation is groaning and 
 travailing in pain, — all things around, as well as within, cry 
 aloud for the coming of the Lord. 
 
 " I have already been laboring two months in Dirleton 
 among a people united and attached, and not without some 
 marks of the Lord's gracious presence. The place is physically 
 beautiful and fertile, but spiritually unshapely and barren." 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dirleton June 8, 1848. — 
 To-morrow morning, God willing, I set off for Newcastle, where 
 I have to preach in the evening, and afterwards on Sabbath to 
 assist Mr. P. Miller in administering the communion. On Mon- 
 day I intend to return, as I have fixed on Tuesday as a day of 
 pastoral visitation. 
 
 " In visiting hitherto I have not been supported and en- 
 couraged by finding anything like symptoms of life in many. 
 How dead souls burden the hands of a minister, and oppress 
 his spirit ! You speak and pray as if the audience was made 
 up of clods of the valley. There are a few here who know 
 the Lord, and I trust a few who are inquiring their way Zion- 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 299 
 
 wards, though yet ignorant of what free grace is. These are 
 a comfort to me. I would faint, nevertheless, but for the 
 hope of seeing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the 
 living. 
 
 " The greatest of present trials is that which indwelling sin 
 occasions. To hate sin, and yet often be so fiercely assailed by 
 it as for a time to succumb under its violence, as if it were lord 
 and master of the will, is a cause of sore affliction togthe child 
 of God." 
 
 "Is it not sweet, my soul ! to have a holy God 
 to appeal to and converse with, though the world 
 should turn their backs ?" So wrote the sainted Mar- 
 tyn, in allusion to the cold neglect of some who, when 
 he was not so holy, had treated him as a friend. He 
 felt the neglect keenly, less for his own sake than for 
 the sake of the men who thus proved their secret dis- 
 affection to his Lord. Mr. Hewitson was not with- 
 out tasting this trial. The reader will have noticed an 
 allusion to " cutting reproaches from brethren." In 
 another letter he alludes to the same thing more point- 
 edly :— 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dirleton, September 18, 1848. 
 — If the Lord will, I shall be with you on your communion 
 Sabbath. May His Spirit be present when the day comes, to 
 make it a day of sweet communion in the faith and hope of the 
 gospel ! 
 
 " How mad a true minister of Christ must appear in the 
 eyes of many ! He breathes a spirit and displays an ardor 
 which the world cannot understand. The more that we are 
 like Jesus, whom the zeal of His Father's house consumed, or 
 like Paul, whose enthusiasm in advocating what the flesh was 
 
300 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 unable to appreciate or relish brought on him the charge of 
 being mad — the more shall we lie open to the ridicule and ob- 
 loquy of the carnal, aud the more shall we be censured as im- 
 prudent by those who, though evangelical in face, are Mod- 
 erates at the core. Eternity, with its unchangeable heaven 
 and its unchangeable hell, rebukes the moderate and the car- 
 nal, calling on us to exhibit yet a more close resemblance to 
 Paul in His mad-like enthusiasm, or to the Lord Himself in His 
 consuming zeal. Jesus coming into our closet, and breathing 
 on us that we may receive the Holy Ghost, makes us able min- 
 isters, and therefore fools in the world's esteem. 
 
 " We must realize a deep impression on our spirits of what 
 heaven and hell respectively are, or, in other words, of what 
 Christ once suffered, and of what He now enjoys, in order that 
 we may be able to sympathize deeply with Christ in His affec- 
 tion for perishing souls. We never need Christ more than 
 when we are in the pulpit. Then, most of all, we should be 
 able to say, ' I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' " 
 
 Like Martyn, Mr. Hewitson had a holy God to con- 
 verse with. He was " hidden in the secret of His pres- 
 ence from the pride of man." It is instructive to mark 
 with what simplicity of faith he walked before the 
 Lord : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Malta. — JJirleton, September 20, 1848. 
 — Daily resort to the fountain of blood is necessary to main- 
 tain our peace. In many things we offend all, while we are 
 in the flesh ; and we must be always coming again to Calvary, 
 always looking again to Jesus. To have guilt between our 
 conscience and the blcod of Christ is misery — to have the 
 blood of Christ between guilt and our conscience is perfect 
 peace. Faith is a miracle-working acknowledgment of our 
 weakness and of God's power. Whatever we need, whether 
 peace of conscience or any other blessing, we have only to cast 
 
SIMPLICITY OF HIS FAITH. 301 
 
 a faith's-look on Christ, aud the needed blessing is ours. A 
 sight of Christ's empty grave wipes away the believer's tears. 
 Look up, dear friend, to the right hand of God : that is our 
 Lord in glory. Do you not see your name graven on His 
 breastplate ?" 
 
 And Mr. Hewitson had other joys : — 
 
 "To Another. — Dirleton, September 2*7, 1848. — In the 
 course of my pastoral visitations I have fallen in with some in- 
 quiring souls of late. This makes my work here more interest- 
 ing than it would have been otherwise. A few have lately 
 found peace in Christ." 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dirleton, October 13, 1848. 
 — To-day I visited one of my flock, who has recently joined 
 herself to the Lord. My heart has been glad ever since I saw 
 her, she is so full of faith, and her peace is like a river. She 
 can say, ' I am a new creature,' and ' Christ loved me, and gave 
 Himself for mc? ' Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift !' " 
 
 Not a month had passed, since he began his minis- 
 try, without evidence that the Lord was adding to the 
 number of the saved. In addition to all indirect work, 
 which " the day" alone shall declare, he was privileged 
 to know, on evidence which satisfied him at the time, 
 and which subsequent experience confirmed, that up 
 to this period not fewer than eight or nine persons had 
 passed from darkness into light — from the power of 
 Satan unto God. 
 
 Mr. Hewitson was not surprised that the Lord was 
 thus at work. Taught by his whole past ministry to 
 expect success, he looked for conversions less as the 
 exception than as the rule. 
 
 " I think I have never preached," was his remark 
 
302 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 to a friend one day near his death, " without asking, 
 in the opening prayer, that God would convert souls 
 at that time. I remember, on one occasion in Madeira, 
 when praying before service, I was tempted with the 
 unbelieving thought, ' God will not convert souls to- 
 day.' I asked for forgiveness and for more faith. 
 That day there was a more abundant outpouring of 
 the Spirit among the Portuguese than I had ever wit- 
 nessed among them." 
 
 " God will have all the glory," said his friend. 
 
 " And when He gets it," rejoined Mr. Hewitson, 
 " He will give the blessing. I am persuaded it is be- 
 cause ministers do not expect God to give the imme- 
 diate blessing that there is comparatively so little 
 good done. if men would but give God credit for 
 sincerity !" 
 
 " But mark," he went on to say on the same occa- 
 sion, " the distinction between expecting that God will 
 begin to work now, and that we shall see the fruit now. 
 The former is warrantable faith : the latter may be 
 presumptuous expectation." 
 
 And yet such was his experience of the palpable 
 effects of grace, that, if grace was really there, he knew 
 the fruits must speedily appear. It was no cushion on 
 which he could complacently repose, to hope that the 
 Lord might be working, whilst men continued mani- 
 festly carnal. 
 
 An affecting glimpse of the devoted minister is 
 opened up in one of his letters at this period : — 
 
TRIALS AND CONSOLATION'S. 303 
 
 "To a Friend in Malta. — Dirleton, September 21, 1848. 
 — Our friend would prefer, it may be, to depart, if the Lord 
 so willed, and to be present with Him, than to linger out an 
 existence of suffering and weakness in this evil world. All 
 who know what prostrated indisposition of body is, can sym- 
 pathize with such a preference, if only they are of God. For 
 ray own part, I have not for years past had any worldly enjoy- 
 ment which could give me a feeling of attachment to the pres- 
 ent life. I have had no hope as regards this world ; and my 
 desire has been, nevertheless, to live a while longer here, only 
 not for the sake of anything in the world, but that I might 
 serve my Lord by preaching the gospel of His grace. Even 
 this desire has at times, in consequence of physical infirmity, 
 been only feeble ; for it is a most painful effort to go forth with 
 the gospel, when the spirit, not always buoyant in its own 
 frame, is clogged besides, and impeded by a body devoid of 
 energy. Yet it is well, nay, incomparably better, to be here, 
 while the Lord sees it to be for His glory and for our good that 
 we should remain. If by remaining we are the means of turn- 
 ing a single soul from darkness to light, or of helping forward 
 a converted soul on its arduous way, how great the compensa- 
 tion for protracted suffering and trial !" 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " The file is rough, and the application of it harrowing to 
 the soul ; but all the more bright and lustrous will be the dia- 
 mond, when, at length thoroughly polished, it shines forth in 
 the royal crown of Immanuel." 
 
 Like all holy men, Mr. Hewitson loved the Lord's 
 day. "Don't you always find," he writes, "that the 
 Spirit of God flows in upon you on the Lord's day 
 more than on any other ? and that the more devoted- 
 ly you keep the Sabbath holy to the Lord, the more 
 
304 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 richly do you enjoy the communications of Divine 
 grace ? Both these items enter, I may say, uniformly 
 into my experience ; so that I can testify to the fact 
 of God's having not only sanctified, but likewise 
 blessed the Sabbath-day." Nothing more grieved 
 him than to find topics uncongenial with its true 
 sanctity forming the theme of conversation. To sub- 
 stitute, for news or business, only sermons, or minis- 
 ters, or doctrines, or ecclesiastical policy, he regarded 
 as the mere shell of Sabbath sanctity. His Sabbath 
 evenings did not obliterate the holy impressions of 
 the sanctuary. 
 
 "Owe no man anything'' was one of his golden 
 maxims. In a letter of this period, we find him ar- 
 ranging, with the most scrupulous exactness, a little 
 matter of business. The extract otherwise is of no 
 moment ; but we give it as an illustration of his habit 
 of mind in such matters :— 
 
 " To a Friend in Edinbuhgh. — Dirleton, Feb. 14, 1849. — 
 
 If you have not found another yet to join you and L 
 
 F in taking the Witness, I shall be very glad to become a 
 
 sharer with you for half a year, the arrangement dating from 
 the 1st of March. I say, meanwhile, for half a year, as I 
 should like, if possible, to make an arrangement with some one 
 similar to that into which you and I entered at first. I am 
 ready, however, to take two shares of your paper — one for my- 
 self, and one for ray mother — the only objection, so far as I can 
 
 guess, being, that D B would necessarily not receive 
 
 the papers for two or three days longer. Can that objection 
 be overruled ?" 
 
 Often have we heard him express his surprise that 
 
CHARACTERISTICS. 305 
 
 Christians, and especially Christian ministers, should 
 deliberately run into an expenditure exceeding their 
 means. Spirituality and the commercial virtues he 
 held to be indissolubly linked. To live above his in- 
 come was, in his eyes, a flagrant sin. 
 
 But whilst shrinking thus sensitively from incurring 
 debt, no one ever witnessed in him any unseemly 
 strivings or mean shifts about money. Though care- 
 ful in keeping his accounts, and regularly paying his 
 bills, he evidently did this, as he did all, to the Lord. 
 His heart was not in such things. "The world was 
 truly behind his back" to the very end. So far, in- 
 deed, did he carry this feeling, that again and again 
 he returned, or gave to some charitable object, sums 
 of money which, in thankfulness for his spiritual 
 things, well-meaning friends had sent. The Lord 
 amply supplied his moderate wants; and he sought 
 for nothing more. 
 
 The closing paragraph of the letter last quoted 
 illustrates another characteristic feature — his happy 
 art of gracefully and naturally turning any passing 
 incident to profit in dealing Avith souls : — 
 
 " Dirleton, February 14, 1849. — How the little birds, cal- 
 low and helpless in their nests, open their mouths to receive 
 the food brought to them by the parent-birds ! What an 
 illutsration of faith in the act of receiving ? ' Open thy mouth 
 wide, and I will fill it.' Does the young brood trust in its 
 winged parent? and shall we not trust in the Father of Christ 
 Jesus, His and ours ?" 
 
306 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 This trait was especially prominent in his conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 " How safe," said he one day, in his usual kind and 
 solemn way, to a woman who, as he passed along the 
 village, was standing at her door with her child in her 
 arms — " how safe that child feels itself in your arms ! 
 The believer is as safe in the arms of Jesus. If the 
 child felt itself falling, it would instantly cling to its 
 mother's breast. Just so a believer, when ready to 
 fall, stretches out his arms to the Lord Jesus. Do 
 you" he proceeded to say, "repose in this way on 
 Jesus ? Do you lean as confidently on His arm ?" He 
 then went on to show her her fallen state by nature, 
 and that there was no safety for one moment but in 
 Christ ; and he urged on her an immediate escape to 
 the refuge, lest she should be overtaken by "the 
 avenger of blood." That conversation the Lord blessed 
 to the awakening of the woman's soul. 
 
 Another example may be noted. " Where do you 
 live ?" said he to a member of his congregation, whose 
 face he knew, but whom he had not yet visited. " In 
 the room up stairs," was the answer. " Well, I hope 
 you invite the Lord Jesus into your room to dwell 
 with you. He always delighted to enter into the 
 upper room in Jerusalem, with his disciples of old, to 
 hold converse with them. And Jesus is the same to- 
 day as he was then — still as willing to hold commun- 
 ion with the sinner. Would it not be blessed to 
 dwell with Jesus, the eternal Son of God ?" He spoke 
 
CHARACTERISTICS. 307 
 
 home to her conscience, and pressed on her the duty 
 and privilege of immediately closing with Christ. 
 
 These are specimens of his way-side conversations, 
 such as occurred every day in his walks. The words 
 have in them nothing to strike or dazzle ; but they 
 were "whetted" by a heart so tender, and by a bear- 
 ing so holy, that they seldom failed to impress. 
 
 "Soon did he occupy," writes Mr. Dodds, "a place 
 in the affections and veneration of his people which it 
 is given to few ministers to obtain. His holy fidelity, 
 consistency, and earnestness, both in the pulpit and 
 out of it, impressed and overawed even those who 
 could not fully appreciate his character, or disliked 
 what they might call his rigor and severity. But his 
 tender pity for careless and perishing sinners always 
 appeared when it was most needed, and melted the 
 hearts of many who listened to his voice, or came 
 within the reach of his influence.' 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1849, 1850. 
 
 Tenderness in visiting the sick — Conversation in Heaven — Corres- 
 pondence — Ministerial Work — Church Courts — Visit to Southamp- 
 ton — Growing Meekness — Sermons to Children — Example — In- 
 creasing Weakness — Memorial of a Visit to Dirleton — Last Com- 
 munion Sabbath. 
 
 Grimshaw of Hawortli was compared by John 
 Newton to an instrument which is never out of tune. 
 The figure happily describes Mr. Hewitson's daily 
 spiritual life. His holiness was not periodical or fit- 
 ful. Heavenly converse, especially as he hastened on 
 " towards the mark," became more and more his 
 soul's rest and home. 
 
