CHA P. and ruin upon their name and family; they for the most part conXXII. tinue poor besides; and what is most sad, they take the way to make the next life more miserable than this. "On the other side, it is well pleasing to God when a poor family is contented and honest in a low condition; it is a sure sign they have their hopes in heaven; and indeed they have the best title to the promises of the Gospel. Hearken, my beloved brethren,' (saith St. James, ch. ii. 5,) ‘hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him? Why, every man in his right mind must acknowledge that all the riches or pleasures on earth are not to be compared to this preference which God seems to have given the poor honest man above his neighbour. So that when such a man becomes dishonest, he does not only displease God, but he loses one of the best titles to the kingdom of heaven. "II. But there is another thing which should make all men to abhor this vice, and that is, the great difficulty of repenting truly of it. Most people hope, some time or other, to repent them of their sins, though few consider how hard it is to forsake any one vice to which one is accustomed; but especially, truly to repent of this sin is very hard; for it is difficult, very difficult to flesh and blood, to ask forgiveness, to restore ill-gotten goods, or to make satisfaction to those who have been wronged; and yet this is a part of true repentance, that people should, as much as is in their power, undo what they have done amiss. "Therefore when we consider how few do these things, we have great reason to lament the sad condition of such as are guilty of this sin, and to beg of Almighty God to give all men grace to shun it, as they hope to see the face of God in peace. 66 Is it needful to tell you that this vice is grievous upon another account; that it causes unchristian quarrels, heart-burnings, and discontent amongst neighbours; is an occasion that honest people are without cause suspected, and evil reports raised on such as do not deserve them, to the breach of charity and good neighbourhood? "In short, it brings sin and shame, and sometimes death, you see, upon people here; and, without repentance, death eternal hereafter. "And though those people who are addicted to pilfering do always hope never to be discovered, yet few escape; sooner or later the providence of God brings them either to shame or punishment. From which consideration we pass to the Second head, to enquire into the causes of this vice. XXII. “And they are, first, a great neglect in too many parents to teach CHAP. their children their duty, as if they brought them into the world only to live and eat and drink a few years, and that to be the end of them; and yet their love for them while they live, and their concern and affliction for them when they come to an untimely end, looks as if they valued them more than the beasts that perish. And their trouble would be much greater, if they did but consider that the punishments of the next life are far more grievous than can possibly be inflicted in this. "But many parents do not only neglect to teach their children their duty, but do give them bad examples themselves; a thing so frequent, and yet so sad, that words cannot express the concern a good man has when he considers it. "For a parent to love his children, to wish them well, to have taken pains to bring them up through many years of infancy, childhood, and youth, and then to set them an example of vice, to corrupt, to shame, and to ruin them soul and body, this is surprising indeed, and yet, God knows, it is too common. "So is it for parents to neglect to give their children due correction; they are often too careless, or too indulgent to their lesser vices, till, sin increasing with their years, they become too stubborn or too wicked to be taught and governed. "These are some of the causes of this sin; but that which encourages people most is this: they think it is easy for a man to be content with small things, and to leave off when he pleases; but this is a sad mistake. Nothing but God's grace can keep us from the greatest sins; if once we provoke him to give us up to our own heart's lusts, there is nothing will restrain us; neither reason nor religion, neither the fear of death, nor the terror of damnation. And if the drunkard and the common swearer find it exceeding hard to leave those vices, be assured it is as difficult to leave off pilfering when once it is become habitual. "III. Let us therefore consider how, by the grace of God and men's good endeavours, this vice may be prevented. "And first, let those to whom God has given the good things of this world be very liberal to such as really want them, that the poor may have no temptations to steal to relieve their necessities. "God has provided enough for us all; and that we may none of us hoard up His blessings while our poor brother wants what is needful for him, God has so ordered it, that we shall carry nothing along with us when we die; and even those we leave it to shall not enjoy it, if we have defrauded God and His poor of what was their due. СНАР. "Therefore let those look to it who have this world's good, and see their brother have need, and shut their compassion from him; their poor brother may be tempted to dishonesty, but they will bear a share in the blame and punishment. "As for such as are able to get an honest livelihood, and will set themselves in no good way, it is a fault to spare them, and true kindness to their souls to make them sensible of their error. "But the most effectual way of curing