" A burning and shining light was Bishop Wilson; he seemed like
the Baptist in an evil time, as if a beacon lighted on his small
island to show what his Lord and Saviour could do in spite of man;
how when a nation had fallen into the enemies' hands he could preach
to it even off its own shores, and be nigh at hand when they would
fain leave him not so much as to set his foot on. The English soil,
indeed, had its own witnesses and teachers at the time; but none at
once so exalted. in station and so saintly in character, so active
and so tried in his lifetime, and so influential in his works, as
Bishop Wilson." John Henry Newman (preface to 1838 ed of 'Sacra Priva')
