THE 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 [ESTER WILMOT, 
 
 OR THE 
 
 Second Part of the Sunday School. 
 
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 I «ntm& at ^totionerg JMU 
 
the HISTORY of 
 
 ■ESTER "WILMOT, &c. 
 
 ESTER WILMOT was born in the parish of 
 Weston of parents who maintained them- 
 { by their labor ; they were both of them un- 
 j'Vi 'Y!? w .° nder therefore they were unhappy. 
 | lived badly together, and how could they do 
 |w,e, for their tempers were very d £t 
 | y had no religion to smooth ioL this di£ 
 
 |e h other s faults. Rebecca Wifn ,t w £is I 
 
 le ffif haVG SO "' e vighr qualities! 
 "ifiion sL 'T acters ' and UUerl V ^ titute 
 
 [l iknow , C ? an - notable - 
 
 f MM have no other, but tins is 
 
 P shew anVi^ SUre eVet ' y P**' e ,n rhe Bib 'e 
 Jner. Th * 5 ' S 3 P \ ty peo P le d) noc cons "lt 
 M Almanil y '!" ect t . heir P*W«>« and sowing 
 
 l*a was of n M ° f ^ hearts and ^es ? 
 ■ at very n/^ Vlol ® , ? t ""governable temper ; 
 
 | " S1 "' for her affection to her husband 
 
 buf 
 
4 
 
 in i 
 
 ■vorr 
 
 N 
 
 or at 
 is 
 Ptl 
 
 and children was quite lost in an over-anxiou 
 sire » o have her house reckoned the nicest H 
 paris h. Rebecca was also a proof that a poor w< 
 may be as Main as a rich one, fur it was not so i 
 the comfort of neatness, as the praise of neat 
 whi c h she coveted. A spot on her hearth, or, 
 of' rust on a brass candlestick, would throw her... 
 a • Solent passion. New it is very right to keep 
 h' earth clean and the candlesticks bright, but it 
 i /cry wrongso to set one's affections on a hearth, 
 ; a candlestick, as to make one's self unhappy i;» 
 trifling accident happens to them: and if ReW 
 ca had been as careful to keep her heart w| 
 snot or her life without blemish, as shewastok 
 her fire irons free from either, she would havete 
 held up in this history, not a warning, but a ji 
 tern, and in that case her nicety would have coi 
 in for oart of her praise. It was no fault in > 
 brcca,' but a merit, that her oak table *s, 
 fright you could almost see to. put your cap 
 S - but it was no merit but a fault. that vaienJ 
 her husband, laid down bis cup of beer upon 
 as to leave a mark, she would fly out into so w 
 tea passion, that, all the children were H 
 run to corneis; now poor m^f ^i 
 run to, ran to the ale -house, .11 that 
 first a refuge too soon w 
 Rebecca never w*ned her chn.itn to ^ 
 
 read, because, she said, ^f<^^% 
 them lazy, and she hcrselt had ^t'C-y 
 out it. She would keep poorHeste, h ' 
 
 to stone the space ^^^^U 
 and whim-whams, l.dOi.y pietcua j , 
 any harm in this little 
 enough, and it is better to let the cua.u 
 
5 
 
 se 
 it a 
 
 I | nothing. But still these are not things to 
 
 ■ e's heart upon ; and besides Rebecca only did 
 °a trap for praise : for she was su ii<y dis-, 
 hinted if any ladies happened to call in and did 
 
 J°secm delighted with the flowers which she used 
 ■jlw with a burnt stick on the white wash of the 
 Knney corners. Besides, all this hnery was often 
 1 on a Sunday, and there is a great deal of harm 
 Boin? right things at a wrong time, or in wasting 
 Mch tine on things which are of no real use, or 
 Klein? any thing at all out of vanity. Now I beg 
 Ktno lazy slattern of a wife will go and take any 
 iiiort in her dirt from what is Here said against 
 becca's nicety 5 for, I believe, that for one who 
 Ikes her husband unhappy through neatness, 
 Bnty do so by dirt and laziness. All excesses 
 
 ■ wrong, but the excess of a good quality is not 
 ■common as the excess of a bad one. 
 