this vice, as well as most others, is, to let people see the necessity, the satisfaction, and the advantage of bringing up their children and servants in the fear of God, and under a sense of His all-seeing eye. "Shame and death are dreadful things; but yet they are not of power to keep men from sin without the fear of God be in their hearts. "And if people are not bred up in the fear of God, it is next to a miracle if ever they come to aught; so that rich and poor should all aim at this, to teach their children the ways of piety and virtue. "People may be poor, and not able to give their children learning; but in a Christian country none can possibly want means of having them instructed in things necessary to salvation; for want of which many are ruined without suspecting the danger. "The poorest man can bring his children constantly to God's house, can see that they say their prayers, and can pray for them himself: and if all people would but do this, we should soon see the blessed fruits of it; for being accustomed to this, they would learn to know that God is to be feared and served; that He sees and hears, and will reward or punish all our actions. 66 "If to this, people would take care to punish and discountenance all appearances of this evil we are speaking of, many would live orderly who are now a burthen to the land. But, God knows, there are some seeds and branches of this evil which men do not think fit to discountenance; not considering that the greatest sinners begun at first with lesser crimes. Judas was at first a thief, at last he betrayed his Master, and then hanged himself. So surely does one vice make way for another if not in time prevented, which should be a warning to such as live, or suffer their children to live, in a course of sin without advice and correction. "Remember well the advice of Solomon, The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his parents to shame.' "Let them learn from your example to shun, to hate a vice which is so dangerous and so shameful. "But above all, let them know that it is a sin which will ruin XXII. their souls. It is true it is a sad thing to be exposed to shame, to CHA P. come to an untimely end, but it is much more dreadful to be shut out of heaven. "To conclude:—without the grace of God all your endeavours will be to no purpose; therefore do not fail to pray constantly for your children, that the fear of God may ever be with them, to keep them from every evil way. "And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all. Amen." CHAPTER XXIII. THE ATHOLS IN MAN. THE IMPROPRIATIONS CAUSE. THE BISHOP WILSON appears all along to have kept up the His son's journal adds two circumstances to our knowledge of this second Earl-James, each in its way characteristic. As far back as Sept. 25, 1732, "Lord Derby, I hear, has given £50 a-year for ever to the trustees of the colony of Georgia," in which missionary undertaking the Wilsons were particularly interested; but he took care to guard his gift from any taint of "superstitious purposes;" it was "for encouragement of botany." Again, March 20, 1736 : "Mr. Verney, Chief Justice of Chester, sent for me and told me that he was a near relation of the Countess of Derby's, and concerned for her; that he desired me to write to my father to send CHA P. him word, whether there are any traces, before or since the Act of XXIII. James the First, of any widow Countess having dower in the Isle The Athol of Man; whether the late Lord had any estate in the island of his own purchasing; and the laws and customs of the island relating to widows in general. He told me that the Countess was in a manner kept a prisoner, not allowed above a room or two, and about a hundred a-year for her maintenance; that she has now the whole estate absolutely her own to dispose of, and two or three very good livings, and that she will have dower of my Lord's estates in Lancashire." The poor man's home does not appear to have been much better looked after than his feudal kingdom. That kingdom passed, as is well known, to James Murray, succession. second Duke of Athol, great-grandson of James Stanley, the Great Earl of Derby, by his third and youngest daughter, the Lady Amelia Sophia; the original grant by Henry IV. having been made to Sir John Stanley and his heirs-general, and an arrangement made by Parliament in 1610, which transferred the succession to James Lord Strange, afterwards the Great Earl, and his heirs-general. So the lordship or feudal royalty of Man became separated from the Earldom of Derby, which title, with the honours and estates annexed to it, passing of course in the male line, devolved on Sir Edward Stanley of Bickerstaffe, Bart., near Ormskirk, as nearest male representative of Thomas, first Earl of Derby, through Sir James Stanley of Cross-hall, his second grandson; which Edward was direct ancestor of the present Earls of Derby. As for Duke James of Athol, he inherited the island, as he did the dukedom, in consequence of the attainder of his elder brother William, Marquis of Tullibardine, who had sided with the Stuarts in 1715. The Bishop, through his son, had been for some time in communication with the Duke, as having become heir-presumptive on the death of Lady Harriet Ashburnham. Mr. Wilson, ever ready to avail himself of any opportunity of the kind, as he had before visited the Ashburnhams, so, May 9, 1733, "I waited," he says, "upon the Duke of Athol, gave him a short account of the place, paid my father's and the clergy's compliments to him; was mighty kindly received, and [he] promised |