 It is not easy to express in words the peculiar at- 
 tractiveness which this tone of soul imparted to his 
 ministrations in the sick-chamber and in the house 
 of mourning. " An afflicted member of my congrega- 
 tion, whom he occasionally visited," writes Mr. Ste- 
 venson of Ayr, "regarded him with such veneration, 
 that she spoke of receiving him as an angel of God." 
 None who saw him on these occasions will consider 
 the language overstrained. An illustration of his 
 
TENDERNESS TO THE SICK. 309 
 
 method of dealing occurs in three letters written at 
 this period. The unction and tenderness of the man- 
 ner, so winning, and withal so solemnizing, of course 
 are not here. The lady to whom the first of the 
 letters is addressed was sojourning at the time at 
 Torquay, sinking under pulmonic consumption. 
 
 " Dirleton, February 5, 1849. — When I last saw Mr. Craw- 
 ford I was grieved to hear from him of } T our increased bodily 
 weakness. What is trying to flesh and blood is, under the 
 mighty hand of your God and Father, working out in you a 
 more entire fitness for the kingdom which ' flesh and blood 
 shall not inherit.' The process is painful, but how glorious 
 will be the result ! Yet a little while, and you will behold the 
 King's face in righteousness : you shall see Him as He is, and 
 be satisfied with His likeness. As the polished mirror gives 
 back the radiance of the sun, so will you reflect the beauty of 
 the Lord, the Holy One, on the day of His appearing. I speak 
 with such confidence regarding you, for I am persuaded that 
 you are resting on the sure foundation laid by God in Zion, 
 and that you have committed yourself to Him who is able to 
 keep you until that day. 
 
 " It is no sign of an unfatherly heart in God towards you, 
 but of the very reverse, that you are now suffering at such a 
 distance from your dear husband and your earthly home. 
 God's love to His own is so great, that it cannot rest till it have 
 won to itself all their affections. He has led you into a wil- 
 derness, that, being thrown by circumstances more than ever 
 on Him for strength and comfort, you may lean more affec- 
 tionately, more confidingly, on His arm, saying, ' Whom have 
 I in heaven but Thee ? and there is none upon earth that I de- 
 sire besides Thee.' While you go up through the valley of 
 tears, leaning on your Beloved, you will tread at every step on 
 spices and sweet flowers, that will breathe a heavenly fragrance 
 around you. — Yours affectionately in the Lord." 
 
310 MEMOIR OF KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "To James Crawford, Jun., Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. — 
 Dirleton, February 14, 1849. — Will you let Mrs. Crawford 
 know, with my best Christian regards, that, when I wrote, it 
 was not by any means in expectation of receiving an answer ? 
 If she can write a few lines at any time, it should be to your- 
 self. I know that the exertion of writing is one which, in her 
 present state, she should decline as much as possible. How 
 blessed that, when the soul is in a holy frame, the exertion of 
 prayer is so little felt as not to oppress even the languishing 
 body ! The natural breathing of the holy soul is prayer, that 
 enters into the ears of the Father. — Yours affectionately in 
 Christ, W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 "To the same. — Dirleton, April 2, 1849. — Since I received 
 the intimation of your sad bereavement, I have till now de- 
 layed writing to you any expression of my sympathy, with the 
 intention of doing so when I thought you might have returned 
 to Edinburgh. My sympathy with you in your sorrow is 
 mingled with another feeling, in which you will yourself still 
 more abundantly participate — sympathy with her whom the 
 Lord has taken from you to Himself, in her present joy. 
 
 " To be persuaded on good grounds that, though now for a 
 season she is from home as to the body, she is at home with 
 the Lord, full of unspeakable joy — how great is the consolation 
 which that is fitted to afford you in your affliction ! Your 
 sorrow, however great, is not like that of many in like circum- 
 stances — a sorrow without hope. She is resting now from her 
 labors and sufferings, and meanwhile she is waiting for the day 
 when you and she again will meet — oh, in what altered cir- 
 cumstances ! — before the throne of the Lamb. 
 
 " She looked forward to that day when she was still with 
 you in the body, and she is looking forward to it still. You 
 and she are still looking forward, as before, in the same hope, 
 to the same promised glory. There is a communion thus 
 maintained between you still, though now, in regard to it, you 
 ' walk by faith,' and no longer ' by sight.' Yet a little while, 
 
LETTER TO A BEREAVED FRIEND. 311 
 
 and things invisible will be invisible no more. Then, radiant 
 with immortality, and wearing the crown of righteousness — 
 such is the hope you cherish — you and she will have commu- 
 nion face to face ; and a present Saviour, your one Bridegroom 
 and your best Beloved, will make the joy of both to overflow. 
 
 " So far as she is personally concerned, we are called to 
 sympathize only with gladness of heart. The event which has 
 put sorrow into your heart has put gladness into hers. What 
 an alleviation this is of your sorrow ! What a cause of thank- 
 fulness to the God of all grace, who called her into the fellow- 
 ship of His Son ! Many at their departure, leave behind, in 
 the breast of their sorrowing relatives, the apprehension, infi- 
 nitely more distressing than bereavement, that they have gone 
 down into the pit. Far different — thanks to redeeming and 
 adopting love ! — is your case. Your dear wife has bequeathed 
 to you, along with the bitterness of bereavement, the sweet 
 consolation of knowing that, as to her concerns, all is well — 
 well forever. 
 
 " As to yourself, my dear friend, the change in your condi- 
 tion is painful and trying. Speaking humanly, it is a change 
 in all respects for the worse ; but, looking at it in the light of 
 God, we have good reason for believing that in most important 
 respects it will yet prove to have been for the better. ' All 
 things work together for good to them that love God.' His 
 dispensation has been arranged, in all its circumstances, by 
 Divine wisdom, with a view to your greatest happiness, as well 
 as with a view to hers. The love and affection which you had 
 towards her will naturally follow her into the invisible world, 
 and up into the presence of the Lord. That love and affection 
 were once placed on an object in time — they are now placed 
 on an object in eternity. If often your heart will carry your 
 thoughts away to the beloved spot where the mortal remains 
 are laid, still oftener will it carry away your thoughts to the 
 place, still more beloved, where the immortal spirit is with Je- 
 sus. Hence may accrue to you, my dear friend, from this af- 
 
312 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 flictive stroke, no small increase of spiritual good. But, above 
 all, God aims, by breaking the cistern of creature comfort, at 
 drawing your heart's desires more entirely out after Himself, 
 the uncreated Fountain of life and blessedness. — Affectionately 
 yours in Christ, W. H. H." 
 
 The secret process by which the instrument was 
 kept in tune, is seen in the following : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Malta. — Dirleton, March 16, 1849. — 
 To me many of those hours were sweet and pleasant exceed- 
 ingly, for the Lord was in the midst of us. How indescribable 
 the joy of fellowship with those who, you are persuaded, have 
 their affections set supremely on Jesus ! Communion, sweet 
 and soul-satisfying, there cannot be, unless it be poised and 
 balanced on the centre of a common love to Him. Nothing 
 sheds such attractiveness and amiability around a redeemed 
 soul, as the evidence which it gives of being drawn out to Je- 
 sus by the power of an all-pervading, all-hallowing love. What 
 will heaven be ? What the Holy City? How full of joy, be- 
 cause love to Jesus, love to His Father and ours, will be the 
 element breathed by all 1 Happiness will be perfect there, 
 for love to God and to the Lamb will be perfect, pure from the 
 admixture of everything carnal and earthly. 
 
 " I find few that seem to love the Lord as the redeemed should 
 love Him. Often do I feel longings for a higher sort of fellow- 
 ship than I am privileged to enjoy, at least with the saints : with 
 the Lord Himself we may daily enjoy the privilege of having 
 fellowship of the highest kind. He is ever near, ever living, 
 ever loving, ever watching, ever pleading, ever upholding. Are 
 we defiled ? Beheld, He has girded Himself with a towel, and 
 is stooping to wash our feet. Are we exhausted, faint, and weary ? 
 Behold, His everlasting arms are underneath. Does the fear 
 ever rise up within us, that the Lord has gone away ? Are we 
 ever afraid, as if He were not ours ? ' Fear not,' He says, ' for 
 
FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD. 313 
 
 I am with thee : be not dismayed, for I am thy God.' Is the 
 pulse of divine life in us very feeble? Is the breathing of the 
 Holy Ghost in our hearts scarcely, if at all, perceived ? Then, 
 Jesus is the same this day as when He said, 'If] depart, I will 
 send Him (the Spirit of truth, the Comforter) unto you ; He is 
 the same as on the day of Pentecost, when He fulfilled first that 
 gracious promise ; He is the same as when He shed on our own 
 souls most richly the spirit of life and joy. 
 
 " We may have to complain, that with the saints we have 
 not the satisfying fellowship that we long for ; but with the 
 King himself we may ever have such fellowship, that, even 
 amidst trial, our joy will be full. A living sinner enjoying the 
 acquaintance, the friendship, tho intimacy, the love, of a living 
 Saviour — that is religion — that is godliness — that is the outgo- 
 ing and exercise of a divine, holy life. 
 
 " And oh ! what a bright, glorious, unchangeable revelation 
 of the Saviour's dispositions, tempers, habits, and ways, is giveu 
 to us in the Word ! The Word is all living, for there is in it 
 everywhere the living Saviour. Here we see Him touching the 
 leper; here looking kindly on a sinner- woman at His feet; here 
 looking up, and saying to Zaccheus, ' To-day I must abide at 
 thy house;' there we see Him in the midst of His disciples, say- 
 ing, ' Peace be unto you,' and showing them His hands and 
 His side ; yonder, in heaven, we see Him showing His hands 
 and His side to the Father, and pleading that peace may be mul- 
 tiplied to His disciples here on earth. 
 
 " How worthy to be trusted, how much to be loved, is the Sa- 
 viour revealed to us in the Word ! How different a Saviour 
 from that which Satan would fain surreptitiously introduce into 
 the chamber of our thoughts, or, by hellish magic, present before 
 the eye of our imaginations ! I have seen souls as much afraid 
 of Christ as if He were a God like Moloch, delighting in blood. 
 Satan had set Moloch before their minds, and made them be- 
 lieve that it was Christ. 
 
 " Oh, then, let us make much of the Word, and, whatever be 
 14 
 
314 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 our frames or feelings, let us trust in it, nothing doubting, for it 
 reveals to us the true Christ of God; and, trusting in it, we are 
 in very deed trusting in God Himself, leaning on the arm of 
 Immanuel. Jesus loves those most who place most confidence 
 in His love. 
 
 " May He show himself to you a very present help in your time 
 of trouble, and bear you onward to the house of His Father, as on 
 eagles' wings! He will come soon. We shall see Him. — Till 
 then, if we meet not before, I am, dear friend, yours affectionately 
 in the Lord, W. H." 
 
 In the two next letters, we seem to stand by his side, 
 in the very precincts of the " celestial city" : — 
 
 "To J. H. Spencer, Esq., London. — Dirleton, April 2, 
 1849. — It is long since even a note passed from either of us to 
 the other. But we are near in Christ, for Christ is one with each 
 of His saints, one with them all. Let us stand fast, dear brother, 
 in Him ; let us grow up unto Him in all things, making increase 
 with the increase of God ; and let us, as men in a race, who are 
 determined to win the prize, press onward, and onward, with an 
 eye on the crown of righteousness. There may oft be hard strug- 
 gling and panting for breath in the race, and the prize often may 
 be intercepted from our view, but ere long all will be over — the 
 race will be run, and the crown will be placed on the victorious 
 brow. Heaven or hell ! — who would not run so as to be win- 
 ners in the race ! Alas ! many, instead of running, are lying on 
 the course fast asleep. They shall have but a sad awaking." 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dirleton, April 2, 1849. — 
 Blessed the afflictions and trials that make time less cared for, 
 and that help us forward in our heavenward race ! When we 
 are nearer to God than usual, and more fully in the light and 
 air of His holy place, how comparatively trifling are all the ills 
 of the present life ! Eternity, with its heaven and hell, its 
 endless joys and its everlasting burnings, then makes so deep 
 
HEAVENLY ASPIRATIONS. 315 
 
 an impression on the heart. These shadows, which form the 
 all of the world, are fast passing away ; the realities which, 
 alas ! even believers sometimes feel no more than if they were 
 but shadows, will ere long be ushered in, and make themselves 
 eternally felt. 
 
 " Now, we are like men in a journey, crossing a narrow 
 stream, called life, happy if only the Son of God be with us 
 in the bark, for on yonder side, which we are so rapidly near- 
 ing, there are no changes forever, either of heart or of condition. 
 Hell would be our home to-morrow, if Christ were not ours 
 to-day. If Christ be ours to-day, while we are on our journey, 
 and yet crossing the stream, we may have, we must have, 
 many trials ; but heaven will be our home to-morrow, when 
 the stream is crossed, and the journey forever ended. Let 
 us then wait on the Lord, and be of good courage ; He will 
 ere long bring us into a wealthy place." 
 
 Some jottings from a note-book of this period in- 
 dicate the ordinary tenor of his ministerial work : — 
 
 " Dirleton, April 8 — Sabbath. — Matth. ix. 27-31, and Gal. 
 i. 4-5. Visited at Ferrygate and in the village — two days." 
 
 "Dirleton, April 15 — Sabbath. — Luke xxi. 5-28, and Gen. 
 xxviii. 12. Visited at Kingston, at Queenston, and in the 
 village — three days." 
 
 "Dirleton, April 22 — Sabbath. — Matth. ix. 32-38, and John 
 xvi. 8-11. Visited at East Fortune, Fenton Barns, and in the 
 village — three days." 
 
 "Dirleton, April 29 — Sabbath. Matth. x. 1-15, and John 
 iii. 3. Gullane in the evening — Heb. i. 3. Visited in the 
 village — one day." 
 
 The texts here noted were the subjects of his pulpit 
 ministrations, embracing a lecture and a sermon each 
 
316 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Sabbath. In addition to the pastoral visitations, there 
 was also the visitation of the sick and infirm. Bible 
 classes and the Sabbath-school, as well as the weekly 
 prayer-meeting, though not specified here, formed a 
 regular part of his ministerial work. The monthly 
 evening sermon at Gullane, a neglected village three 
 miles distant, was never omitted even in the most in- 
 clement weather. His feeble frame might well have 
 shrunk from such labors. But his own ease or com- 
 fort had no place in his thoughts. He indeed " endured 
 hardness" for the Lord's sake. 
 
 "Nor did he confine himself," writes Mr. Dodds, 
 " to the more spiritual department of his office and 
 work. Whatever duty devolved upon him as the 
 minister of a congregation, or a member of our various 
 church courts he cheerfully and conscientiously per- 
 formed. Though delicate health might have afforded 
 him a fair excuse, he did not shrink from the society 
 of his brethren, or from the meetings of Presbytery ; 
 but, whenever his strength allowed, he was always at 
 his post, and undertook his full share of duty. All 
 this showed the peculiar decision and conscientiousness 
 of his character, his high standard of duty, and his 
 earnest desire to be useful in the Church in all capaci- 
 ties, according to the measure of his ability." 
 
