THOMAS WILLS, A. B. was born on the 26th of July, 1740; at Truro, in Cornwall. His parents were persons of respectability, and his father descended from the Rev. Jonathan Wills, one of the Nonconformist ministers ejected in that county. Being left an orphan in early infancy, Mr. Wills was taken under the protection of a maiden aunt, Mrs. Lucy Spry, who left him at her death, in 1755, the principal part of her fortune. His guardianship then devolved upon her brother-in-law, T. Mitchell, Esq. of Croft-West, a few miles from Truro. By this gentleman he was placed under the care of Mr. Conon, an eminent Christian, and master of Truro grammar-school. He also attended the preaching of that valuable minister, Mr. Samuel Walker, curate of Truro church. In 1757, he removed to Oxford, and entered a commoner at Magdalen-Hall. At this time, the present Dr. Haweis, who had been at the head of Truro school, and often acted as usher to the younger boys, was a student at Christ-church. From under Mr. Walker, he had brought to college a deep sense of religion, and abandoning the profession of physic, for which he was designed, be devoted himself to studies for the ministry. In order to forward his views, he formed a society amongst a few of his fellow-collegians, who were eminent for seriousness, and who used to spend the evening in his room to read the Greek Testament, and to converse on religious subjects. To one of these social meetings Mr. Wills was soon introduced, and imbibed strong impressions of religion. Mr. Haweis removing about this time, as a gentleman commoner,

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to Magdalen-Hall, their intercourse became more frequent, and mutually profitable.

The great extent paid to parochial Few men in his

As Mr. Wills was diligent in study, his improvement in human knowledge bore proportion to his advancement in the divine life; and at a proper age he entered upon the work of the ministry. He was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Oxford, in 1762, and priest by Lavington, Bishop of Exeter, in 1764. After this he left the university, and settled as curate to Mr. Walker's brother, at St. Agnes, one of the most populous parishes in the county of Cornwall. Here he resided upwards of ten years, and his services were both acceptable and useful. of his parish, and the attention which he duties, made it a very laborious cure. station ever acquired more personal weight and influence with their people. His presence every where inspired awe, and his advice was heard with deference. In a neighbouring village, called Church-town, out of ten houses, nine were public ones, for the use of the miners. These were all shut during divine service; and as he would sometimes visit them, if any person perceived him coming, he instantly fled, without waiting for a rebuke. Hardly any man was more beloved, or feared, by his parishioners, than the curate of St. Agnes.

Mr. Wills having, upon a journey to Bath, contracted an acquaintance with Miss Selina Wheeler, daughter of the Rev. Granville Wheeler, and niece to the Countess of Huntingdon, he married her in 1774. This connexion drew him into a particular intimacy with the above religious and valuable lady, who invited him to join her connexion, and change a stationary life for one of a more itinerant nature. He accordingly left Truro, to the great regret of his people, in January 1778. After visiting Trevecca, and Brighton, he came to London, where he narrowly escaped a prosecution from Mr. Sellon, minister of Clerkenwell, for preaching at the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel, in Spa-fields.

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The malicious proceedings of that man having given great trouble to her ladyship's preachers, it was judged expedient to devise some method in order to get rid of him; and for this purpose some of them resolved to take shelter under the toleration act. Accordingly, in the year 1782, Mr. Wills seceded from the church of England, and took out a license as a Dissenting minister. At the same time he was appointed minister of the chapel in Spa-fields, and peace was by that means restored.