 ■ohn Wilmot was not an ilNxsatured man, but he 
 
 ■ no fixed principle. Instead of setting himself 
 Bine his wife's faults by mild reproof and a good 
 Bmpl'.?, he was driven by them into still greater 
 Bits himself. It is a common case with people 
 Bo have no religion, when any cross accident be* 
 Bs them, instead of trying to make the best of a 
 ■1 matter, instead of considering their trouble as 
 ■rial sent by God to purify them, or instead of 
 ■sidering the faults of others as a punishment for 
 Bir own sins, what do they do but either sink down 
 B>nce into despair, or else run for comfort into 
 B J courses. Drinking is the common remedy 
 
 ■ Sorr ow 3 if that can be called a remedy, the end 
 I v. hick is to destroy soul and body. John now 
 §> a n to spend all his leisure hours at the Bell. He 
 W A t0 ^ fond of his children ; but when he couid 
 
B 
 
 not come home in quiet and phy with the 
 ones, while his wife dressed him a bit of hot 
 
 SUpjj 
 
 v 
 
 he grew in time not to come home at all. He 
 has once taken to drink can seldom be said to 
 guilty of one sin only ; John's heart became \\l 
 dened. His affection for his family was lost i 
 self-indulgence. Patience and submission, or 
 part of his wife, might have won much upon a m 
 of John's temper; but instead of trying to reclai 
 him, his wife seemed rather to delight in puttj 
 him as much in the wrong as she could, that I 
 might be justified in her constant abuse of him, 
 doubt whether she would have been as much pleas 
 with his reformation as she was with always talkii 
 of his faults ; though, I know it was the opinion 
 the neighbours, that if she had taken as much pai 
 to reform her husband by reforming her owntej 
 per, as she did to abuse him and expose him 
 endeavours might have been blessed with succe 
 Good Christians who are trying to subdue die 
 own faults, can hardly believe that the ungodly hi 
 a sort of savage satisfaction in trying, by indu 1 
 of their own evil tempers, to lessen the happW 
 of those with whom they have to do. Need we ii 
 any farther for a proof of our corrupt natif 
 when we see mankind delight in sins which ha 
 neither the temptation of profit or pleasure, si 
 as plaguing, vexing, or abusing each Other. 
 
 Hester was the eldest of their five children,, 
 was a sharp, sensible girl; but at fourteen y« 
 she could not tell a letter, nor had she ever j 
 taught to bend her knee to him who made J, 
 John's* or rather Rebecca's house, had seia 
 name of God pronounced in it, except to i 
 pheraed. 
 
iast about this time, if I mistake not, that 
 ft wsset up her Sunday School, of which 
 
 rs, i tty Crew was appointed Mistress, as related 
 pThe Sunday School.' Mrs. Jones finding that 
 n of the Wilrwots were sent to School, took a 
 °lk to Rebecca's house, and civilly told her she 
 I d to let her know that a school was opened, to 
 lvch she desired her to send her children on the 
 Lday following, especially her eldest daughter 
 ' ter " Well," said Rebecca, " and what will 
 L give her if I c^.o ?"— " Give her !" replied Mrs 
 ones, " that is rather a rude question, and asked 
 arude manner - however as a soft answer turneth 
 my wrath, I assure you that I will give her the 
 best of learning; I will teach her to fear God, and 
 cep his commandments."—" I would rather you 
 ould teach her to fear me, and to keep my house 
 ■tlean," said this wicked woman. " She shan't come, 
 Kowcver, unless you will pay her for it,"—" Pay 
 Iier for it P said the lady, " will it not be reward 
 Enough that she will be taught to read the word of 
 ■God, without any expence to you ? For, though 
 " any gifts, both of books and clothing, will be given 
 he children, yet you are not to consider these gifts 
 o much in the light of payment, as an expression 
 ■)f good will in your benefactors. "—' I say," inter- 
 upted Rebecca, " that Hester shan't goto school. 
 Religion is of no use that I know of but to make 
 eople hate their own flesh and blood; and I see 
 o good in learning but to make folks proud, and 
 |zy, and dirty. 1 cannot tell a letter myself; and 
 [hough I say it, that should not say it, there is not 
 notabler woman in this parish." — " Pray," snd 
 Jtrs, Jones mildly, " do you think that young people 
 'ill disobey their parents the more for being taught 
 
