TO THE REV. ALEX. BRUNTON, D.D., F.R.S.E., &c., &c., ONE OF THE MINISTERS OF THE TRON CHURCH, EDINBURGH; PROFESSOR OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, AND CONVENER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S COMMITTEE FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. REV. AND DEAR SIR, You have been called by the Church of Scotland to the discharge of a high and sacred function -that of watching over its Christian enterprise in this Eastern empire; and the effective faithfulness which you have displayed, besides vindicating the trust reposed in you by the Church at home, has secured, in a rare degree, the esteem and affection of its agents abroad. Gratitude for your invaluable services to the Bombay Mission, naturally suggests to me the propriety of dedi cating to you the memorial of one, whose gifts and graces, joys and sufferings, were most intimately connected with its establishment and progress. A very tender consideration, I may be permitted to add, hallows the offering. The exercises of your own soul, on the loss of a partner, most eminent for her talents and worth, enable you to sympathize with those emotions which I have experienced in preparing this volume, but which I dare not attempt to describe. They are known and pitied by Him who alone can supply adequate consolation under them. In regard to my task as biographer, the main difficulty which I have had to encounter has consisted in determining what I should select out of ample materials— how much could be omitted without relinquishing some interest-how much presented without hazarding tedious repetition. I have erred, it may be, in both particulars. Such as the work is, I am emboldened to publish it, by the hope of its encouraging the hearts, strengthening the hands, and directing the efforts of those who, themselves enjoying the blessings of salvation, feel constrained, by a sense of the love of Christ, to extend the knowledge of his Name throughout the world. I commit it to the Great Head of the Church, fervently praying that it may serve to deepen a compassion, and stimulate a zeal, which, though in some degree awakened, bear no proportion to the spiritual exigencies of the millions in India, who are perishing for lack of knowledge. I am, Reverend and Dear Sir, Yours most respectfully and gratefully, JOHN WILSON. BOMBAY, 14th July 1837. P.S.-In common with all the Missionaries formerly connected with our Establishment, I have judged it to be my solemn duty to give in my adherence to the Free Church of Scotland; and the official tie which bound us together in the missionary enterprise has consequently been dissolved. Notwithstanding this circumcumstance, I am still anxious that this inscription should continue to be the memorial of my respect for yourself personally, and of my sincere gratitude for your uniform kindness. EDINBURGH, March 1844. CONTENTS. Parentage-Birth-Early Dispositions and Education-Providen- tial Deliverances-Religious Impressions-Enters a Boarding School at Kilmarnock-Returns to Greenock-Death of her Mother-Admission to the Lord's Supper, and Love of Christian Death of her Father-Sanctified Affliction-Letters administer- ing Christian Comfort-Benevolent engagements in Greenock- |