 The holy gravity of his deportment carried a sol- 
 emnizing and hallowing influence into such meetings. 
 All felt, in his presence, that a man of God was among 
 them. His face seemed always shining, as if he had 
 
VISIT TO SOUTHAMPTON. 317 
 
 just descended from the mount. He was the Christian 
 everywhere — living every moment for eternity. 
 
 An interesting illustration of his conscientiousness 
 in discharging the duties of a member of church courts 
 occurs in an allusion to the General Assembly of this 
 year. The case was one of discipline : — 
 
 " 's case tended to create not only anxiety among the 
 
 members, but likewise solemnity. I spent about ten hours in 
 private in reading the evidence in that case ; and, without 
 reading and weighing the evidence privately, I should not have 
 felt at liberty to give a vote. It was a most painful case. It 
 said emphatically to all who had to do with it, ' Be not high- 
 minded, but fear.' " 
 
 He preached before that Assembly. His text was, 
 " God is love." 
 
 He ministered for a month that summer at South- 
 ampton, where his labors were not unblest. We give 
 a few extracts from letters written during his residence 
 there : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Southampton, June 13, 
 1849. — On Saturday last I reached this town, and preached 
 twice on Sabbath. Yesterday night I conducted the services 
 at a congregational prayer-meeting. Here I am creeping, 
 where Whitefield was wont to fly. O that I had wings like 
 his ! My ministerial life seems to me much to resemble that 
 of the chrysalis. Something in me says ' Work,' but something 
 else says ' No,' and, alas ! the more ignoble instinct too gener- 
 ally prevails. How little of the Spirit of Him who, anointed 
 with the Holy Ghost and with power, went about continually 
 doing good I" 
 
318 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Southampton, June 23, 1849. — 
 .... The congregation last Sabbath was like the full-formed 
 bud of a numerous and intelligent church. I hope the bud 
 will soon burst under the pastoral care of a regular and suitable 
 minister. Few Scotch congregations have a greater amount 
 of quickness, shrewdness, and intelligence, than the majority 
 of the Presbyterians here possess. The minister must, above 
 all else, be a godly man, but he must likewise have good in- 
 tellectual calibre," 
 
 "To his Sister. — Southampton, June 25, 1849. — .... 
 Yesterday morning I spat a little blood, but the Lord so 
 strengthened my weak body, that I preached forenoon and 
 afternoon without injury. The congregation yesterday seemed 
 to be more impressed, and some not a little solemnized and 
 moved. I trust the Lord, not hindered by the weakness and 
 un worthiness of the instrument, and graciously working in 
 some hearts. 
 
 "Weak exceedingly, we need always to be resting on the 
 arm of God our Saviour. I often feel as if I were the weakest 
 of all beings, and as if my being enabled to go forward were 
 a miracle of Divine love and power. Less than nothing and 
 vanity, what should we be but for Immanuel, God with us ? 
 May you all know Him, and experience His nearness, and have 
 tokens of His kindness !" 
 
 He had a liappy way of winning the confidence of 
 distressed and earnest souls. Such were sure to meet 
 in him a tender sympathy. Many who towards others 
 maintained a silent reserve, opened up to him their 
 spiritual maladies. An illustration of this trait occurs 
 in the following letter : — 
 
 "To A Friend in Malta. — Southampton, June 25, 1849. — 
 Your last letter was the most gladdening that you ever favored 
 me by writing. I well remember, as one of the most memo- 
 
HUMILITY. 319 
 
 rable occasions on which I had fellowship with you in Madeira, 
 the evening when — it was in Dr. Kalley's house — you first told 
 me of your spiritual condition. That was the evening when I 
 first felt myself to be in true Christian fellowship with you ; 
 at least I began to have a more lively sense of fellowship 
 with you than I had previously enjoyed. Your last letter 
 vividly recalled the occasion referred to, but it afforded still 
 greater joy ; for joy in the evidences of a victorious and 
 triumphant faith is more unmixed, though not more tender, 
 than that produced by a faith discouraged and oppressed — a 
 faith in conflict with the flesh, and struggling Christwards in 
 the midst of darkness. 
 
 " Christ's sympathies towards us flow forth much in the 
 same way as ours do towards one another. He doubtless re- 
 joices most over us when, most confiding in His love and 
 Saviour-sufficiency, we walk before Him in light, liberty, and 
 joy ; but it is when the soul is in hard battle with the power 
 of darkness — when, so to speak, the sweat of toil, that seems 
 well nigh desperation, is on its brow, and it falls down weeping 
 and helpless at the feet of Jesus — it is then, perhaps, that 
 Jesus gives some of the most tender and heart-melting demon- 
 strations of His sympathy and love." 
 
 Walking in ever closer fellowship with the Lord, 
 he grew in self-abasing lowliness. Forgiven much, 
 and loving much, he stood, like the " woman which 
 was a sinner," at the feet of Jesus, " behind Him, 
 weeping." 
 
 "To Another. — Southampton, June 26, 1849. — Your let- 
 ters are acts of kindness to one who is truly ' the chief of sin- 
 ners,' ' less than the least of all saints,' the most unworthy and 
 hell-deserving of all. As in a glass face answers to face, so does 
 this heart of mine answer to the words of Scripture : ' The 
 
320 MEMOIK OF REV. W. H. HEW1TSON. 
 
 heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked : who 
 can know it V 
 
 " You think too highly of my growth in grace, of my con- 
 formity to the image of the Holy One. He knows my vast 
 unlikeness to Himself, my wandering of heart from His law, 
 my readiness to forsake His fellowship, and to fix idolatrous 
 affection on created things. My dear brethren who are in the 
 world know me not : that is one consolation. My Lord Jesus 
 knows me thoroughly : that is a consolation greater still. 
 
 " I think if I had my will I should even now become inca- 
 pable of sinning. But, alas ! sin besets me' on every side — 
 comes in upon me like water, as it were through a thousand 
 pores, or oozes forth where it seemed to have completely van- 
 ished. Still sin has not breathed its last — it is only on its 
 death-bed ; holiness has not attained its cherubic manhood — it 
 is still only in the cradle of its infancy. ' O wretched man that 
 I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death V is 
 an ejaculation often prompted, but often uttered with too much 
 languor, too little earnestness. You say, dear friend, that you 
 have lately seen more of the malignity of indwelling sin. I 
 ought, if any other on the earth, to sympathize with you in 
 that experience. Indwelling sin never manifested greater ma- 
 lignity and deceitfulness than here." 
 
 " Could an emmet," it has been said, " pry into it- 
 self, it might marvel at its own anatomy." There is 
 a self-anatomy which, under the guise of humility, 
 leaves the man "vain of his self-knowledge," "proud 
 of his discoveries of pride." Humility like this — how 
 unlike the lowliness of those who, as they fall down 
 in deepest abasement before the Lamb, sing the new 
 song, saying, "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us 
 to God by thy blood" ! — This is true lowliness — the 
 lowliness accompanying, not unbelief, but faith, not 
 
HUMILITY. 321 
 
 suspicion, but confidence. Mr. Hewitson was grow- 
 ing in lowliness, because growing in his knowledge 
 of the glories of the Lamb. " Go to Golgotha," said 
 Neff to one of his Alpine catechumens, " and thou 
 wilt see the odious nature of thy sins. " It was as Mr. 
 Hewitson gazed day by day with ever-deepening love 
 on the Lord who died for him, that his "head" be- 
 came more truly " waters, and his eyes a fountain of 
 tears." This principle of his hidden life is illustrated 
 in the sequel of the letter last quoted. How does he 
 follow up the self-loathing ? Thus : — 
 
 " Nothing has more attractive and heart-weaning power than 
 habitual contemplation of the Lord's living person. Our Re- 
 deemer is no mere abstraction, no ideality, that has its being 
 only in our own shifting thoughts. He is the most independ- 
 ently personal of all persons, and the most absolutely living of 
 all who live. He is ' the First and the Last, and the Living 
 One.' He is so near us, as the Son of God, that we can feel 
 His warm breath on our souls ; and, as the Son of man, He 
 has a heart like these hearts of ours — a human heart, meek 
 and lowly, tender, kind, and sympathizing. In the Word — 
 the almost viva voce utterance of Himself — His arm of power 
 is stretched forth beside you, that you may lean on it with 
 all your weight ; and in the Word, also, His love is revealed, 
 that on the bosom of it you may lay your aching head, and 
 forget your sorrow in the abundance of His consolations. The 
 Living One, who died, we must contemplate — to Him we 
 must look, that we may be weaned and won over wholly to 
 God — that we may be strengthened, spiritualized, and sancti- 
 fied. 
 
 " The hope of seeing you this summer has vanished. The 
 hope of meeting when the Lord comes, through His grace, 
 
 14* 
 
322 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 remains. Shall we be all lioly when we meet again — holy as 
 He is holy \ It would be a happier meeting than any could 
 be now." 
 
 Another letter closes his correspondence from 
 Southampton : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Southampton, July 2, 1849. — 
 Since I left Dirleton I have seen proofs of the growing licen- 
 tiousness of these perilous times. Sin appears to be walking 
 abroad with more than its former effrontery. My own heart 
 tells me, alas ! where the well-springs are of the moral evil that 
 is seen in the world. Inborn sin, how active ! how watchful ! 
 how mighty ! how difficult to overcome ! It has a thousand 
 disguises, a world of allurements, a more than magic power of 
 fascination. It steals into the bosom of every thought — it 
 clings, like a viper, to the hand of every holy endeavor. Would 
 that it were slain ! ' wretched man !' has found, since it first 
 came forth from the heart of the apostle, an echo in the heart 
 of every believer ; and in some heart will it ever continue to 
 find an echo, till we see Jesus face to face, and a voice come 
 forth from the heavens, saying, ' Behold, I make all things new.' 
 Were it only that sin might be utterly and forever destroyed 
 — were it for nothing else whatever — we should have cause 
 enough for the earnest prayer, ' Come, Lord Jesus, come 
 quickly !' " 
 
 A characteristic little incident occurred as he was 
 leaving the house where he had been sojourning. " I 
 hope you have been comfortable during your visit," 
 said his kind host. "Yes," was his reply, "with the 
 exception of one thing — I have been annoyed by so 
 many people continually inquiring about my health." 
 " He never felt comfortable," adds our correspondent, 
 
CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 323 
 
 " when any one did so. I recollect, on one occasion 
 in ray presence, he said to a friend of mine, ' I shall 
 never be better than I now am until the resurrection 
 day' — meaning, he was quite happy under all his in- 
 firmities. " 
 
 The remaining eight months of his active ministry 
 present little variety of incident. They were occupied 
 chiefly with the care of the precious souls committed 
 to his pastoral charge. Grimshaw tells us, regarding 
 his dear people in the little parish of Haworth, that, 
 of the greater part of them, so far as man could judge, 
 he could give almost as particular account as he could 
 of himself. He knew whether they were progressing 
 or declining. By his frequent visits and converse 
 with them, he was acquainted with their several temp- 
 tations, trials, and exercises, both personal and domes- 
 tic, both spiritual and temporal, almost as intimately 
 as if he had lived in their families. In Dirleton there 
 was formed, secretly and unostentatiously — known, in- 
 deed, only to its members and to him whom most of 
 them regarded as their spiritual father — a little circle 
 of believers, with whose exercises, and trials, and tri- 
 umphs of faith Mr. Hewitson was not less familiar, and 
 for whom he watched daily with not less tender solici- 
 tude. These were the Aarons and Hurs of his minis- 
 try : held up by their prayers and sympathy, he ful- 
 filled his course. As each new convert entered the 
 little family, gladness pervaded all. During all the 
 time of his ministry at Dirleton, he was never without 
 
324 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 at least one anxious soul. And rarely did the anxiety 
 fail to issue in true peace. 
 
 A series of extracts will open up a glimpse of his 
 closing winter. The first indirectly indicates a char- 
 acteristic of his own ministry, already often noticed : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dirleton, September 13, 1849. 
 — Having the prospect of so soon seeing you, and speaking 
 face to face, I shall only say at present, in connection with min- 
 isterial instrumentality — what occurred to my mind this morn- 
 ing during breakfast — that a well-tuned violin is not less neces- 
 sary to the musical performer, than a heart in unison with the 
 heart of God is to the preacher of the gospel. The skill of a 
 Paganini will be vain, if the instrument be out of tune ; the la- 
 bor of the evangelist will be no less vain, so far as the personal 
 element of his instrumentality is concerned, unless his heart be 
 harmonized by the Spirit of truth and love. We must, so to 
 speak, tune the instrument by means of meditation and prayer. 
 Preaching will then be like a sweet melody in the ears of both 
 God and man." 
 
 He addresses other friends thus : — 
 
 "To J. H. Spencek, Esq., London. — Dirleton, September 
 15, 1849. — My dear brother, — My passing visit to you seems 
 now to have been merely a pleasant dream. Everything here 
 is more like a dream than a reality. When the Lord comes, 
 but not till then, will the hearts of His people be made fully 
 and abidingly glad. May we be ready among his people to 
 welcome Him when He comes ! It is no easy matter to watch 
 in this sleeping world." 
 
 " To Mr. David Sandeman, Student of Divinity, Edin- 
 burgh. — Dirleton, September 20, 1849. — My dear friend, — It 
 will be sweet to be at home with the all-lovely One, our Elder 
 Brother. O for vaster longings of natural affection after Him 
 
METHOD WITH THE YOUNG. 325 
 
 — intenser longings to see Him as He is ! How I love Him 
 for His sweet, infinite holiness, when the Holy Ghost only 
 gives me a glimpse of that ! I feel then«as if I could not love 
 Him, but for His sweet, deep, wonderful, and divine holiness. 
 What a heaven it would be to be like Him ! What a heaven, 
 to have fellowship with those who bear most of His likeness ! 
 But it is the heaven of heavens to have unhindered, free, full, 
 heart-in-heart communion with Himself. 
 
 " The Lord of the harvest needs reapers with sharp sickles. 
 The time is short : soon many will be saying, in dolorous ac- 
 cents, ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are 
 not saved.' " 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Dirleton, October 12, 1849. — 
 .... It will be impossible for me to be with you at the com- 
 munion next month. My communion is to be on the fourth 
 Sabbath. On the third Sabbath I have to preach, if I can get 
 away, to the children in Salton and Haddington. Here, at 
 present, those who are in the Lord seem to be going on their 
 way steadily towards Zion ; and I do trust that they are pray- 
 ing for a work of revival in the place. As a minister, I feel 
 the need of being more abundantly replenished with gifts and 
 graces suitable to the work, by the Spirit of Pentecost. Why 
 are we not full of faith and of the Holy Ghost ? Why do we 
 not speak with a wisdom and spirit which none would be able 
 to resist ? Having such promises, why have we such inade- 
 quate realizations in our experience ? — Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 "W. H. H." 
 
