For the Cumberland Presbyterian
REV. JAMES WILSON.
Rev. R. E. Lee

By Request of the family it becomes my pleasant yet sorrowful duty to offer this tribute of respect to the memory of the now sainted Rev. James Wilson, of the Presbytery of Mound Prairie, who breathed his last at his residence in Clark County, Arkansas, July 26,1875. He was born in Hickman County, Tennessee, October 20, 1809. He was, therefore, in his sixty-sixth year. Of his childhood and early youth but little is known. The time and place of his spiritual birth is kept only in eternity's history.
He was ordained by the White River Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, April 2, 1849. How long previously he had been licensed is not known. He had been licensed in the ministry more than twenty-six years. In his death his family has sustained the loss of a good husband and a kind father, the Church an earnest Christian minister, and the community a worthy citizen--a good man has fallen.
Bro. Wilson was a man of strong physical constitution and vigorous native intellect, with firm decision of purpose and unfaltering energy; with him to decide was to perform. In these characteristics he excelled most men. Both in his secular and religious duties he worked according to rule; neither the morning nor the evening sacrifice was ever neglected or crowded out by the press of worldly business. In this regard his example is eminently worthy of imitation. He was a conscientious Christian; he did right for the sake of right. By precept and example he taught piety, industry, and consistency, and as a result his children are following in his footsteps, verifying the promise that "his righteousness shall be to children's children."

As a minister he contended with many difficulties. I have heard him speak of them as a struggle. At the time he presented himself to the Presbytery he was burdened with the cares of a rising family; his education was not extensive; he was not rich in worldly goods, yet he measurably overcame these difficulties. As a preacher his style was forcible rather than persuasive. He understood and loved the doctrines of his Church. As a presbyter his judgment was good. He always attended the judicatories of the Church until prevented by failing health. In many respects his example is worthy the serious consideration of this brethren. The memory of such men should be cherished by any Church. It was not my privilege to be with him in his last moments. It is represented as a scene of great victory. It was the death-bed of a righteous man, and could be nothing else but a triumph. On the day of his death he said that not a cloud intervened between his soul and the heavenly land. He called together the elders  DOCUMENTS                                                   NEXT PAGE