Having now launched into an extensive field of labour, he armed himself for his work, and applied to it with all the diligence, zeal, and intrepidity which his situation required. Being a ready and pathetic preacher, he was every where heard with attention. In the numerous chapels founded by Lady Huntingdon, in many Dissenting meeting-houses in various parts of the kingdom, in the public streets, and upon commons, he proclaimed to numerous congregations, oftentimes amounting to many thousands, the glad tidings of the gospel to perishing sinners. The opposition he met with did not any way disconcert him, but he persevered in his work, and had the satisfaction of seeing his labours crowned with abundant success. It would be tedious to follow Mr. Wills in his different journies through England and Wales. Those who are desirous of knowing how he spent his time during the ten years he was in her ladyship's connexion, may have recourse to his journal, printed with his life. Mr. Wills's situation and employment gave him particular weight, and the length, as well as constancy of his labours, seemed to fix him in his situation; but the very distinction he enjoyed tended to produce effects, which were ultimately to separate such endeared friends and relatives. As he was in office, and held in honour, he probably felt himself of importance, and thought he might advise and act with a freedon that Lady Huntingdon chose not to admit. She was conscious of the purity of her own motives, and had seen her plans and efforts crowned with such success, that she

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was not disposed to alter her own purposes, or to brook contradiction. This disposition in each had been undermining the cordiality and confidence which had subsisted, when a difference of opinion respecting a measure proposed, grew into a breach, and ended in a separation. He preached his last sermon at Spa-fields chapel on Tuesday, July 6, 1788. In the course of the ensuing week, her ladyship sent him a letter, siguifying that she had no further occasion for his services, and in consequence gave him his dismission. On the receipt of this he requested permission to preach a farewell sermon at the chapel; but this was not granted: her ladyship having given orders that for the future he should never enter any of her pulpits. Upon this, he printed "A Farewell Address from the Rev. Mr. Wills to the various Congregations, and Societies, in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, and especially that at Spa-fields, his late more immediate charge."

After his dismission from Lady Huntingdon's connexion, Mr. Wills preached in the different Methodist chapels about London. At Westminster, and at Orange-street, his services were engaged statedly, and he resumed his preaching out of doors, delivering sermons occasionally upon Tower-hill, and in Moorfields. He also formed a society of serious Christians, which met at a house in Shoe-lane, on a Wednesday evening. In the spring of 1789, he engaged the meeting-house in Silver-street, for a lecture on a Thursday evening, and at the ensuing Christmas took it wholly upon lease for nineteen or twenty years. To this place he removed his society before-mentioned, and gave up his Westminster connexion. It was not long before Mr. Wills had a numerous congregation, with whom he was extremely happy, and his labours met with acceptance and success. In the spring of the year 1793, he engaged a chapel in Church-street, Islington, to which place he had removed his residence for the benefit of the air. Here he preached every alternate Lord's-day, as VOL. III.

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also a lecture on a Tuesday evening. His congregation at Silver-street still continued very numerous, so that the chapel was not only completely filled, but many persons could not gain admittance. In these employments the latter years of his life were usefully spent. He preached with his usual energy, and with great acceptance, though sometimes interrupted by transient indispositions. At this period, also, he made occasional tours into the country, and was every where esteemed and valued for his work's sake.

In the year 1797, Mr. Wills experienced much uneasiness through the influence of a neighbouring preacher of antinomian principles, who had lately fixed his quarters in Grubstreet. The preaching of this person had made so much noise in the religious world, that his chapel soon became filled at the expense of other places, and many people who were wiser than their former teachers, flocked to hear him. Among these were not a few of Mr. Wills's people, who now reproached him as a legalist, and as one who kept his hearers in bondage, while they, good folks, were brought into the liberty of the gospel! The falling off of his congregation, and the cruel speeches which came to his ears, very painfully affected the mind of Mr. Wills; and as the spirits act upon the animal frame, so he ever after became a prey to bodily infirmities, which at length wholly laid him aside.

Towards the close of the year above-mentioned, Mr. Wills was afflicted with a great weakness in his legs, which obliged him for the future to sit while preaching. Soon afterwards, his mental faculties experienced a diminution of their accustomed activity and vigour. His sight began to fail, and though he still continued to preach, it was under an evident imbecility, both of body and mind. At length, a paralytic affection wholly laid him aside, and he was advised to make trial of his native air. With this view he retired to the house of an old friend at Boskenna, in Cornwall. There he lingered for a considerable while under a