246 OUR HYMNS :
" Early in the year 1771," he says, " I was born of God at West Bromwich, in Staffordshire." He had heen drawn by curiosity to listen at the window of a cottage in which the Rev. W. Percy, curate of the parish, was preaching. Such power attended the preaching of the Gospel that, by the Divine blessing, Mr. Wilks s heart and life were changed. The Rev. W. Percy, recognizing the qualifications of the new convert, very strongly urged him to prepare for the ministry. To use his own language : " To the Countess of Huntingdon s college, at Trevecca, I must and should go ; and though against my inclination, I went, and closely pur sued my studies."
Towards the end of Mr. Wilks s college course at Trevecca, Mr. Robert Keene, one of the executors of Mr. Whiten" eld, and a manager of his London chapels, having paid Lady Huntingdon a visit, and heard Mr. Wilks preach, he was in consequence invited to preach in London, and in 1775 appointed minister of the Tabernacle, where he preached, in conjunction with his labours at Tottenham Court Chapel, more than fifty years. His ministry was very popular and very useful. His work was to preach. He had a natural talent for awakening interest and producing im pression by public addresses and appeals. His sermons were full of weighty Scriptural truths, and rich in real Christian experience. His characteristic element was that he was sinking his pithy, pointed sayings remained in the memory as nails in a sure place. That he occasionally spoke words so quaint as to offend, and to be a cause of regret to himself, only showed that his excellence when exaggerated became a fault.
Mr. Wilks was the friend of the poor, and promoted the esta blishment of several benevolent institutions for their benefit. Brother ministers found in him a sympathizing and helpful friend ; and several of the more important religious institutions received his effective support at the time of their origin. He was the father of the Irish Evangelical Society, and acted for twenty- Jive years as gratuitous secretary of the Society for Village Itine rancy. The Religious Tract Society, the British and Foreign
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