Page:Our Hymns.djvu/267

THEIK AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 247 Bible Society, and the London Missionary Society, found in him one of their earliest and warmest supporters.

The &quot;Evangelical Magazine&quot; was originated by the Rev. John Eyre and Mr. Wilks; and the latter wrote several of the biographical articles in the earlier volumes of the magazine. In 1798, he published &quot;Whitefield's Collection of Hymns, with a Life of Whitefield.&quot; In 1803, he edited &quot;Seckers Nonsuch Professor,&quot; and, in 1819, he sent forth &quot;Cennick's Discourses, with a Life.&quot; The Rev. T. Sharp, M.A., minister of Crown Street Chapel, Soho, published, in 1834, &quot;Select Remains of the Rev. Matthew Wilks.&quot; This work contains a biography of Mr. Wilks, with outlines of twenty-four of his sermons, and at the end twenty-four of his hymns are given. It is not an uncharitable judgment to say that his hymns are only rhymed prose, without any sparks of poetic fire. Some of them were contributed to the &quot;Evangelical Magazine.&quot;

Mr. Wilks's dying testimony was in harmony with that of his life. He said to his son, &quot;I know know know, yes, I know my Saviour is Christ! He has all power. I have no concern, no alarm, no uneasiness, not the slightest anxiety about my soul; and to his venerable fellow-labourer, Rowland Hill, &quot;I shall be at home before you.&quot; He fell asleep in Jesus at the end of January, 1829.

erroneously attributed to Shrubsole, is Mr. Wilks's sole contribution to the &quot;New Congregational Hymn Book.&quot; It is given with one verse omitted. It is said to have first appeared in the &quot;Evangelical Magazine.&quot;

I is doubtful whether Logan has any claim to a place in the biographies of our hymn-writers. The uncertainty he allowed to arise as to what were his own productions is believed to have