out 
 
 to fear God f*'—»" I jlon'tthink any thing about if 
 said Rebecca. " f Shan't let her come, and there 1 
 the long arid short of the matter. Hester has otto 
 fish to fry ; but you may have some of these litj 
 ones if you will." — <l No," said Mrs. Jones, ,c ]^ 
 not I have not, set up a nursery but a school 
 am not at all this expence to take crying babes 
 of the mother's way, but to instruct reasc 
 beings in tn*e way to eternal life ; and it ought to be 
 a rule in all schools not to take the troublesome 
 young children unless the mother will try to spar 
 the elderones, whoare capable of learning." u But, 
 said Rebecca, " I have a young child which Hester 
 must nurse while I dress dinner. And she must iron 
 the rags, and scour the irons, and dig the potatoes, and 
 fetch the water to boil them." — " As to nursing tlit 
 child that indeed is a necessary duty, and Hesicr 
 ought to stay at home part of the day to enable you 
 to go to church \ and families should relieve each 
 other in this way ; but as to all the rest, they aren 
 reasons at all, for the irons need not be scoured! 
 often, and the rags should be ironed, and the potatoes 
 dug, and the water fetched, on the Saturday ; audi 
 can tell you, that neither your minister here, not 
 your judge hereafter, will accept of any such excuses,' 
 All this while Hester staid behind, pale and 
 trembling lest her unkind mother should carry her 
 point. She looked up at Mrs. Jones with so mijj 
 love and gratitude as to win her affection ; andi 
 good lady went on trying to soften this harsh niothci 
 ' At last Rebecca condescended to say, " well I don 
 know but I may let her come now and thehwW 
 can spare her, provided I find you make it : wj. 
 her while." All this time she had never asked m 
 Jones to sit down, nor had once bid her y° 
 
9 
 
 if- 
 
 Ifldren be qmet though they were crying and 
 aualling the ktixAt time. Rebecca fancied this 
 iideness was the only way she had of shewing she 
 bought herself as good as her guest, but iVlrs. Jones 
 ever lost her temocr. The moment she went out 
 Li' the house, Re jeeca called out loud enough for 
 [her to hear, and ordered Hester to get the stone 
 [and a bit of sand to scrub out the prints of that dirty 
 ■woman's shoes. Hester, in high spirits, cheerfully 
 beyed, and rubbed out the stains so neatly, that 
 her "mother could not help lamenting that so handy 
 la girl was goine* to be spoiled by being taught god* 
 piness, and learning, and such nonsense. 
 
 Mrs. Jones, who knew the world, told her agent, 
 ■Mrs. Crew, that her grand difficulty would arise not 
 ■so much from the children as the parents. " These 
 ■said she, "are apt to fall into that sad mistake, that 
 ■because their children are poor, and have little of 
 ■this world's goods, the mothers must make it up to 
 them in false indulgence. The children of the 
 gentry are much more reproved and corrected for 
 rttheir faults, and bred up in far stricter discipline. 
 ■He was a King who said, chasten thy son, and let not 
 Why rod spare jo his crying. But do not lose your 
 ■patience; the more vicious the children are, you 
 ■must remember the more they stand in need ofyour 
 ■instruction. When they are bad comfort yourself 
 thinking, how much worse they would have 
 been but for you ; and what a burthen they would 
 become to society if these evil tempers were to 
 Jjceive no check. 7 ' The great thing which enabled 
 Irs. Crew to teach well, was, the deep insight she 
 got into the corruption of human nature. And 
 ( , ubt if any one can make a thoroughly good 
 acner of religion and morals who wants this mas- 
 
10 
 
 ter-key to the heart. Others indeed may tend 
 knowledge, decency, and good manners ; but those, 
 however valuable, are not Christianity. Mts] 
 Crew who knew that out of the heart proceed lying, 
 theft, 'and all that train ofevils which begin to break 
 out even in young children, applied her labours to 
 correct this foot of evil. But though a diligent she 
 was an humble teacher, well knowing that unl« 
 the grace of God blessed her labours she should 
 
