The Life And Testimony Of Ann Wiltshire
Gospel Standard 1868:
Death. At Abingdon, of cancer in the breast, on August 17th, 1868, aged 74, Mrs. Ann Wiltshire.
She was housekeeper to the late Mr. Tiptaft for upwards of thirty years. When Mr. Tiptaft preached his well-known sermon in St. Helen’s church, Abingdon, she and her husband left the Church of England.
On coming to Abingdon to reside, Mr. Tiptaft took apartments in their house. Mrs. W. sat under his ministry upwards of ten years, without the word taking any effect upon her mind. But when Mr. T. formed his church, and himself and many of the friends were so particularly blessed at the first baptizing, it had such an effect upon her that she became quite a changed woman, and deeply concerned about her soul.
I well remember once, when the late Mr. Warburton was with us, the distress of soul she was in. Weeping, she told Mr. Warburton of her fears about her eternal state. He told us, in Mr. Tiptaft’s room, what she had said to him, and the manner in which she spoke about it.
Some time after this, during an illness, the Lord blessed her soul by applying the latter part of Isa. 1:18 to her soul; I have heard her speak of it many times, and what a divine light shone into her heart at the time. Mr. Tiptaft was with her, and came and told us of it at the time. She was raised up again, and in 1846 joined the church, being baptized with other friends by Mr. Tiptaft.
About fifteen months ago she found a substance forming in her left breast, which turned out to be a cancer. She was advised by a surgeon at Oxford to have it removed; but when the time came for her to go, and it was announced to her that a bed would be reserved for her in the hospital, it was too much for her to bear up under, and her system received a shock from which she never recovered.
Some little time back she was particularly blessed while hearing Mr. Collinge; and she told me she was much blessed while at tea some little time afterwards. Her tears flowed, and some one asked her what was the matter. She told them how she was blessed in her soul.
I saw her several times during her last days. I asked her how she felt in her mind. She said not what she wished to feel; but she could say that the Lord had blessed her soul. Her sufferings were extreme and overpowering. A continual retching night and day over-powered her mind. It was painful to be with her. She once told me she had been thinking of these words: “Out of time into eternity.” I asked her if the name of Jesus was sweet to her, and if he was precious to her, and she said, “Yes; he is the only rock upon which are all my hopes. I have nowhere else to rest, nowhere else to flee.” She appeared to have a solid resting faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a sweet hope in his mercy to her soul; no guilt nor fear of death, but longing to be gone.
She died exactly four years after her beloved pastor, and her remains and his now lie close together in the Abingdon cemetery.
Thomas Hicks
Ann Wiltshire (1794-1868) was a Strict and Particular Baptist preacher. She was a member of the church pastored by William Tiptaft and served as his housekeeper for upwards of thirty years.