 The sermon to children noticed in the last extract 
 was one of a series preached by him that winter in 
 all the congregations of the presbytery. "He had a 
 gentle and winning manner," says Mr. Dodds, " of 
 speaking to the young. He usually addressed them 
 directly upon the state of their souls, and upon the 
 
326 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 love of Christ ; but in a tone of such tenderness, and 
 with such simplicity of speech, as arrested their atten- 
 tion, and often moved them to tears." It may be 
 added, that he preached to them, as to others, in the 
 hope and expectation of conversions. He aimed at 
 nothing less than to win their precious souls. A 
 specimen of his method with them occurs in a letter 
 to a Sabbath-class in Edinburgh, written by him 
 from Madeira : — 
 
 " I have been requested by my dear friend, your Sabbath- 
 school teacher, to address to you a few words respecting the 
 salvation of your souls. May the Holy Spirit bless to you 
 what I write ! 
 
 " The place where I now am is a far-off island of the sea ; 
 but though it be far off, it is yet surrounded by the same great 
 sea which washes the shores of Scotland, your dear native 
 land and mine. Yes, that same ocean, which you can so easily 
 go and bathe in, reaches to this island, and the people here 
 can easily go and bathe in it too. How like the blood of 
 Christ ! For the blood of Christ is like a great ocean — oue so 
 ■\ery great, that it comes close to your very door in Scotland, 
 and close to the very door of poor guilty sinners here in Ma- 
 deira, so that you and they alike may go into it, and bathe 
 your souls in it, and come out whiter than snow. 
 
 "Christ has many in Madeira who believe in His name, and 
 have washed themselves and made them white in His blood. 
 Now I'll tell you what they think about Christ. They are 
 hated, and threatened, and reproached, and buffeted, and per- 
 secuted for Christ's sake ; but they think Him so worthy, and 
 feel Him to be so precious, that they bear all with patience, and 
 are willing to bear more. You cannot speak to many of them 
 about the love of Christ in dying for sinners like them, without 
 seeing them melted into tears of gratitude and love. And 
 
METHOD WITH THE YOUNG. 327 
 
 when you speak to them about Christ's coming again in glory, 
 to ' receive His people to Himself, that they may be with Him 
 where He is,' you may see their countenances lighted up with 
 joy, and their hearts seem to bound with exultation at the 
 thought of being with Jesus forever and ever. 
 
 " They are not, like you, natives of a favored land, in which 
 every one is free to read and obey the Word of God. They 
 are in danger of their lives if they be found coming to hear 
 the gospel preached, and to sit at the Lord's table. The time 
 seems to be near when they may have to die by the hands of 
 cruel men, for following the Lord fully ; but ' worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain ;' and they ' take up their cross,' willing to 
 ' follow Him whithersoever he goeth,' even though He lead 
 them unto death. 
 
 " From what I tell you about them, you will understand 
 what they think of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who delights in 
 glorifying Jesus, has shown to them the Saviour's love and 
 righteousness and glory. The Holy Spirit has taken them and 
 bathed them in the blood of Christ ; He has given them a 
 simple, simple, childlike faith, and taught them to place all 
 confidence in the love of God ; He has taught them to look 
 upon Jesus as very precious, and to bear with patience and 
 with the hope of glory all that they suffer for Jesus' sake. 
 
 " Perhaps you sometimes feel little delight in hearing the 
 Word of God read and taught — perhaps the worldly ease and 
 comfort which you have in Scotland are a snare to your souls. 
 Surely, then, what I am going to tell you will make you 
 ashamed of being negligent and careless about the things 
 which concern God's glory and your eternal peace. 
 
 "There are some people who live so far from where I live, 
 that it takes nearly five hours to walk the distance. They are 
 so anxious to hear the Word of God preached, that they in- 
 tend, on a certain day this week, to leave home about mid- 
 night, and to be here about sunrise, and to wait in an empty 
 house till ten o'clock in the morning, where public worship 
 
328 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 will take place. You will ask me why they intend to leave 
 home so early. It is because they are afraid of their enemies, 
 and seek shelter from persecution under the darkness and 
 silence of the night, when they come to hear the gospel. Re- 
 member this, whenever your souls become drowsy, and careless 
 about what you hear. 
 
 " Ah ! think of the hell on the edge of which you are stand- 
 ing ; think of the love of Jesus, who is showing you His 
 wounds, and calling you to hide in them and be safe ; think of 
 Satan, who is cunningly standing between you and Jesus, that 
 you may not see the Saviour's wounds, nor be melted by the 
 power of His love. 
 
 " Were Christ, after calling on you so long, and seeking so 
 often to save you, but all in vain — were he to turn away from 
 you now with the terrible wrath of despised and injured love, 
 saying, ' Let them alone !' — dear, precious souls, your doom 
 would be truly sad ! 
 
 " Before it be too late — before Jesus hides himself from you, 
 to come and speak to you with ' the still small voice' of His 
 love no more — while yet you may be saved — I send to you 
 across the seas an earnest cry, ' Flee from the wrath to come ; 
 flee to Jesus — He will receive you with open arms ; come and 
 bring with you to Him all your sins — He will in no wise cast 
 you out.' 
 
 " Christ has one hand upon me here, and another upon you 
 in Scotland. He is looking upon me now while I write this, 
 and He will look upon you when you are reading it, or hear- 
 ing it read. I will put the letter into His hand, and leave it 
 there : it may be that when, in His providence, He brings its 
 cry to your ears, you will hearken, and flee to Him for safety. 
 
 " He is willing and mighty to save. I will give you a proof 
 of this. Less than three weeks since, a woman, who loves 
 Christ and believes in His Word, told me that her husband 
 buffeted her and maltreated her cruelly for Christ's sake — that 
 he raged and was mad against the truth. A few days after- 
 
LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 329 
 
 wards, a good man, who was working along with him, told 
 him solemnly that if he continued as he was he would go to 
 hell. The words went to the heart of the miserable sinner, 
 and, in fear of ' the wrath to come,' he fled to Jesus. He 
 found Jesus willing, as well as able, to save him, and he is now 
 a changed man, rejoicing in the Lord. He now prays in His 
 family, and sings the praise of God. 
 
 " What the blessed Jesus does for sinners in Madeira, He is 
 willing and able to do for sinners in Scotland — willing and able 
 to do for you. Only ' taste, and you will see that He is gracious ;' 
 only believe, and you shall be saved ; just go into the great sea 
 of Immanuel's blood, and bathe your souls in it, and you shall 
 be cleansed from all your guilt," 
 
 " A look, a single look" writes Yinet, " rids of all 
 fears but the fear of doing evil." The same simplicity 
 of faith Mr. Hewitson continues to urge upon all to 
 whom he preaches or writes. A touching example 
 occurs in the next letter : — 
 
 "To his Mother. — Dirleton, October 18, 1849. — We are 
 all grieved on account of your illness, and pray God to restore 
 you, if it be His holy will. Long have I been waiting for an op- 
 portunity of visiting you ; and it is no small cause of grief to 
 me, that I have such preaching engagements for next week in 
 Edinburgh as leave me little hope of being able to get away ; 
 otherwise, I should, God willing, be in Dalmellington next 
 Monday evening. 
 
 " My dear mother, you hear the sweet voice of Jesus, saying, 
 4 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' A 
 look saved the Israelites, when they were wounded by the fiery 
 serpent ; and a look can save our souls — a look at Jesus. Oh ! 
 I fondly trust you can look to the wounded Jesus, and say, ' My 
 Lord, and my God.' The love of God the Father, in giving His 
 Son to die, is enough to give you confidence, and to draw your 
 
330 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 heart out towards Him. The sight of God's love in the wounds 
 of His bleeding Son, is a sight well fitted to touch the heart and 
 melt it, and fill it with hatred of its sins, and make it to rest on 
 Jesus. O that Jesus may be very near you ! and that, showing 
 you His hands and His side, He may say, ' Peace be unto thee.' 
 O that He may breathe on you with His blessed lips, and give 
 you the Holy Ghost ! He is touched with compassion to sinners. 
 He is pleading, a High Priest for all who come by Him to the 
 Father. Draw near, then, my dear mother, with a true heart, 
 and in full assurance of faith." 
 
 In another letter we have an incidental notice of 
 his ministrations at the weekly prayer-meeting : — 
 
 "To James Crawford, Jun., Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. — 
 Dirleton, December 14, 1849. — I received your kind note, and 
 thank you for having got the other volume of Morell. Next 
 time I come to Edinburgh, I shall bring the first volume along 
 with me, which I have finished. 
 
 "Last night, in the prayer-meeting, we had, as the subject of 
 meditation, the character of Moses, as it was brought out in the 
 wilderness. These features of his character especially were dwelt 
 on : — 1. His subjection to God's revealed will ; 2. His subjection 
 to God's leadings in all his ways ; 3. His contentment in all con- 
 ditions ; 4. His long-suffering ; 5. His meekness ; 6. His godly 
 indignation against sin ; 7. His zeal for God's glory ; 8. His faith ; 
 9. His earnestness in intercessory prayer; 10. His holiness, 
 breathing itself forth in aspirations like this — ' I beseech Thee, 
 show me Thy glory ;' 11. His close and constant fellowship with 
 God. In all these respects we see One infinitely better and 
 greater than Moses, when we turn to His antitype, Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Here we find all that is fair, lovely, glorious, and ex- 
 cellent — all in an infinite degree of perfection. Looking at Him 
 may we be changed into his likeness!" 
 
 His health was beginning to exhibit symptoms 
 
PROPOSAL TO GO ABROAD. 331 
 
 more than ordinarily alarming. We find him allud- 
 ing to it thus : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Malta. — Dirleton, December 18, 1849. 
 — You kindly inquire regarding my health. I have had 
 hemorrhage repeatedly since June last. Disease seems to be 
 making progress in the chest ; but, if so, it is doing only the 
 will of the Lord who sent it. In the Lord's hands our con- 
 cerns and interests are safe eternally. 
 
 Fearing the effects of another winter and spring in 
 Scotland, especially on the east coast, some friends had 
 urged a temporary sojourn in Malta, offering to pay all 
 expenses. But he declined. " No, " we remember him 
 saying one day about this period, " I cannot, I dare 
 not, voluntarily leave my post here on account of 
 health. I do not see my way to go." Similar was 
 the resolution of Neff, when his friends, seeing him 
 gradually sinking under his overwhelming labors, 
 represented to him the danger of soon wearing him- 
 self out: — " How," said he, "can I fold my arms, and 
 sink into repose, when I see around me so extensive 
 a field of labor, and so few laborers ?" The wisdom 
 of- the decision in both instances may be justly ques- 
 tioned. Satan has his snares for the conscience. Did 
 he not here tempt and triumph, as an angel of light ? 
 
 But whilst the outward man perished, the inward 
 man was renewed day by day. The flesh was failing, 
 but the soul "mounted up on wings as eagles :" — 
 
 "To A Friend in Malta. — Dirleton, December 18, 1849. 
 14 
 
332 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 — When I say that I scarcely ever know what it is to be alto- 
 gether free from a sense of bodily weariness, you will see that 
 my labors leave me but little strength for correspondence. It 
 is sometimes my desire to have more strength for the Lord's 
 work, but His arrangements are the wisest and the best : the 
 more of weakness and weariness now, the more sweet that rest 
 of God into which we shall by-and-by enter. 
 
 " The Lord has in His view the part of the spiritual temple 
 which we are to occupy forever ; and to fit us for our place is 
 the end of all His dealings with us during this present state of 
 preparation. We would fain choose for ourselves when ' the 
 flesh' is up and working ; but when grace is prevalent, we lie 
 quietly under the Lord's hand, and delight in hearing His 
 voice, saying to us, ' Be still, and know that I am God.' 
 
 " Your comfort and enlargement of heart, in walking with 
 God, will depend not a little on your rightly distinguishing 
 between your sins and your sorrows. To take all your natural, 
 it may be sometimes your Christ-like, sorrows to the blood of 
 atonement, as if they were altogether sinful, would have the 
 effect, not of softening your heart, but of hardening it — not of 
 bringing light, but darkness into your soul — not of augmenting, 
 but of diminishing, your love to Jesus. 
 
 " O how Satan strives to make us believe that our Lord is 
 ' an austere man !' How he labors to give us false views and 
 impressions of the character of our Lord ? Believe nothing 
 about Christ which the Word of God does not warrant. You 
 know well what Christ is — you have been in His company — 
 you have tasted that He is gracious — your experience has 
 taught you that He does sympathize with you in all your af- 
 flictions. Come, then, to Him, with all your sorrows, and, oh ! 
 you will have good cause to say that He who wept at the grave 
 of Lazarus is still the same — no less God-like in His power to 
 comfort, and no less man-like in the flowing forth of His com- 
 passions. So long as sorrow is bounded or fenced about with 
 a gracious disposition to acquiesce in and approve of God's ar- 
 
TRIALS AND SINS — DISTINGUISHED. 333 
 
 rangements, so long will the Lord show Himself ready to sym- 
 pathize, and to wipe away the silent tear. 
 
 " Forgive me for writing thus, as it were, in the style of ex- 
 hortation. I remember that sometimes you repented in Ma- 
 deira of what you thought sinful, when I could see nothing 
 sinful in the matter, but only something that was trying, and 
 which, therefore, it was natural to feel. Grace comes not to 
 destroy our susceptibilities of pleasure and pain, of joy and 
 sorrow, but to refine and sanctify them, and bring them into 
 harmony with love to God. 
 
 " If it be the Lord's will to remove those who are so dear to 
 you from Malta, then what the Lord requires of you is unmur- 
 muring acquiescence in His holy will. He does not require 
 insensibility to the pain of parting, or the trial of protracted 
 separation. He has no delight in callousness of heart. He 
 loves the sensibility which, with all its tenderness, and when 
 most lacerated, will yet say, ' Not my will, but Thine be done : 
 Father, glorify Thy name.' 
 
 " You have many trials. In your thoughts keep them alto- 
 gether distinct from your sins. Lay your sins on Christ as a 
 sacrifice ; and lay your trials on Him as a kind and sympa- 
 thizing Friend — a Brother made for the day of adversity. 
 
 " Your last contained not a little that deeply interested me, 
 regardiug your sanctification-struggles. Be of good cheer, and 
 wait on the Lord ; your struggles ere long will have a happy 
 issue. The more you feel of corruption working, the more 
 blessed and refreshing will be the anticipation of the state of 
 perfected holiness. To be altogether disburdened of this body 
 of death — that will be heaven. To be Christ-like in every 
 feature and lineament, in every desire of the heart, and every 
 movement of the will ; to be fit for close, uninterrupted fellow- 
 ship with the Father and with the Son ; — that will be — O how 
 great ! — compensation for the painfulness of present conflict 
 with indwelling sin. 
 
