Page:Memoir of the Reverend David Wilson (1).pdf/3

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Sonnets, (a book which he generally carried about with him till he had worn it to pieces in his pocket.) and many of the verses illustrative of Christian experience, and of the blessed fruits of communion with God, he was afterwards accustomed to repeat, in his exhortations at the communion-table, with great effect. A fact which lately came to our knowledge we may mention, as a striking illustration of his early piety. He and another young man, an intimate companion of his own, built a turf house in the fields, in which they often met for religious conversation and prayer, and often spent whole nights in these pious and improving exercises. Under the disorder which terminated in his dissolution, he looked back on these exercises with great pleasure; and sometimes said, that if he had been then called to put off his earthly tabernacle, he thought that he would have died in the full assurance of faith and hope. Thus feeling the power of divine love, and experiencing the joy, the peace, and the hope which spring from faith in Christ, he felt a strong and growing desire to engage in the work of the ministry ; and after much meditation and prayer, entered on that course of learning and study, which