 ^Swttmbt never failed to attend the school 
 wheneverher perverse mother would give herkave, 
 and her delight in learning was so great that * 
 would work early and late to gain a little time for 
 he: book. As she had a quick capacity, she learnel 
 
 kind and right to assise wti i , 
 with every help of this sor t Tho^ who lo 
 seldom hurt them, while the 
 fc aming, will wear out a book mm ^ „ 
 t S diligent will do m a yea » • HertLr ^ 
 to readier one question in her.G^ech^ J 
 verse in her hvmn book, by fire light Dei 
 wen to bed ; this she thought over n the ^ 
 
 a nd when she was ff^f^fl^^ 
 she was glad to bnd she always knew ^ 
 
 £ » she'had done ^^^^uW 
 to be believed how much tno e people ^ , 
 to have gained attbe end J^heygr , 
 customed to work up all the htJc 
 
11 
 
 remnants of leisure; who value time even more 
 th 'n m oney ; atid who are convinced that minutes 
 are no more to be wasted than pence. Nay, he 
 wfao hauls he b as wasted a shilling may by diligence 
 hope to fetch it up again; but no repentance or in- 
 dustry can ever bring back one wasted hour. My 
 rrood young reader if ever you are tempted to waste 
 an hour, go and ask a dying ijian what he would 
 I give for that hour which you are throwing away, 
 I and according cs he answers so do you act. 
 I As her mother hated the sight of a book, Hester 
 I was forced to learn out of sight: it was no disobe- 
 I dience to do this, as long as she wasted no part of 
 I that time which it was her duty to spend in useful 
 labor. She would have thought it a sin to have left 
 [her work for her book ; but she did not not think it 
 wrong to steal time from her sleep, and to be learn- 
 i ing an hour before the rest of the family were awake. 
 Hester would not neglect the washing-tub, or the 
 I spinning-wheel, even to get on with hercatcchism ; 
 but she thought it fair to think over her questions 
 while she was washing and spinning. In a few 
 , months she was able to read fluently in St. John's 
 Gospel, which is the easiest. But Mrs. Crew did 
 not think it enough that her children could read a 
 chapter, she wowld make them understand it also. 
 It is in a great degree owing to the want of religious ; 
 knowledge in teachers, that there is so little religion' 
 in the world. Unless the bible is laid open to the 
 understanding, children may read from Genesis to 
 fne Revelations, without any other improvement, 
 than barely learning how to pronounce the words. 
 Mrs. Crew found there was but one way to compel 
 their attention, this wasjby obliging them to return 
 Nek again to hear the sense of what she had read to 
 
them, and this they might do in their own words 
 if they could not remember the words of script urc * 
 Those who had weak capacities would to be llre * 
 do this very imperfectly; bat even tfte weakest 1 
 if they were willing, would retain $.6p[ie(hing^ 
 She so managed, that saying the catechism yyasnot 
 merely an act of the memory, but of the under- 
 standing; for she had observed formerly that those 
 who had learned the catechism in the comnio'ri 
 formal way when they were children, had never 
 understood it when they became men and women, 
 and it remained in the memory without having 
 made any impression on the mind. Thus this fine 
 summary of the christian religion is considered a- 
 little more than a form of words, the being able to 
 repeat which is a qualification for being confirmed 
 by the bishop, instead of being considered as really 
 containing those grounds of christian faith and prac- 
 tice, by which they are to be confirmed christians, 
 Mrs. Crew used to say to Mrs. Jones, " Those 
 who teach the poor must need give line upon line, 
 precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, 
 as they can receive it. So that teaching must be a 
 great grievance to those who do not really make it 
 a labor of love. I see so much levity, obstinacy, and 
 ignorance,: that it keeps my own forbearance in 
 continual excercise so that I trust that I am getting 
 ^ood myself while I am doing good to others. N° 
 one, Madam, can know till they try, and after they 
 have asked a poor untaught child the same question 
 nineteen times, they must not lose their tenipei 
 but go on and ask it the twentieth. Now and then 
 when I am tempted to be impatient, I corre f 
 self, by thinking over that active proof whld \^ n 
 blessed Saviour requires of our love to him !* 
 lie says, 'Feed my lambs;' 
 
I ^ es t er Wilmot had never been bred to go to 
 L* rch for her father and mother had never thought 
 Ef o-oing themselves, unless at a christening in their 
 ■own family, or a funeral of their neighbours, both 
 ■of which they considered merely as opportunities 
 ■for good eating and drinking, and not as offices of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 I °As poor Hester had no comfort at home, it was 
 ■the less wonder she delighted in her school, her 
 ■Bible, and church ; for so great is God's goodness, 
 
