Some years ago I sent for books and booklets from the Lord's Day Observance Society. Among them was a little book advocating the observance of the Lord's Day by a man I'd not heard of. His name? Bishop Daniel Wilson. Being a good nonconformist the word 'bishop' gave pause but I was well enough acquainted with things to know that did not necessarily mean the man was completely suspect! Anyway I read the little book and found it a help.
I have more recently learned that it grew out of sermons preached in 1827 and was originally published in 1830. It "engendered deep concern on the part of the clergy and men of good standing" and led to Wilson and his cousin Joseph Wilson forming the LDOS the following year. It is still in existence and is just one example of Daniel Wilson's energy and how it still has its effects today.
Wilson's name has hardly arisen since then but more recently I came across him again with the reissue of Sir Marcus Loane's The Oxford Cambridge Evangelical Succession. (See here). This looks in turn at the great evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770), preacher and hymn writer John Newton (1725-1807), the commentator Thomas Scott (1747-1821), the preacher Richard Cecil (1748-1810) and finally Daniel Wilson (1778-1858). Loane relies chiefly on the two volume biography of Wilson by his nephew and son-in-law Josiah Bateman that appeared in 1860. (Avaailable on Goodgle Books). Bateman in turn makes use of a journal that Wilson kept from the very end of 1797, shortly after his conversion, until 1807 and then after a 23 year gap, from 1830 until the end of his life. There were also hundreds of letters. Bateman and Loane note how carefully Wilson's friends kept these. 'That surely goes to prove' says Loane 'that there was always a tone of greatness in the man.'
I have more recently learned that it grew out of sermons preached in 1827 and was originally published in 1830. It "engendered deep concern on the part of the clergy and men of good standing" and led to Wilson and his cousin Joseph Wilson forming the LDOS the following year. It is still in existence and is just one example of Daniel Wilson's energy and how it still has its effects today.
Wilson's name has hardly arisen since then but more recently I came across him again with the reissue of Sir Marcus Loane's The Oxford Cambridge Evangelical Succession. (See here). This looks in turn at the great evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770), preacher and hymn writer John Newton (1725-1807), the commentator Thomas Scott (1747-1821), the preacher Richard Cecil (1748-1810) and finally Daniel Wilson (1778-1858). Loane relies chiefly on the two volume biography of Wilson by his nephew and son-in-law Josiah Bateman that appeared in 1860. (Avaailable on Goodgle Books). Bateman in turn makes use of a journal that Wilson kept from the very end of 1797, shortly after his conversion, until 1807 and then after a 23 year gap, from 1830 until the end of his life. There were also hundreds of letters. Bateman and Loane note how carefully Wilson's friends kept these. 'That surely goes to prove' says Loane 'that there was always a tone of greatness in the man.'
Early life
As Loane says 'Wilson belonged to the fourth generation of the evangelical revival' and as we look at his long life we will note his links with the more familiar names just mentioned. The George Whitefield connection comes through his mother Ann Collett (d 1829). She was the daughter of Daniel West, one of George Whitefield's friends and trustees. She, with her husband, Stephen Wilson (d 1813), a wealthy London silk manufacturer, were hearers of William Romaine, Cecil, Scott and other Evangelicals and were the earliest spiritual influences on Wilson, their eldest son, from his birth in Spitalfields, London, on July 2, 1778.
A delicate child, he soon grew stronger and came to have a buoyant personality and good looks. He began school in Eltham, Kent, when he was 7 and from the age of 10 until he was 13 was under the care of Rev John Eyre at Hackney. Eyre had served as curate to Richard Cecil in 1780.
After finishing school in 1792, he began a seven year apprenticeship in Cheapside, London, under his uncle, William Wilson of Worton, near Woodstock. Though the hours for it were few he continued to study hard at Latin and French and other subjects.
As Loane says 'Wilson belonged to the fourth generation of the evangelical revival' and as we look at his long life we will note his links with the more familiar names just mentioned. The George Whitefield connection comes through his mother Ann Collett (d 1829). She was the daughter of Daniel West, one of George Whitefield's friends and trustees. She, with her husband, Stephen Wilson (d 1813), a wealthy London silk manufacturer, were hearers of William Romaine, Cecil, Scott and other Evangelicals and were the earliest spiritual influences on Wilson, their eldest son, from his birth in Spitalfields, London, on July 2, 1778.
A delicate child, he soon grew stronger and came to have a buoyant personality and good looks. He began school in Eltham, Kent, when he was 7 and from the age of 10 until he was 13 was under the care of Rev John Eyre at Hackney. Eyre had served as curate to Richard Cecil in 1780.
After finishing school in 1792, he began a seven year apprenticeship in Cheapside, London, under his uncle, William Wilson of Worton, near Woodstock. Though the hours for it were few he continued to study hard at Latin and French and other subjects.
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