394 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



The following obituary notice appeared in the Christian Journal for 

 March, 1S30 : — 



"Died at Westchester, New York, on Friday, February 5th, in the eighty- 

 uinth year of his age, the Rev. Isaac Wilkins, D.D., Rector of St. Peter's church, 

 in that place. 



"If the most stern and sterling integrity ; a conscience which knew no com- 

 promise ; and an habitual purpose, passing by all selfish considerations, and aim- 

 ing, through good report and evil report, at duty, with all its sacrifices, responsi- 

 bilities, and consequences, form the upright, virtuous and honorable man, Dr. 

 Wilkins was among the most upright, the most virtuous and the most honorable. 

 If deep and thorough conviction of the great truths of the Gospel: the entire 

 submission of a more than ordinarily strong and enlightened understanding to the 

 teachings of God's word ; an abiding and humbling sense of a personal need of 

 a Saviour and Sanctifier ; a child-like reliance on the Saviour and Sanctificr ; re- 

 vealed in holy writ; devotion of the most intense character; and piety infusing 

 its holy influences into all the heart, all the soul, and all the mind, are consti- 

 tuents of a true Christian, he has cause to thank God, who has grace to take pat- 

 tern herein, by the character of the venerable man now noticed. If love for that 

 Church which Christ loved even unto death; reverence for the appointments 

 which He made for its perpetuity and good order, and for its subserving the 

 great end of its establishment in the sanctificatiou and salvation of His people; 

 a due appreciation of that primitive evangelical piety, which led Christians to be 

 of one heart and one mind, to continue steadfast in the apostle's doctrine and 

 fellowship, and holding, as faithful members of the Church, the Head, which is 

 Christ, thus to derive from Him grace to increase with the increase of God; if 

 these enter essentially into the character of a good Churchman, never had the 

 Church a truer son than in the subject of this notice. If talents and learning of 

 a superior order ; an intimate acquaintance with the whole range of Christian 

 theology ; an ardent love for the duties of the ministry ; an abiding and practical 

 application to himself, of the truths and precepts which he delivers to others; a 

 rule and measure in delivering those truths and precepts, casting off all reference 

 to popular liking, and governed solely by the word of God, and by a sense of re- 

 sponsibility to Him ; a conscientious fulfilment of the vows of ordination ; 

 faithful allegiance to the authorities of that portion of the Catholic Church to 

 which he belongs, and an enlightened and zealous devotion to its interests, mark 

 the able minister of the New Testament ; oiieof the best prayers wecan offer for 

 the Church, is, that God raise up for her many ministers as well qualified for 

 their Master's work, as was this venerable man. 



' ' A conscience so true as his ; a sense of duty so far removed as was his, from 

 any sacrifice to personal interest, personal ease, and the satisfaction of wearing 

 the feather of popularity ; and a mind of the more than ordinary clearness and 

 elevation, which characterized his, may sometimes fail, in what may be thought 

 due allowance for supp isi d errors of judgment, for the weakness of human na- 

 ture, and for the strength with which the world allures, to some abatement of the 

 rigid demands of duty in favor of what is easier and more gratifying to the natural 

 man. However, this faithful servant of God (and his religious views, were of 

 too evangelical a character, to be blind to the fact, that the very best have their 