 " That our sanctification may go sweetly forward, we must 
 
334 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ever bear on our hearts the words of Jesus — ' Without me ye 
 can do nothing.' What makes our struggles against sin often 
 more difficult and painful is, that we forget Him who is our 
 sanctification, and set our face against the enemy in our own 
 strength. Nothing can overcome what is earthly in us except 
 what is heavenly ; and what is heavenly in us is not merely 
 our renewed nature, but more especially the Holy Ghost, who 
 is come from heaven. Yonder, in the heart of Christ, is our 
 sanctification as in its fountain ; here, in our hearts, is sanctifi- 
 cation as in its stream. If we cut ourselves off by unbelief 
 from the fountain, the stream will cease to flow. May the day 
 soon dawn when the stream and the fountain shall be liable to 
 sundrance no more ! That day may be near at hand. Let us 
 watch till then. — Yours ever affectionately till He come, 
 
 "W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 The next letter recalls his early days. It is ad- 
 dressed to a college friend. In the interval indicated, 
 how blessed a race he has run ! 
 
 " To James P. Hansard, Esq., M.D., Brighton. — Dirle- 
 ton, January 21, 1850. — My very dear friend, — I was surprised 
 as well as delighted, by the arrival of your letter from Brighton. 
 For years I have not had means of hearing about you, and 
 could not tell whether you were still among the living, or had 
 fallen asleep. I am glad that you have returned in safety to 
 your native land, and I hope that you will now remain. Do 
 you intend to do so ? ' The time is short ;' and wherever be 
 our earthly tabernacles, or however far asunder, the day is at 
 hand when we shall meet, I trust, according to the promise of 
 the gospel, in the presence of our blessed Lord. 
 
 " Since we met, I have had many trials, and seen great af- 
 flictions, especially of a spiritual kind. I am located here, by 
 the Lord's good hand upon me, at a distance of twenty miles 
 almost due east from Edinburgh. Here, as a minister of the 
 
SECOND ADVENT — LECTURE. 335 
 
 gospel, in the communion of the Free Church, I have been la- 
 boring for about two years. Before that, I was in another 
 and distant part of the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 " My dear Hansard, the interval since we met is so long, 
 that now we ought to be far forward in the divine life, and ac- 
 quainted experimentally with the things that are freely given 
 to us of God, as we were not in these former days. It is good 
 to be going forward and forward through Baca's Valley, dig- 
 ging up wells as we go — to be pressing upward from strength 
 to strength, till we stand perfect before God in Zion. — Sincerely 
 and affectionately yours, W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 Notwithstanding his increasing weakness, he took 
 part in a course of lectures that winter in Edinburgh 
 on the Lord's Second Coming. He prepared the lec- 
 ture with great care, and delivered it to two successive 
 audiences. " The ardor of his advocacy of this doc- 
 trine," says Mr. Dodds, " offended some ; but this was 
 the vehemence of strong conviction and true sincerity. 
 What he felt to be so precious, and full of quicken- 
 ing influences to his own soul, with characteristic 
 energy he sought to establish in the minds and hearts 
 of all his friends. Prophecy was his favorite stud}*- ; 
 and, whatever many may think of his views, that study 
 was to him the source of unspeakable joy, and the 
 greatest spiritual refreshment. Were any doctrine to 
 be judged of by the spirituality of him who believes 
 in it, the doctrine of the Advent, as he held it, would 
 indeed receive the strongest possible confirmation 
 from his life and character." 
 
 The lecture in Edinburgh was his last public work 
 
336 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 out of his own pulpit. On returning home he 
 wrote : — 
 
 "To a Friend in Edinburgh. — Dirleton, February 18, 
 1850. — Last week I was two nights in Edinburgh, but my en- 
 gagements were such as to require all my physical strength, 
 so that I could not have the pleasure of making you a visit. 
 Whatever be the cause of it, I can no longer hide it from my- 
 self, that my strength has of late been rapidly sinking. 
 
 " Daily I endeavor to remember you in my prayers. The 
 Lord Himself is your hiding-place and your shield : He will 
 preserve you from trouble, and compass you about with songs 
 of deliverance. Cannot you say with Paul, 'I know in whom I 
 have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that 
 which I have committed to Him against that day V Faithful 
 is He who stands in the place of your Surety, and faithful also 
 is God the Father, who has called you into the fellowship of 
 His Son. But then, dear friend, with implicit confidence in 
 your God and Saviour, 
 
 ' Think what Spirit dwells within thee ; 
 Think what Father's love is thine ; 
 Think that Jesus died to win thee ; 
 Child of heaven, canst thou repine ? 
 
 ' Haste thee on from grace to glory, 
 
 Arm'd by faith, and wing'd by prayer ; 
 Heav'n's eternal day's before thee, 
 
 God's own hand shall guide thee there." 
 
 " Ever your affectionate friend, W. H Hewitson." 
 
 His ministry was now drawing near a close. There 
 is an affecting pathos in the following notes. He was 
 preparing for what proved to be his last communion : — 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Dirleton, February 18, 1850. — 
 My dear brother, — My communion will be, God willing, on 
 
LAST COMMUNION. 387 
 
 .Sabbath the 10th of March. I hope you will at length be able 
 to assist me on that Sabbath of communion. My communions 
 in the church militant will in all likelihood not be many. My 
 health seems to be speedily declining. Sometimes rny heart 
 bounds with joy at the thought of being soon present with the 
 Lord. Nevertheless, I should rather labor on earth amidst 
 hardship and trial fur a while longer, if only the Lord had any 
 end to serve by me here still ; and it is possible, that if He 
 bear me up under the withering influence of a Dirleton winter 
 and spring, I shall recover, amidst the genialities of summer 
 air and sunshine, much of the strength that I have recently 
 lost. Meanwhile, feverish irritability, nocturnal perspirations, 
 occasional haemoptysis, and other symptoms, warn me that the 
 coming of death may be previous to the Coming of the Lord. 
 These things I write to you in the confidence of friendship: 
 they are not for the ears of strangers. Ever affectionately 
 yours, W. H. H." 
 
 " To the Rev. J. Baillie. — Dirleton, February 26, 1850. — 
 My dear brother, — Your letter, which I had this morning, 
 brought me a great disappointment. The interval is now so 
 brief, that I mav be left without help on the Sabbath. But I 
 look to the Lord. I trust He will, even at so late an hour, 
 send me a brother's help. Will you take the diet on the 
 Thursday evening before the communion ? 
 
 "If the Lord spare me till then, I intend to go, on the 18th 
 of March, to Bruntsfield Lodge, and spend there a fortnight 
 in doing nothing, if so be the Lord will bless the rest as a 
 means of enabling me to weather the severities yet of another 
 spring, and to set my face to the labors of another summer's 
 campaign. Like a wounded soldier in the camp of Jesus, I 
 must retire, at least for the time mentioned, from the field. 
 The cold of this winter seems to have helped me well forward 
 on my way to the valley, which, though dark, is not dreary or 
 dreadful to the disciples of Jesus. Yours very affectionately, 
 
 "W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 15 
 
338 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "To the Same. — Dirleton, March 1, 1850. — After getting 
 your first note, I wrote to Kelso. Mr. Bonar tells me that he 
 had refused for certain reasons, to be with you on the 10th of 
 this month, and that these reasons were still as strong as ever 
 for refusing to be from home on that day. But considering 
 the special claim which, in my present circumstances, I had to 
 his aid, he very kindly has agreed to come, and he says, that 
 he is sure you, knowing the circumstances of the case, would 
 approve of his doing so. 
 
 "Your second note breathes, like his, a spirit of brotherly 
 love and sympathy, which I deeply feel, and trace up to the 
 fountain-head of it in the heart of Jesus, the elder Brother of 
 the saints. 
 
 " In haste, and hoping that you will come early, I am yours 
 very affectionately, W. H. H." 
 
 Our visit that week to Dirleton we shall not soon 
 forget. The reader may gather the impression left by 
 it from the following jottings taken down at the time : — 
 
 " March 6. — We went to Dirleton at four ; found 
 dear Hewitson very feeble indeed — more so than he 
 has ever been ; seems to anticipate possibility of his 
 departure within a month ; is quite happy in the Lord. 
 
 " March 7. — Had much conversation to-day ; our 
 dear brother very animated, and all his words fragrant. 
 Spoke again and again on necessity of looking, not at 
 our faith, but at Christ — at the person of Christ ; this 
 gave peace and joy, but faith a very poor thing to 
 look at ; nothing but a broken reed, piercing him who 
 leans on it. 
 
 " As he lay on the sofa, during intervals he was en- 
 gaged in preparation of sermon for Sabbath ; was 
 
NOTES OF VISIT TO DIRLETON. 339 
 
 struck with his power of mental abstraction ; he was 
 unable to write a sentence, and yet he advanced as 
 steadily and methodically in the work of composition 
 as if every head and paragraph had been written as 
 he went on. 
 
 " We went to the church at half-past six; never 
 saw clearer tokens of the Lord's presence in a congre- 
 gation. 
 
 " After coming in, and as we were sitting in the 
 study, one of his people called to speak to him about 
 a neighbor who had lately been awakened. Mr. 
 Hewitson had not been able to see the awakened per- 
 son personally, and had sent for this individual, as one 
 in whom he had confidence, to give a message suitable 
 to the case ; was much struck with his skill in dealing 
 with the case ; the inquirer had been grievously vexed 
 and darkened by what Hewitson detected to be mere 
 suggestions of Satan ; was amazed and humbled at 
 the masterly and tender way in which he separated the 
 lies of Satan from the heart's own suggestions, show- 
 ing that the sin lay, not in being troubled by Satan's 
 lying insinuations, but in listening to and entertaining 
 them ; and telling his visitor to urge on the inquirer 
 the glorious grace of Christ, and to bid Satan get be- 
 hind if he still insinuated that the Lord was not willing 
 to welcome instantly, and forgive freely. 
 
 "It has been said reproachfully, but with too much 
 truth, that the less you know of some ministers out of 
 the pulpit the better. How different with dear Hew- 
 
340 MEMOIR OF REV. W. II. HEWITSON. 
 
 itson ! He indeed 'walks within his house with a 
 perfect heart.' His family worship especially — not 
 a dull, dry, tedious form, but instinct with life and 
 freshness. Why ? His soul always at the fountain ; 
 and so out of him there is flowing one continuous 
 stream of living water. 
 
 " March 8. — We left Dirleton at half-past seven A. M. 
 Much refreshed by this visit — never otherwise in 
 coming into contact with that holy and heavenly- 
 minded man. 
 
 " Invited H. to take his intended rest at Linlithgow ; 
 but he fears to go so far from home, as, in case of be- 
 coming decidedly worse, he should wish to be able 
 instantly to return and die among his people." 
 
 The communion took place on the following Sab- 
 bath, March 10. Mr. Horatius Bonar, who was with 
 him on the occasion, thus notes it : — 
 
 " On the 26th of February he wrote, asking me to 
 assist him, and adding, 'Now I am too feeble in body 
 to undertake all the service myself. This winter 
 seems to have done more than any former one to has- 
 ten me forward to the end of my journey.' And on 
 the 1st of March he wrote to me again, making ar- 
 rangements as to his communion, and referring, at the 
 close, to his sinking condition of body: 'Unless my 
 strength be still farther reduced, I shall take my own 
 share of the communion services. Nightly perspira- 
 tions have been weakening me much of late ; but it is 
 well.' 
 
NOTES BY REV. HORATIUS BONAR. 341 
 
 " I went to Dirleton on Saturday the 9th, and, ar- 
 riving there towards evening, along with our mutual 
 friend Mr. James Crawford, found him sitting on the 
 sofa, feeble indeed, and emaciated, but not so much so 
 as I had expected. He had his Bible in his hand, and, 
 after friendly greetings, he turned to a passage which 
 he had been reading; and this, along with one or 
 two others, furnished material for conversation dur- 
 ing tea and afterwards. He was most peaceful and 
 cheerful, expressing his hope that he should be able to 
 take the communion services on the morrow. 
 
 " He was not able to rise to breakfast next day ; but 
 a little before eleven o'clock I found him all ready to 
 set off to church. We walked together slowly, and 
 he seemed to enjoy the freshness of the morning, 
 with its sweet Sabbath calm. He spoke to me of the 
 sermon he had been preparing, expressing a little 
 anxiety about it, as he had not been able to write, 
 from his great weakness. He spoke strongly as to the 
 duty of thorough preparation for the pulpit, but on 
 the present occasion put himself wholly into the 
 hands of God, feeling that it was He who had seen 
 meet to prevent his more fall preparation. His con- 
 scientiousness in this respect struck me much. 
 
 " We prayed together in the vestry, and he went 
 up to the pulpit with some apparent strength. His 
 countenance, at all times pale and thin, was now un- 
 usually so ; yet he gave out the psalm and prayed 
 with a clear and unbroken voice. His text was 
 
342 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Micah ii. 10, 'Arise ye, and depart, for this is not 
 your rest.' He spoke of the desire for rest exhibited 
 in the saints from the beginning. Lamech called his 
 son Noah, i. e., ' rest,' in token of his desire and hope ; 
 but he found none here. It was for rest that Lot went 
 to the plain of Sodom ; but he found none. It was 
 for rest that Jacob went down into Egypt; but he 
 found none. Even in the land of promise, Imman- 
 uel's land, there was no rest for the saints. Micah's 
 words were spoken long after the settlement in that 
 land. Worldly men find no rest here, in this object 
 or that, this friendship or that. Eiches take wings, 
 friends depart. No rest ! The children of God have 
 no rest, either, in this world. Christ found no rest 
 here — driven about, tempted, persecuted. So with 
 the saint. He cannot find rest in such a world as this. 
 To live in a world where there is not the love of 
 God is awful.* Arise, and depart ; look to the cross ; 
 come to the crucified One. Press on. Get free from 
 that weight of sin. See that the inward man is re- 
 newed day by day. The rest hereafter, when Christ 
 comes again. 
 
 " He presided at the first table ; and, at the close, 
 he summed up all with an address on these words, 
 ' As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness ; 
 
 * " I remember well how he paused for a moment here, and then 
 spoke in the most solemn way to the ungodly. He told them that it 
 was agony to a saint to live among the ungodly. He spoke with 
 great emphasis and power on this point for several minutes." 
 
NOTES BY EEV. HORATIUS BONAR. 343 
 
 I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.' — 
 (Ps. xvii. 15.) 
 
 " He was able to attend evening service, and next 
 day was not worse, but on the Monday he was evi- 
 dently beginning to feel the effects of the labors of the 
 previous day. He was able, however, to converse, 
 and, as usual, it was on the Word of God. He lived 
 on it ; he fed on it ; it was the joy and rejoicing of his 
 heart. 
 
