Turton’s Pillar. Being a Series of Letters Written by Mr. William Turton, of Old Windsor. Edited, with a Foreword, by Mr. E. L. Turton. London: S. W. Partridge & Co., Ltd. 2s. 6d.
This little book is the story of a wonderful experience through the Lord’s dealings with His servant. Mr. Turton, the writer of the letters, was a man who, during the early part of his life, was not only very careless as to his eternal interests, but was even “a persecutor and injurious.” On one occasion, while on a Sunday morning fishing excursion, he was suddenly arrested by the Holy Spirit. His convictions became very deep, so that he was brought to “despair even of life.” For seven years he remained under the heavy pressure of the Spirit’s operations, almost at the gates of hell, and for many years after his conversion, he often walked with a clouded spirit, and of face, afraid that at any moment he should “drop into the pit.” At length he heard “the joyful sound” of the Gospel under Mr. Thomas Bradbury of London, and saw by faith “the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.” After this date he had many seasons of spiritual enjoyment and of sharp trial. His painful experiences in providence were not small. At the beginning of his book he gives some interesting details of his father, John Turton. “My dear old father would read no book but the Bible. . . . He used to sing the Psalms to his heart’s delight. . . . He lived ninety-two years in one house, died in the same corner of the room he was born in, and never slept a single night in any other room; never rode in a cab, coach, or carriage in all his long life, and never required a doctor. He was a born slave, and yet he was God’s free man; I should say, the freest man I have known.” “Turton’s Pillar” is written in a humble, sincere, godly manner, with a freshness and vivacity that leave a very pleasing effect upon the mind. We commend it to our readers as a suitable and edifying gift-book for old or young.