 ■ tlint lie is pleased to make religion a peculiar com- 
 
 ■ fort to those who have no other comfort. The God 
 
 ■ whose name she had seldom heard but when it was 
 Itafcn in vain, was now revealed to her as a God of 
 
 infinite power, justice, and holiness. What she read 
 in her Bible, and what she felt in her own heart: 
 convinced her she was a sinner ; and her catechism 
 said the same. She was much destressed one day 
 I en thinking over this promise which she had jus:: 
 made, in answer to the question which fell to her 
 lot, " to renounce the devil and all his works, the 
 pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the 
 sinful lusts of the flesh. " I say she was distressed 
 on finding that these were not merely certain words 
 which she was bound to repeat; but certain con- 
 I ditions which she was bound to perform. She was 
 I sadly puzzled to know how this was to be done, till 
 I she met with these words in her Bible ; "My grace 
 I is sufficient for thee. " But still she was at a loss to 
 H know how this grace was to be obtained. Happily 
 ) Siinpson preached on the next Sunday from 
 I tta text, "Ask and ye shall have," &c. In this sermon 
 I was explained to her the nature, the duty, and the 
 I efficacy of prayer. After this she opened her heart 
 RP Mrs. Crew, who taught her the great doctrines. 
 
14 
 
 ^scripture, in a serious but plain way, Hester's 
 own heart led her to assent to that humbling doc- 
 trine of the catechism, that We are by nature born 
 in sin ; and truly glad was she to be relieved by 
 hearing of that spiritual grace by which we have a 
 new birth unto righteousness. "1 hus her mind was 
 no. soon her humbled by one part than it gained com- 
 fort from another. On the other hand, while she 
 was rejoicing in a lively hope pf God's mercy through 
 Christ, her mistress pirt her in mind that that was 
 the only true repentance by which we fa/sake sin. 
 Thus the catechism explained by a pious teacher 
 was found to contain all the articles of the christian 
 pith. 
 
 Mrs. Jones greatly disapproved the practice of 
 turning away the scholars because they were grown 
 up. " Young people/' said she, " want to be warned 
 at sixteen more than they did at six, and they are 
 commonly turned adrift at the very age when they 
 want most insti uction ; when dangers and tempta- 
 tions most beset them. They are exposed to more 
 evil by the leisure of a Sunday evening than by (he 
 business of a whole week; but then religion must 
 be made pleasant, and instruction must be earned 
 on in a kind and agreeable, and familiar way, It 
 they once dislike the teacher they will soon get to 
 dislike what is taught, so that a master or mistress 
 is in some measure answerable for the future piety 
 of young persons, inasmuch as that piety depends 
 on their manner of making religion pleasant as well 
 as profitable. " To attend Mrsrjones's evening in- 
 structions was soon though* not a task but a holiday- 
 In a few months it was reckoned a disadvantage 1 
 the character of any young person in the parish 9 
 know they d d not attend the evening school. 
 fest» indeed, many ofthemcame only with ?vie\ 
 
15 
 
 larn to sing psalms ; but, by the blessing of God, 
 k' e y grevV fond of instruction, and some of them be- 
 ame truly pious. Mrs. Jones spoke to them one 
 ■unclay evening as follows: — " My dear young 
 •omen, I rejoice at your improvement; but re- 
 lice with trembling. I have known young people 
 Bt out well, who afterwards fell off. The heart is 
 ['deceitful. Many like religious knowledge who do 
 It like the strictness of a religious life. I must 
 therefore watch whether those who are diligent at 
 ■lurch and school are diligent in their daily walk. 
 Whether those who say they believe in God, really 
 ley him. Whether they who profess to love Christ 
 ;ep his commandments. Those who hear them- 
 [Ives commended forearly piety, may learn to rest 
 [tisfied with the praise of nten. People may get 
 mack at religious phrase without being religious ; 
 Jey may even get to frequent places of worship as 
 amusement, in order to meet their friends, and 
 [ay learn to delight in a sort of spiritual gossip, 
 lile religion has no power in their hearts. But I 
 >pe better things of you, and things that accom- 
 iny salvation though I thus speak." 
 What became of Hester Wilmot, with some 
 Jcount of Mrs. Jones's May-day feast for her 
 ■hool, may be seen in the Second Part of this 
 ■story % Z 
 
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