 " That Sabbath was a solemn day. The simple 
 country church, the rustic audience with their earnest 
 looks, the white tables with the sacred symbols, the 
 pale death-like countenance of the minister, speaking, 
 as many felt, or at least feared, for the last time, and 
 partaking with them of the bread and wine, perhaps 
 for the last time, till he should drink it new with 
 them in the kingdom ; — all these things threw a 
 solemnity, a sacredness, a heavenliness over it, which 
 one would not willingly forget, even if they ever 
 could." 
 
 He now left home for a few weeks, as the only 
 means of obtaining entire rest, and also to escape the 
 prevailing eastern gales, so trying to his feeble chest. 
 The pause he felt to be a solemn one. Shall it restore 
 him once more to his watch-tower ? Or shall it sum- 
 mon him to his heavenly home ? Calmly abiding the 
 Lord's decision, he writes : — 
 
 "To his Sister, at Dirleton. — Bruntsfield Lodge, Edin- 
 burgh, March 27, 1850. — I had J 's letter yesterday morn- 
 
344 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ing. By all means give wine to J S . I wish you 
 
 just to give what your own hearts prompt, of whatever there 
 is in the house, to the needy and afflicted, especially those of 
 the household of faith. 
 
 " As to my health, the perspirations and hectic fever have 
 occasionally returned since I wrote last. The weakness is as 
 great as when I left Dirleton. Since coming here, I have not 
 been out of doors. We must wait on the Lord. He will do 
 all things well. I must rest during the months of April and 
 May. It seems that, if I began to work sooner, I could not 
 live many months or weeks. The Lord will supply my pulpit 
 during the interval, and watch over the flock, as He ever does. 
 He is the Shepherd of the sheep. Remember me with kind- 
 ness and pastoral regards to all, especially believers, who per- 
 sonally inquire after me." 
 
 "To the Rev. J. Dodds. — Edinburgh, March 29, 1850. 
 — Thanks for your kind exertions on behalf of myself and of 
 my people. As yet I am not stronger. Whether the Lord 
 will be pleased to heal or not is yet extremely uncertain. It is 
 a gladdening consideration that he will do what is best. 
 
 " My ministry has, for the most part, been eventful, but it 
 has been comparatively short. I have declared the whole 
 counsel of God, without fearing or flattering any one, great or 
 small. This I can say with a good conscience ; but oh ! what 
 iniquities I now see to have been in my holy thiugs — iniquities 
 forgiven, but still to be deeply mourned over ! Never did I 
 feel my utter soul-nakedness more than during this illness. I 
 rejoice in giving all the glory of my salvation to 'the Son of 
 God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' " 
 
 " Oh! I am naked," said he, as we visited him one 
 day during this interval of suspense, and found him 
 lying in bed the very picture of death, but his bright 
 eye lighted up with a new brilliancy. " I am utterly 
 naked — nothing — nothing but the righteousness of 
 
NOTES BY REV. HORATIUS BONAR. 345 
 
 Immanuel. The sins of my ministry, how appalling 
 to me now ! The blood of souls ! But the blood of 
 Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. My 
 dear people had a blessed communion. They were 
 refreshed at every diet." He spoke as if still he might 
 be restored to them, but rejoiced to be in the Lord's 
 hands. 
 
 15* 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1850. 
 
 LAST DAYS. 
 
 Patience in Suffering — Invitation to Prayer — Letter from Rajahgo- 
 paul — Public Ministry closed — Conversations — Tenderness in Preach- 
 ing — Watchfulness over his Flock — Assurance — Visit — Increasing 
 Weakness — Blessed Hope — Dying Testimony — Calm Peace — Silent 
 Sabbaths — Familiarity with Greek Testament — Moral Gravitation 
 — Prayer — Spiritual Judgment — Expectation of Success — Earnest- 
 ness — Human Depravity — Divine Sovereignty — Agonizing Suffer- 
 ings — Parting Visits — Calm Triumph — Concern for his People — 
 Death — Funeral Sermon — Reflections. 
 
 " Who am I," exclaimed Luther on witnessing the 
 unmurmuring patience of one of the Eeformation- wor- 
 thies under the endurance of intense physical agony 
 — " Who am I, a wordy preacher, in comparison with 
 this great doer ?" The calm triumph of a deeply-tried 
 sufferer is now to be witnessed in Mr. Hewitson. 
 
 All the month of April he continued in Edinburgh, 
 the flesh still fainting and failing, though not without 
 the hope of being yet raised up. In the beginning of 
 May we again visited him. He was on the sofa, and, 
 as usual, with the Bible in his hand. The two sub- 
 jects which chiefly occupied his thoughts were his 
 
INVITATION TO PRAYER. 347 
 
 flock, and the awakening of the Church to a deeper 
 sense of the possible nearness of the Lord's advent. 
 He spoke of " the holy Owen" and " the heavenly- 
 minded Payson, " as the human patterns which seemed 
 most to attract him. But the Word of God, and 
 Christ in. the Word, formed his engrossing theme. 
 One of his remarks we cannot but remember. " I am 
 better acquainted," he said, " with Jesus than with 
 any friend I have on earth." The words convey the 
 very impression made by his whole conversation and 
 appearance. He looked like one sitting at the feet, 
 and listening to the words of a tender and compassion- 
 ate human friend. And yet there was no unholy fa- 
 miliarity. It was " the man who is God's Fellow" 
 at whose feet he sat : hence a deep reverential solem- 
 nity. 
 
 The prosperity of Zion still lay near his heart. 
 Though unable to write, he dictated an " Invitation to 
 Prayer," on behalf of the General Assembly, then on 
 the eve of meeting. We quote a few sentences. It 
 was his last production : — 
 
 " How urgent the necessity of prayer, at such a time, on the 
 part of all our faithful people — prayer for the special and gra- 
 cious presence with His servants of Him who ' holdeth the 
 seven stars in His right hand,' who ' hath the seven spirits of 
 God,' and who ' walketh in the midst of the seven golden can- 
 dlesticks !' More specifically let us ask for the Assembly — 
 
 " 1. The spirit of Fidelity : — that there may be a supreme 
 regard to the mind of the Lord Jesus revealed in His Word ; 
 that ' nothing may be done against the truth, but for the truth ;' 
 
348 MEMOIR OF EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 that there may be no compromise of any of those great princi- 
 ples for which we have been called, in the providence of the 
 Lord, to bear witness ; that, in everything involving these, the 
 spirit of those words may prevail — ' To whom we gave place 
 by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel 
 might continue with you.' 
 
 " 2. The spirit of Unity : — that it may please the gracious 
 Lord to grant that His servants may be ' perfectly joined to- 
 gether in the same mind, and in the same judgment;' that, if 
 difference of opinion arise, it may be without estrangement of 
 heart and affection ; that the love which ' beareth all things, 
 believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,' 
 may bear manifest and blessed sway, and the spirit of that 
 Psalm be still visible in the midst of us, ' Behold, how good 
 and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity !' 
 
 " 3. The spirit of Zeal for the advancement of the gospel 
 and kingdom of the Lord : — that the mind of Him who came 
 to seek and to save a world lost may reign in the Assembly ; 
 that the spirit of His apostle may animate every breast — ' I 
 am a debtor to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise 
 and to the unwise ;' and that, with all due regard to the 
 precept, ' Owe no man anything,' the clause that follows it 
 may not be forgotten, ' but to love one another ;' and that 
 word may be exemplified amongst us more and more, ' the 
 liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he 
 stand.' 
 
 " 4. The spirit of Wisdom : — that the Lord would make 
 His servants ' of quick understanding' to devise right and sound 
 measures, as well as ready to aim at noble ends ; that, along 
 with ' the spirit of power and of love,' there may be given the 
 spirit also ' of a sound mind,' ' the wisdom of the serpent' with 
 ' the harmlessness of the dove,' ' the spirit of wisdom and un- 
 derstanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowl- 
 edge, and of the fear of the Lord.' " 
 
 At length the decision was given. " After writing 
 
RESIGNATION". 349 
 
 you on Saturday," was the sad, though not unlooked- 
 for intelligence of 21st May, " Dr. Alison was again 
 called in ; and when he was asked to tell candidly 
 what was his opinion of Mr. Hewitson's case, he at 
 once said that he had no hope of recovery, and that 
 every symptom was that of the last stage of consump- 
 tion. In consequence of this, Mr. Hewitson is now 
 most anxious to return home. He felt it his duty to 
 make use of every means afforded here of promoting 
 his recovery, as long as there was any expectation of 
 these means being of any service ; and he has for 
 some weeks been only waiting Dr. Alison's final opin- 
 ion with regard to his returning home. We there- 
 fore purpose, if the Lord will, to accompany him to- 
 morrow to Dirleton, where I hope you will find him 
 on Thursday. He speaks with quiet, peaceable as- 
 surance of his departure. Truly he seems filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, and already is enjoying immediate 
 communion with the Father, and with His Son Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 Though preaching might be said to be his ruling 
 passion, yet, now that the Lord had indicated that his 
 ministry was closed, he meekly acquiesced. " The 
 Lord has His own way of dealing with His servants," 
 was his remark to a friend. " He is pleased to make 
 one like a bowl of living water, which shall be hand- 
 ed round to refresh many souls. And He takes the 
 same bowl, empties it, turns it upside down, and puts 
 it on the shelf, saying, ' I have no more need of thee.' " 
 
350 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Ere we follow him to Dirleton, we linger for a mo- 
 ment over the scene at Bruntsfield. Eajahgopaul, 
 whose memory is so fragrant in Scotland because of 
 his gifts and graces, had during these two months so- 
 journed under the same hospitable roof. In a letter 
 to India, dated the day after their separation, the 
 youthful missionary thus wrote : — 
 
 " To the Free Church Missionaries, Madras. — 
 Edinburgh, May 22, 1850. — Lady F is away to- 
 day on an errand of mercy, on the work of a minis- 
 tering angel, to watch over poor dying Mr. Hewitson 
 at Dirleton. He stayed with us at Bruntsfield Lodge 
 for more than nine weeks. The doctors gave up all 
 hope of his recovery ; so he returned to his parish to 
 testify of Christ in his last hours. He has lived much, 
 very much, to God, and near God. The truth of the 
 prophet was never perhaps more fully exemplified 
 than in him : ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
 Avhose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in 
 Thee.' He looked to all of us more like one that had 
 stepped down from the mansions of our Father in 
 heaven, than one going to them. The patience, peace, 
 and resignation, and yet the ardent desire he had for 
 the glory of the Saviour on earth, seemed to say, ' For 
 me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' 
 
 " Mr. Anderson asked him yesterday, a few minutes 
 before his leaving us for his parish, whether there was 
 any promise more than another that he leaned upon 
 and was precious to him. He said, ' Jesus the living 
 
LETTER FROM RAJAHGOPAUL. 351 
 
 Saviour, in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen, 
 is more precious to me than all promises.' He has 
 known the Saviour for a long time, and has held close 
 fellowship with Him, and now he feels that he is going 
 home to One whom he knows well. 
 
 " Two days ago, when he was thinking about his 
 flock, he made the following touching verses, and Lady 
 F. took them down : — 
 
 ' No more I help that vineyard's growth, 
 Though not detained by drowsy sloth ; 
 My feeble frame's crush'd like the moth ; 
 God's will be done ! 
 
 ' No more I reap that harvest field ; 
 Its sheaves to others may it yield ; 
 My call to hasten home is seal'd : 
 God's will be done ! 
 
 • Shall I then preach the Word no more ? 
 Are all these pleasant labors o'er, 
 And I so near to glory's shore ? 
 God's will be done !' 
 
 " I feel that, while his death would be a great loss 
 to the church on earth, what a gain it would be to 
 himself! If he has served Christ on earth with in- 
 firmities and sins, in heaven he will serve Him like 
 the angels of God. If he has had to cry under the 
 burden of sin, that ' to will was present' with him, but 
 how to perform that which was good he knew not, oh, 
 with what alacrity, without let or hindrance, will he 
 there serve his God! Last year, when we came to 
 Edinburgh, Mr. Anderson could hardly stir, and Mr. 
 
352 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Hewitson preached with great unction and power be- 
 fore the Assembly on ' God is love ;' but this year it 
 is changed — he is confined to his bed, and Mr. A. is 
 to preach." 
 
 We visited Dirleton on Thursday, 23d May. He 
 was on the sofa, with his Bible. " I have learned one 
 lesson," said he, "by reading the "Word in my illness. 
 I see that even when I preached with what I felt to 
 be some measure of tenderness, I scarcely knew what 
 Christ's tenderness was. " The Bible," he added, 
 "gives not only the mind of God, but His heart. It 
 is the latter, exhibited to men, which draws and wins. 
 I could jDreach now, I think. I should be far more 
 tender." 
 
 This is a remarkable testimony from such a man. 
 His tenderness had been all along his most marked 
 characteristic. And yet now he felt as if he had 
 never known what it was to weep over souls. 
 
 " Pectus est quod theologum facit." * So did the 
 lamented Neander embody the lesson taught by the 
 whole hisfcnyof the Church of God. " We need not 
 be ashamed of this maxim," he wrote seventeen years 
 afterwards ; " shame rather to those who were bold 
 enough to ridicule it. They have pronounced sen- 
 tence on themselves. It was the watchword of 
 those who called forth theology from the dead forms 
 of scholasticism to the living spirit of God's Word." 
 The same was Mr. Hewitson's watchword. "Mere 
 
 * It is the heart which makes the divine. 
 
TENDERNESS IN PREACHING. 353 
 
 hard demonstrations," he added, on the occasion just 
 noticed, " do not win — they only steel the heart." 
 
 Cecil speaks of preachers who "plant principles and 
 prove points, but fail to reach the heart." And how 
 is the heart reached? Not by the refinements and 
 distinctions of a dead orthodoxy, but by the exhibi- 
 tion of a living Christ. " Christ," says the writer just 
 quoted, " cheers the prospect. Everything connected 
 with Him has light and gladness thrown around it. 
 I look out of my window — the scene is scowling, dark, 
 frigid, forbidding. I shudder — my heart is chilled. 
 But let the sun break forth from the cloud — I can feel 
 — I can act — I can spring. God," he adds, " descend- 
 ing and dwelling with man, is a truth so infinitely 
 grand, that it must absorb all other. ' You are His 
 attendants ! Well ! But the King !— There He is ! 
 — the King! " The reader has not now to learn that 
 such had been the tenor of Mr. Hewitson's life and 
 ministry. And now that he was walking even more 
 immediately in the light of God's face, the axiom 
 flashed on him with so unwonted impressiveness, that 
 he seemed to himself to have scarcely ever preached 
 at all. 
 
 He was not able that evening to join the congrega- 
 tion. Having asked him, as we went to preach, if he 
 had any message to his people on this first occasion of 
 their meeting since his return — " No," he replied ; " no 
 message as their dying pastor : I wish nothing said to 
 draw out their mere natural feelings towards me per- 
 
354 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 sonally." Then, after a pause, he added, " But you 
 may say something to draw them to Christ. Tell 
 them I affectionately long after them all in the Lord, 
 and that my prayer for them is, that they may be 
 saved." The aspect of the people, as these simple 
 words were spoken, told how much they loved him. 
 
