208 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. IX. 



the obtrusive profession of religion common in our day, as 

 if it were a desirable thing ever to be laying open the 

 inner life. By no act or word did he ever say, " I am 

 holier than thou ; " a clear perception of the high standard 

 set before him leading rather to his esteeming himself, like 

 St. Paul, "less than the least of all saints." 



We may here give some extracts from letters of the time 

 now under review, by way of illustrating in some measure 

 the progress of his inner life. It is never, however, alto- 

 gether a desirable thing to detach religious acts or expres- 

 sions from contemporaneous secularities and environments ; 

 and this is strongly felt with regard to the portions of his 

 letters which are given below. Never could there be a 

 more charming union of playfulness and fun, with high- 

 toned spirituality, than in very many of his letters. They 

 remind one of an air with many variations, some in a 

 minor key, which never fails, in all its sweet wanderings 

 and eccentricities, to return to the key-note, leaving the 

 listener with a sense of refreshment and invigoration. In 

 this way, by giving merely parts of his letters, these extracts 

 themselves, beautiful as some of them are, lose more than 

 half their charm. This, however, is unavoidable. 



In May 1845, he writes to his much-loved friend, John 

 Cairns : " When I contrast your profession with mine, 

 with which in much of the machinery made use of in 

 other points it has many affinities, I could envy you your 



glorious calling I had been thinking, as I should 



have no evening work in the way of lectures, and far less 

 every way to do, of teaching a Sabbath class, but Mary 

 remonstrates so strongly on the score of health, and I feel 

 the argument so reasonable, that I am shaken in my 

 intention, though it is not abandoned. I must find 

 some way of serving Christ better and fuller than -I have 



