Also in 1821 opportunity was taken to enlarge the building at Bedford Row. Uncompromising in his readiness to fight the good fight for evangelical principles and practice, Wilson inevitably emerged as a forceful public figure and Loane observes how he soon became 'the most prominent Evangelical in the whole of London'.
Wilson also embraced a wide range of evangelical causes, including foreign missions, anti-slavery, church building and education. On alternate Mondays his vestry was home to the well known Eclectic Society for ministers (founded 1783). In 1816 he founded the London Clerical Education Society for helping young men prepare for the ministry. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) committee from 1810 and in 1817 he preached their annual sermon (he was later uniquely invited to preach a second annual sermon). A frequent contributor to the Christian Observer, he also published various sermons and pamphlets. He also toured the country most summers for the CMS or for the British and Foreign Bible Society. Not one year passed from 1813-1822 in which he did not take undertake extensive tours speaking on behalf of these societies in various places. He was often accompanied by William Marsh who remarked on how the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning he would see would be Wilson on his knees in prayer.
While researching this subject I found myself on the pleasant Channel Island of Guernsey. I was very interested to read a brief account, therefore, of Wilson's one and only visit there – on behalf of the CMS. It sounds typical of the man in many ways.
I left London on Monday, August 5th, and reached Exeter on the Friday, where our friends the Cornishes received us most hospitably. I preached there twice on the Sunday, and was present at the missionary meeting.
On Friday, August 14th, I embarked at Weymouth for the Channel Islands. Twenty-four hours of calm, and then of contrary winds and tempest (throughout which I felt as if I should die from sea-sickness) brought me to Guernsey. It is a delightful island – 30,000 souls, Normandy customs, beautiful scenery, soft, mild climate, delicious fruits; - the novelty of everything charmed and fascinated me. I was never more struck. In addition to all this, I was greatly touched by the kindness and friendship of Mr Brock. I preached in French, for the first time in my life. Imagine my embarrassment on mounting the pulpit, and seeing before me a vast array of a thousand listeners, understanding nothing but French. I managed to be understood. I believe the warmth of my heart opened my way, for it seemed to me that the more interested they were in the subject, the more they listened. There is one universal language which religion purifies and strengthens - the love of Christ, contrition of heart, faith in the redemption of the Cross - this attracts the soul of man, and is conveyed better by feeling than by words.
During much of 1822–4 he suffered a breakdown, probably due to overwork. He travelled with his family to the continent to recuperate but it did not solve the problem. Loane comments too that he 'found that in London no less than at Oxford, the iron would eat into his soul'. A later journal entry says
My course in London was strangely intermingled with great mercies from God, and great miseries from my own evil heart. My Saviour knows all. I can neither record nor realize all the temptations, the backslidings, the corruptions of heart, which have defiled me. It is terrible to think of.
Islington
Having inherited the rights to St Mary's, Islington, London, from his uncle, in 1821, he decided on the death of the incumbent in May 1824 to take up the parish, to the initial dismay of a congregation not known for its evangelicalism. He was instituted as vicar on 4 June and by the end of that year had recovered his former energy. He returned to the tasks of church extension and school building, established the Islington Clerical Conference, formed the Islington Association for the CMS (which rapidly became one of the society's most substantial sources of funds), and continued to write. Once gain he was successful in reaching out in an area of great need.
In 1827 he built a new and imposing library that contained some 10,000 volumes and was a great delight to him. Bateman says
His love for books was well known, and he seldom returned home from his morning drive without finding a little bazaar established at his gates. Thither the various books purchased at book-sales, so frequent in Calcutta, were brought and spread before him. He could not pass without examining the contents of the stalls; and if an old copy of "Scott" appeared, it was at once bought and given away. ...
Whilst he had any work in preparation for the press, everything having any bearing on the subject was purchased without stint, and then retained. He was careful of his books; said that he looked upon them as his children, and could not bear to see them ill-used. No turning down of the leaves was tolerated, and even a "mark" was deemed unmanly. "If you cannot tell where you leave off, you arc not worthy to read a book," he would say. He needed quiet for study, but not solitude. "Go or stay, as you please; but if you stay, be quiet;" and then he would turn, and in a moment enter the world of books. He kept no late hours; his last reading (as his first) was always devotional and scriptural; and he generally retired about eleven o'clock. In working hours, all his reading had reference to the sermon, or the controversy, or the publication which might be in hand. But in the hour of repose, after dinner, or in the country, the current literature of the day had its turn, and one member of the family generally read aloud to all the rest.
Perhaps this would be a good point at which to mention his literary output. Apart from various sermons and pamphlets, works for children and young people and his descriptions of his travels on the continent, we can mention among his more important works his substantial Foreword to a new edition of Wilberforce's A Practical View (1826). He praises Wilberforce who was still living. It is said that the latter protested that 'such things ought never to be published till a man is dead'. He also wrote prefaces in the same series for Thomas Adams' Private Thoughts, Butler's Analogy and Baxter's Reformed Pastor. Other works include Thoughts on British colonial slavery (1827) The Divine Authority and Perpetual Obligation of the Lord's Day (1831) The Evidences of Christianity (2 vols, 1828, 1830), 'a work as traditional as it was lengthy'. He later wrote On the distinction of castes in India (1834) and Expository lectures on St Paul's Epistle to the Colossians (1853).