 Though unable to leave his room, his eye was not 
 off the flock. " I used to consult with him weekly 
 before my stated visitations," writes Mr. Lundie, who 
 acted as his assistant that summer, " and the minute 
 acquaintance he displayed with the state of mind of 
 almost every member of his congregation was surpri- 
 sing. He would tell me who had been converted, who 
 had been under serious impressions, who had fallen 
 back — suggesting frequently the train of remark he 
 thought suitable for particular cases. When he could 
 no longer see his people face to face, he followed them 
 to their cottages with his daily and earnest prayers." 
 
 Left, like Payson, whom in many respects he so 
 much resembled, "a mere wreck of being," he endur- 
 ed for a period of two months the most distressing 
 bodily suffering. Like Payson, he suffered in silence. 
 But he was not silent in telling of the Lord's abiding 
 faithfulness: his "tongue sang aloud of His righteous- 
 ness." 
 
 "Meditate much on the love of Christ," he was 
 often saying to those about him ; " it is a wonderful 
 love. I love Him with my whole heart. I long to be 
 with my Beloved." 
 
CONVERSATION — HOLINESS. OOO 
 
 On another occasion he remarked, " I have seen 
 farther down of late into the depths of His amazing 
 love than ever I saw before. It is surely a grievous 
 thing to doubt ; it is most dishonoring to the Lord." 
 
 One day at table, after drinking a tumbler of cold 
 water, he said, " What a beautiful emblem!" Then, 
 dwelling on each word with evident delight, he slowly 
 repeated, " He showed me a pure river of water of 
 life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne 
 of God and of the Lamb." "When we reach 
 that river," said a friend who was present, " there will 
 be an end of all our weariness and languor." "And 
 what is far better," rejoined Mr. Hewitson, " an end 
 of the possibility of sinning." 
 
 " I wonder," he said again, " that any Christian can 
 be content while a single stain remains on the con- 
 science unwashed by the blood." " Yet how many 
 live," remarked his friend, " as if one washing were 
 enough!" "One bathing," Mr. Hewitson rejoined, 
 "is enough: he that is bathed needeth not save to 
 wash his feet. I always press upon young converts 
 the necessity of daily washing in the blood as of pri- 
 mary importance, and as indispensable to holiness. 
 When the believer washes daily, the very repetition 
 of the act keeps the conscience sensitive to sin." 
 
 Another day, contemplating the glory of Christ, 
 he said, " ' Without me ye can do nothing ;' what a 
 close and pleasant connection with Christ in all — all 
 that we do, even the smallest things ! These hands, 
 
356 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 these eyes, these ears, these feet — they are not ours, 
 they are bought with a price. I cannot do this, be- 
 cause Christ would not have done it. I cannot look 
 on that, because Christ would not have looked upon 
 it. This is a very safe rule of conduct." 
 
 On another occasion, assurance was the subject of 
 conversation. His views on that point were very clear 
 and decided. Now, as at the outset of his Christian 
 course, it was whilst his eye was turned outward on 
 Christ, not inward on his own faith, that his peace 
 was "like a river." " 'Who shall separate us from 
 the love of Christ?' " said he. " ' Shall tribulation, 
 or distress,' &c? 'Nay; in all these things we are 
 more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.' 
 We cannot but triumph." " Yet how few," said one 
 who was present, "seem to triumph!" "Ah!" said 
 Mr. Hewitson, "it is want of faith. It is not a cun- 
 ningly-devised fable which we believe ; the thing is 
 true — of course we must triumph. I can testify to 
 the glory of God's grace," he added, with a smile of 
 lowly thankfulness, " that no night do I confess my 
 sin without absolute confidence that it is forgiven ; I 
 know it to be so. If any one ask me how I know it, 
 I just answer — ' If we confess our sins, God is faith- 
 ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us 
 from all unrighteousness.' I believe in God's truth- 
 fulness, that is all. All that tends to unbelief is of 
 Satan ; all that tends to faith is of the Spirit." 
 
 "I am glad," said a venerable minister who had 
 
CONVERSATION — ASSURANCE. 357 
 
 come from a distance to pay him a farewell visit, "that 
 you have such pleasant experience of peace in your 
 soul." "It is nothing more," replied Mr. Hewitson, 
 "than might be expected by a Christian. The right- 
 eousness of Christ is my stay. That sustained me in 
 Madeira in the midst of persecution and difficulties ; 
 it has sustained me through all my ministry ; and it 
 sustains me now." " It is a great privilege," remarked 
 his friend, "to be enabled to bear the testimony you 
 now do." " And a humbling thing," replied Mr. 
 Hewitson. " The more grace, the more self-empty- 
 ing." On the visitor withdrawing, Mr. Hewitson, 
 after musing for some time in silence, remarked — 
 "Dr. thinks far more of my experience and at- 
 tainments than I do. What is it but the simple ful- 
 filment of my Father's promise — ' I will keep him in 
 perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee?' " 
 
 He grew visibly feebler week by week. "I feel," 
 he said one day, " my fleshly tabernacle decaying." 
 " But we have a house not made with hands," said a 
 friend, "eternal in the heavens." "Ah! that is not 
 all," rejoined Mr. Hewitson hastily; "we know — we 
 know — that we have a house. It is this 'knowing' 
 which makes us confident, and willing rather to be 
 absent from the body and present with the Lord." 
 
 "I fear you are much weaker to-day," said one of 
 his elders who came in to see him. "Yes," he re- 
 plied, " but I can lean on the everlasting arm. I find 
 it the same now, when entering the dark valley, that 
 
358 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 I said it was in the pulpit. It is on that arm that I 
 long to see every member of the congregation resting. 
 I loved my Portuguese in Madeira so much," he pro- 
 ceeded to say, " that I thought I could never be 
 equally attached to another congregation, but I feel 
 now that I am as much attached to Dirleton." 
 
 He seemed to feed continually on the Word. It 
 was truly living manna to him. Lying one day on 
 the sofa, distressed by laborious breathing, he said — 
 " 'In Judah is God known ; His name is great in 
 Israel.' Sometimes this verse brings exquisite pleas- 
 ure to my soul — the thought that in this unrighteous 
 world there are those among whom God is known — 
 to whom His name is great!" He dwelt on this 
 thought for some time, says his friend, with all the 
 delight of one whose interests were swallowed up in 
 God's, adding, " '0 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is 
 Thy name in all the earth!' What a heaven the 
 world will be when that can be said of it ! How dif- 
 ferent now! His name is despised." 
 
 The blessed hope of the Lord's "appearing" was 
 much upon his mind during his last days. " It was a 
 subject," writes his sister, who attended him, " very 
 dear to his heart, and seemed to be even more pre- 
 cious to him as he drew near his end. He did not 
 overlook," adds the same eye-witness, " the blessed- 
 ness of departing and being with Christ. But his 
 Lord's coming in His kingdom was the subject of his 
 daily prayer and his most blessed hope. ' Every day,' 
 
CONVERSATION — BLESSED HOPE. 359 
 
 was his frequent testimony to us, ' I feel more and 
 more comfort from it.' " So concerned was he about 
 this matter, that, only two days before he died, there 
 were read over to him the lecture he had delivered 
 the preceding winter on " the Kingdom of Christ," 
 and also an essay on " Communion with God," which 
 he had read during the winter before the Presbytery. 
 These he desired to leave as his matured view. His 
 object in thus combining them was to show that the 
 blessed hope, as he held it, was truly a doctrine ac- 
 cording to godliness. 
 
 " The native energy of his character," remarks a 
 friend who saw him frequently during his last illness, 
 " was remarkably displayed in his unwillingness to 
 yield to his disease. It was amazing to see him, with 
 his pulse upwards of 120, sitting daily at the dinner- 
 table, and joining in the conversation, almost as if in 
 health. I was frequently struck with the perfect ease 
 and freedom with which he always entered into my 
 own affairs and those of others, as if he had not a pain 
 or care of his own to occupy him. His remarkable 
 acuteness of mind never forsook him. The precision 
 and even subtlety of the distinctions he was so skilled 
 in drawing were most striking in a dying man. The 
 perfect peace he enjoyed no doubt contributed greatly 
 to this." 
 
 No trial affected him so deeply as his silent Sab- 
 baths. " Another silent Sabbath !" he used to say, as 
 each of them went past. On the communion Sabbath 
 
360 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 especially, the privation was very trying. "Ah! that 
 was my work," he said to the brother who had been 
 officiating, as he was telling him, on his return, about 
 the sermon; "but it is my Father's will — ysvrj^Toj to 
 dikrina xov Kvoiov" (the will of the Lord be done). 
 
 The quotation from the original Greek is character- 
 istic. " You should read," said he one day to a young 
 minister, " a chapter of the Greek Testament every 
 day of 3*our life. I have long done so ; and now 
 when I read the English, I know what the original is 
 without referring to it." Those who knew him will 
 remember the happy use he made of this accomplish- 
 ment in his conversation on the Word of God. We 
 give a single specimen : "What a blessed thing it will 
 be," a friend was remarking to him one day, " to be 
 delivered from the bondage of the flesh!" "Yes," 
 was his reply, " and instead of bondage, be introduced 
 into the liberty of the glory. Our translators," he 
 added, turning to Kom. viii. 21 in the little Greek 
 Testament which lay always beside him, " have spoiled 
 the antithesis in that verse, by imagining a Hebraism 
 which does not exist — ' The creature shall be delivered 
 from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the 
 glory of God's children.' " 
 
 One day, sitting in a contemplative mood, he fell 
 into a train of thought which not unaptly illustrated 
 his own hidden life. " There is a gravitation," said 
 he, " in the moral as in the physical world. When 
 several bodies are collocated near each other in the 
 
CONVERSATION — PRAYER. 361 
 
 heavens, that which has the greatest weight takes the 
 central place, and the others move round it as satel- 
 lites. So when several desires are operating simulta- 
 neously in the soul, that which is strongest occupies 
 the governing place of the will, and the rest give way. 
 When love to God is habitually in the ascendant, or 
 occupying the place of will, it gathers round it all 
 other desires of the soul as satellites, and whirls them 
 along with it in its orbit round the centre of attrac- 
 tion—God." 
 
 On another occasion he remarked concerning prayer : 
 " Prayer is heard when it passes from the believer's 
 heart to the Eedeemer's heart, and is appropriated by 
 the Eedeemer, or made His own." The biographer 
 of Payson observes, that " prayer was eminently the 
 business of his life." The same may be said of Mr. 
 Hewitson. " My heart," was his meek testimony one 
 day in the midst of severe bodily suffering, " is ever 
 above with Jesus." At frequent intervals in conver- 
 sation his soul seemed to be lifting up itself in silent 
 prayer. The effect ■ was that peculiar heavenliness 
 which sat upon him continually. 
 
 " Once I overheard him in prayer," writes Theodo- 
 ras of Martin Luther, " but oh ! with what life and 
 spirit did he pray ! It was with as much reverence 
 as if he were in the felt presence of God, yet with as 
 much confidence as if he had been speaking to a 
 friend." Such, it may be gathered, was Mr. Hewit- 
 son's secret praying. And his praying in the pulpit 
 
 16 
 
362 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 or in the family was in the same strain. He prayed 
 not as an alien or an inquirer, but as a child of God. 
 He did not pray at the people, or for them, but with 
 them.* It was, however, with believers that he pray- 
 ed ; in regard to others, he was the believers' mouth 
 in seeking their conversion. 
 
 " A man of spiritual discernment can scarcely open 
 his lips to one who has none," was his remark another 
 day, " without incurring the unmerited charge of un- 
 charitableness, of captiousness, of censoriousness, of 
 assumption, or something similar. He must, in the 
 presence of the ungodly or carnal, ' withhold his mouth 
 even from good,' or his ' good will be evil spoken of.' " 
 This observation explained not a little of his way in 
 his intercourse with men. His very silence sometimes 
 brought on him reproach. 
 
 If his silence brought on him reproach, his words 
 sometimes not less offended. Alluding one day to an 
 erroneous construction which a brother had put upon 
 some expression used by him respecting the state of 
 his people, he vindicated the exercise of his spiritual 
 judgment as to the presence or the absence of grace, 
 thus : " To discern," said he, " is not to act the part 
 
 * With his usual good sense, Mr. Newton, in one of his letters, 
 writes : " The prayers of some good men are more like preaching than 
 praying. They rather express the Lord's mind to the people, than 
 the desires of the people to the Lord. Indeed, this can hardly be 
 called prayer. It might, in another place, stand for a part of a good 
 sermon, but will afford little help to those who desire to pray with their 
 
 hearts The spirit of prayer is the spirit and token of the spirit 
 
 of adoption." 
 
CONVERSATION — SPIRITUAL JUDGMENT. 363 
 
 of the censor — it is an act of perception, not an act 
 of judgment at all, in the forensic sense. We may 
 spiritually discern a man's words and doings to be car- 
 nal, and yet not be sitting in judgment on the man, 
 in the offensive sense of the expression. Just as we 
 discern colors, saying this is red and that blue, so 
 does the man of God who has spiritual perceptiveness 
 (aiadrjaig) discern the character of moral actions, say- 
 ing that this is of the Spirit, and that of the flesh — • 
 this is of God, and that of the world. Discernment," 
 he proceeded to say, " does not imply an imputation 
 of motives — it only appreciates the general character 
 of the motives as carnal or spiritual, without reference 
 to the question, what be the particular motive or mo- 
 tives in each case." Whilst cautiously abstaining from 
 uttering in the presence of others an opinion concern- 
 ing any particular person's spiritual state, he found 
 this exercise of his spiritual judgment of the greatest 
 value in the work of the ministry. It enabled him 
 to regulate with rare skill his dealings with individual 
 souls, indicating where encouragement was needed, 
 and where warning — where probing of the wound, 
 and where binding up. 
 
 On another occasion, referring to the same subject, 
 he remarked, " It is vain to argue with a man whose 
 perceptions are not like your own. What you see to 
 be yellow he sees to be green, and he will believe his 
 own eyes rather than yours, thinking you unreasonable 
 in soliciting his judgment against the evidence of 
 
364 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 his senses. That your judgments may agree, you 
 must first have similar powers of perception." And 
 following out the train of thought, he deduced this 
 corollary : " No man will believe one thousandth part 
 of what God says in the Bible, until he be born again, 
 and so be not only brought into God's light, but like- 
 wise endowed with a perceptive eye like God's." 
 
 Nor was this all. Even where the perceptive eye 
 is given, there are degrees of fineness in the percep- 
 tion — some, in virtue of the first touch from the Lord's 
 fingers, seeing men as trees walking ; others, whose 
 eyes have been touched again and again, seeing more 
 and more clearly. His eye had been often touched ; 
 hence his singularly vivid perception of the objects 
 lying within the domain of spiritual vision in the 
 Word, and hence also the little sympathy he met even 
 from many brethren. 
 
 " If there be nothing between God's wrath and the 
 sinner's guilt," he said, speaking on another subject, 
 " these may be kept apart during a time of long-suf- 
 fering ; but every moment they are mutually drawing 
 nearer, this to that. The moment of collision will be 
 — who can tell how — terrific !" 
 
 The other side of the antithesis he puts thus : "If 
 the blood of Christ be between the sinner's guilt and 
 God's wrath, these two will approach it on this side 
 and on that. The blood, meeting on the one side with 
 the wrath, will extinguish it forever : the blood meet- 
 
CONVERSATION — EARNEST MINISTRY. 365 
 
 ing on the other side with the guilt, washes it away, 
 and makes the soul whiter than snow." 
 
 " Did you ever notice the fact," was his remark to 
 a visitor, " that John was a priest as well as a prophet ? 
 As a priest he baptized Christ — in this typifying His 
 death on the cross, which Christ himself calls His bap- 
 tism. Thus emblematically he led the Lamb up to 
 the altar for sacrifice, leaving Him there in God's 
 hands ; for God Himself must smite this sacrifice. In 
 this way John performed the last priestly act required 
 of man." 
 
 Again : " The smitten rock and rushing water tell 
 us that life and gladness come all from the suffering 
 Christ. Never forget, when drinking pardoo, peace, 
 joy, newness of life, from the streams of salvation, 
 that you press your lips to the wounds of Jesus, that 
 you drink the life-blood of the Son of God." 
 
 Again: "It is said that Paul and Barnabas 'so 
 preached,' that many were saved. There is a kind 
 of preaching which is peculiarly blessed to the 
 awakening and conversion of sinners. Much may be 
 done by the ' so preaching.' I have often been much 
 impressed with the statement, that they preached the 
 gospel ' with power and with much asszirance.' When 
 this expecting spirit, this assurance of success, is given, 
 the blessing will surely follow." 
 
 This expectation of success he continued to the last 
 to regard as not the least weighty element in his own 
 successful ministry. President Edwards observes, in 
 
366 MEMOIR OF REV. W. IT. HEWITSON'. 
 
 closing his life of Brainerd, that " his history shows us 
 the right way to success in the work of the ministry. 
 He sought it as a resolute soldier seeks victory in a 
 siege or battle, or as a man that runs a race for a great 
 prize." Mr. Hewitson resembled Brainerd in this. 
 " How fully you express," a friend had written him 
 in 1846, in reply to a letter from Mr. Hewitson on the 
 point, " what I have often felt about the glorious duty 
 — privilege is scarce explicit enough — of looking for 
 present fruit from present labor in the Lord's vine- 
 yard ! Indeed, I am free to say, to the praise of glo- 
 rious grace, what I am pretty sure your experience 
 goes along with, that it is since I began to look for 
 and expect a present blessing, that the Lord has been 
 pleased to bestow it." Mr. Hewitson often reverted 
 to this subject with great emphasis in these conversa- 
 tions of his last days. 
 
 Another feature of the successful minister was often 
 noted. " Truth," said he, " if it be not in the heart 
 as well as on the tongue, is truth denied by the speaker, 
 and therefore truth suspected by the hearer. To per- 
 suade — to be effective — not only speak the truth, but 
 feel it, and so as to make it manifest that you do so." 
 Mr. Hewitson 's ministry had been eminently an ear- 
 nest one. He had " so preached," that, whether men 
 believed or no, they felt that the preacher spoke be- 
 cause he believed. It was not the earnestness of the 
 flesh — not vehemence, not noise, not physical fervor 
 — but t.lips flppi-) calm, solomn qrentle earnestness of the 
 
- CONVERSATION — EARNEST MINISTRY. 367 
 
 Spirit. There was no scolding, no impatience, no angry 
 upbraiding, but the tenderest pity ; he warned and 
 besought with tears. This was his "unanswerable ar- 
 gument." 
 
 He often spoke of man's natural depravity. One 
 day his thoughts on this subject fell into a train like 
 the following : — " Judas was the representative of hu- 
 man nature, of fallen man. In him 'the flesh' en- 
 joyed advantages greater than it ever enjoyed before 
 or since — the advantages of early religious culture — 
 of being called to discipleship — of being placed in the 
 highest office of ministry — of being admitted to the 
 personal acquaintance and friendship of the Lord — of 
 being treated by Him with condescension, familiarity, 
 and kindness. The ' flesh' never had so favorable an 
 opportunity for self-melioration and self-recovery. It 
 was put to the test under the happiest influences, but 
 only left to itself, that its real character might be 
 manifested. And what was the result ? Enmity 
 against God — hatred of Love Incarnate. Judas be- 
 trayed his Lord !" 
 
 • His views of the absolute sovereignty of grace be- 
 came more and more decided as he advanced. "The 
 gift of Christ to die as a sacrifice," he remarked one 
 day, " was not more truly and entirely a free-will gift 
 of God, than is the gift of the Spirit to regenerate." 
 " It were as easy," he said again, " to make an atone- 
 ment for our own sins, as to effect a regeneration of 
 our own hearts. He who does not admit the need of 
 
368 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 a regenerating Spirit, will soon deny the need of an 
 atoning Saviour : that man has a root of Unitarianism 
 under ground, which will ere long sprout and show 
 itself above the surface." And further : " No man 
 who denies the necessity and the freeness of regene- 
 rating grace, can possibly have right views on the 
 subject of the atonement." 
 
 But, in preaching, he had handled this delicate 
 theme with a tact and tenderness which made the sin- 
 ner feel that, whilst himself utterly depraved and help- 
 less, his inability to love the Lord was, not a pallia- 
 tion, but an aggravation of his guilt. Often did he 
 revert to this subject, urging the necessity of follow- 
 ing God's own pattern in His recorded messages, and 
 deploring that mistaken zeal for orthodoxy which 
 hinders a full and free gospel under the idea of main- 
 taining God's sovereignty. Finding God in the Word 
 presenting a naked appeal to sinners to come to Him, 
 unaccompanied by any caution about the danger of 
 supposing they could come of their own free-will, he 
 was content to be not wiser than God — not more jeal- 
 ous of His sovereignty than He is Himself. Even his 
 direct statements of the Divine sovereignty, when this 
 topic was handled, were made with a heavenly sweet- 
 ness, which, as Cecil says of Traill, "while it rendered 
 it almost impossible not to receive his sentiments, left 
 nothing on the mind but a religious savor." 
 
 " The iron chain," he remarked on another occasion, 
 " which binds the believer's heart to the world, is, un- 
 
LONGINGS AFTER PERFECT HOLINESS. 369 
 
 der the file of Divine grace, being gradually worn 
 away, and by-and-by it will become too weak to hang 
 together. Meanwhile, the golden chain which binds 
 the believer's heart to heaven is waxing stronger — its 
 links are growing more firm and massive ; all the 
 powers of hell will not prevail to break them !" 
 
 Towards the end of July it became apparent that 
 the links of " the iron chain" were at length to be sev- 
 ered. His weakness now confined him entirely to bed. 
 The agony of pain was at times so excruciating, that 
 for hours he could not utter a word. One night, after 
 five hours of such agony, during which not a feature 
 of his countena«ce had been distorted, he said, " If I 
 could have spoken, I should have asked you to pray 
 that I might have grace to endure to the end. But I 
 have got the victory. The Lord is good — very good. 
 
 " ' I long to mount and soar away 
 
 To yon bright realms of endless day.' " 
 
 " I fear your shortness of breath causes much suf- 
 fering," said a friend to him on another occasion. 
 ". Very," he replied. Then, asking for a glass of wine, 
 which revived him a little, he added, the effort to 
 speak making him struggle violently for breath — " I 
 shall soon be in the presence of Jesus." "What a 
 change it will be from this sad struggle !" rejoined his 
 friend. " Yes, yes," he said quickly, as if anxious to 
 correct an erroneous impression: "but it is not for 
 that I wish it. I am willing to bear all this from my 
 16* 
 
370 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Father. It is working for good. I long to be with 
 Jesus — to be holy as God is holy — that is what I long 
 for." 
 
 His thirst for holiness appeared to grow in intensity 
 day by day. "One thing I have learned in this ill- 
 ness," he said — " to know more of the intrinsic loveli- 
 ness of holiness, and the intrinsic hatefulness of sin. 
 How glorious it will be to be with Jesus ! — how suita- 
 ble for the pure in heart ! " When he was taking his 
 little meals, he used to say — " I long for the time when 
 I shall have no more need of these things. I long to 
 be holy as God himself." He appeared never to swal- 
 low his medicine or his half- glass of wine, without 
 pausing to give God thanks. 
 
 His patience was remarkable. " This is very trying 
 to the flesh," said a visitor to him after a violent and 
 protracted fit of coughing. "Yes," was his reply, 
 " the flesh does not like it, but it is the Lord's will I 
 should suffer it, and that sweetens it a good deal." 
 And at another time, after a similar attack, exhausted 
 and struggling for breath, he whispered — " This is one 
 of the rough places of the road, but then it's the right 
 road." " The Lord has ever been with you," said an- 
 other visitor, " and He will not forsake you now iD 
 your hour of trial." "He never will," he replied; "I 
 know it, I knoio it." 
 
 The Word was, in his sufferings, as it had been in 
 his whole life and ministry, the abiding source of his 
 strength ; and his method of feeding on it was charac- 
 
CHAMBER OF DEATH — CALM TRIUMPH. 371 
 
 teristic. A friend had been quoting to him texts illus- 
 trative of God's faithfulness. "Texts like these," he 
 remarked, after his friend had withdrawn, "do not 
 give me so much comfort as ' God so loved the world 
 that He gave His only -begotten Son, ' &c, or, ' He that 
 spared not His own Son,' &c. Plain doctrinal state- 
 ments, exhibiting the heart of God, are more sustain- 
 ing to me than mere promises. I like to get into con- 
 tact with the living Person." 
 
 On another occasion, during one of his paroxysms, 
 a brother in the ministry repeated to him several texts 
 in succession. "You gave me too many texts," he 
 remarked afterwards. " I like one at a time, unless it 
 were another illustrating the former one ; I like to 
 feed on the Word; when a new text is given, the 
 other is lost." 
 
 At three o'clock in the morning of Monday, 29th 
 July, he became suddenly worse. A paroxysm more 
 severe than any he had yet suffered, seemed to threat- 
 en almost immediate dissolution. The paroxysm, 
 after a few hours, passed, but left him so oppressed 
 that he could no longer lie in bed, but was obliged to 
 sit up in it, almost in an erect posture. 
 
 "On seeing him in the morning," says a brother 
 who had been assisting the previous day at the com- 
 munion, " I observed a great change. I was about to 
 leave for home, but he said, ' Can you not wait a little ? 
 I am scarcely breathing. I am dying!' " 
 
 We saw him that day for the last time. It was 
 
372 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 truly an affecting, yet — praise to the God of grace! — 
 a most comforting and joy-inspiring scene. 
 
 " I saw him when the time of his release was come, 
 
 And I longed for a congregated world to behold that dying saint. 
 
 As the aloe is green and welldiking, till the last best summer of its age, 
 
 And then hangeth out its golden bells, to mingle glory with corrup- 
 tion — 
 
 Such was the end of this righteous. 
 
 His filming eye was bright with love from heaven ; 
 
 His every look it beamed praise, as worshipping with seraphs ; 
 
 What honeycomb was hived upon his lips, eloquent of gratitude and 
 prayer 1 — 
 
 What triumph shrined serene upon that clammy brow ! — 
 
 What glory flickering transparent under those thin cheeks ! — 
 
 What beauty in his face !" 
 
 If the poet had been picturing the dying chamber 
 at Dirleton, he could not more truthfully have delin- 
 eated the scene. Our dear brother was unable, from 
 exhaustion, to speak at parting. A look conveyed 
 what was in his heart. 
 
 During the rest of the week he lingered on in the 
 same exhausted state, suffering at intervals great 
 agony, but waiting patiently for his change^ One or 
 two of his people were allowed to see him for a little. 
 He was not able to speak to them ; but his eyes spoke, 
 following them as they departed. One morning, about 
 two, he said to his sister, "Oh! was not that a won- 
 derful thing, the agony which Jesus suffered in the 
 body for our sins? And that agony was only an in- 
 dex of what He suffered in His soul." The dying 
 love of Christ seemed to be filling his whole heart. 
 
 At the end of the week, as a friend was taking 
 
CHAMBER OF DEATH — CALM TRIUMPH. 373 
 
 leave, and was referring to his great sufferings, lie 
 said, "The Lord has never forsaken me, and He never 
 will — never. It is the best, the kindest, the most 
 fatherly way. Faith receives it now ; sight shall soon 
 behold it." 
 
 The next three days his sufferings continued un- 
 abated. On the Tuesday afternoon they were agon- 
 izing. But the Lord gave him grace to endure. To- 
 wards evening the pain was relieved. At length, 
 about midnight, lifting himself up in bed, he raised 
 his hands and eyes in prayer : " Oh, my people !" he 
 cried. These were his last words. A few minutes 
 afterwards, he calmly "fell asleep." It was on 7th 
 August, 1850. 
 
 On the following Monday his remains were commit- 
 ted to the dust, amidst the tears of sorrowing brethren 
 and of his bereaved flock. And next Sabbath, from 
 the words, " My flesh also shall rest in hope," the eye 
 of the mourning congregation was pointed to " that 
 day" — so dear to the heart of their departed pastor — ■ 
 when, the Lord Himself descending "from heaven 
 with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
 with the trump of God," " the dead in Christ shall rise 
 first; and then we who are alive and remain, shall be 
 caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet 
 the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the 
 Lord." 
 
 The " living epistle of Christ," now before the 
 
374 MEMOIR OF REV. W. H. IIEWTTSON. 
 
 reader, is written by the Spirit in characters too legi- 
 ble to need the aid of an interpreter. May He who 
 inscribed it bless this memorial, so that the departed, 
 though dead, may yet speak. 
 
 Let the man who, having " the form of godliness," 
 is consciously " denying the power," listen to the silent 
 protest of the holy life here faintly sketched. Let 
 him who is reconciled to God and brought nigh, learn 
 at once the blessedness of walking worthy of such a 
 fellowship, and the method of so walking. 
 
 The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened. What he 
 wrought in Mr. Hewitson, is He not willing to work 
 in us ? Not in vain shall this humble tablet have been 
 reared, if, stimulated by it to new love and hope, some 
 way-worn pilgrim hasten forward with new alacrity 
 towards " the day of Christ." 
 
 " The altar of his heart is lighted, and burnetii before God continually, 
 And he breatheth, conscious of his joy, the native atmosphere of heaven : 
 Yea, though poor, and contemned, and ignorant of this world's wisdom, 
 111 can his fellows spare him, though they know not of his value. 
 Thousands bewail a hero, and a nation mourneth for its king ; 
 But the whole universe lamenteth the loss of a man of prayer." 
 
 THE END.