of his son's fitness for the sacred function, and recognise their conviction by a solemn act.

"Accordingly ", as the following extract from the Church-book testifies, on the 13th of August, 1780, "he was examined by his father before the church, respecting his inclination, motives, and end in reference to the ministry, and was likewise desired to make a declaration of his religious sentiments. All which being done to the entire satisfaction of the church, they therefore set him apart, by lifting up their right hands, and by solemn prayer. His father then delivered a discourse to him, from 2 Tim. ii. 1. Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Being thus sent forth, he preached in the afternoon from 2 Thes. i. 7, 8. May the Lord bless him, and grant him great success !

P. 9.

It'sadly baffles the notions' of persons accustomed to the mode and rules of episcopal ordination, to find a mere boy of sixteen thus brought forward as a public instructor, and then, almost immediately afterwards, sent as a pupil to college. To such persons, it seems better that the order of proceedings had been reversed. That is to say, they would deem it better, that a young man should complete his academical training, before the point is ascertained and certified, that he possesses the grand and most indispensable qualification for the sacred office-piety. We cannot say that such is our opinion. Without undertaking to decide, whether a pious boy of sixteen or an irreligious man of three and twenty is fitter to ascend the pulpit, we must think that it is the safer plan, to select a pious youth as a candidate for the ministry, and, after a certain measure of religious training and probation, to send him to college, than to bestow the college education first, and ascertain the moral fitness afterwards. We are very far from wishing to countenance boy-preachers; but we cannot help remarking, that if a lad of sixteen is deemed capable of intelligently subscribing the Thirty-nine Articles, it ought not to be thought so very preposterous, that he should be qualified to deliver a religious discourse as a probationary specimen of his attainments and piety. That young Hall was not, by this solemn recognition of his fitness for the sacred function, invested with the character of a public instructor, is evident from the circumstances of the He was still a student at the Bristol Academy, to which he returned at the close of the vacation; and in the autumn of 1781, he was sent to Aberdeen, to complete his theological education at King's College, on Dr. Ward's foundation. In fact, the object of the appeal to the church, and the bearing of its decision, related to the expediency of his prosecuting his studies with a view to his becoming a minister of the Gospel. Dr. Gregory does not employ the word ordination in mentioning this public designation of Mr. Hall as a preacher; nor should we

case.

contend for the propriety of using that term in such a reference; since ordination is generally understood as an appointment to a specific charge. But, dismissing that word from consideration, with all the polemical associations that it suggests, we would ask, what was there in the proceeding here narrated, that could have any tendency to inflate the mind of a pious youth with self-importance, or that could be deemed, in any respect, offensive, injudicious, or perilous'?

Mr. Hall entered King's College in the beginning of November, 1781. His first year was spent principally, under the tuition of Professor Leslie, in the study of the Greek language; his second, third, and fourth years, under Professor Macleod, in the study of mathematics, natural philosophy, and moral philosophy. Here it was that he first became acquainted with his eminent friend Mackintosh; and some interesting particulars of their friendship and joint studies have been gathered by his Biographer from Sir James himself, of which we have in part availed ourselves in our last Number*. While he was still at Aberdeen, he received from the Baptist Church at Broadmead, Bristol, an invitation to become their assistant pastor; an invitation which 'he accepted with much doubt and diffidence', on the understanding that it should not interfere with the completion of his course of studies. He accordingly passed the interval between the college sessions of 1784 and 1785, at Bristol; and then returned to Aberdeen, where he took his degree of Master of Arts, March 30, 1785. On resuming his labours at Broadmead, in conjunction with Dr. Evans, his preaching excited unusual attention. The place of worship was often crowded to excess, and many of the most distinguished men in Bristol, including several clergymen, were among his occasional auditors.'† In August of the same year, only three months after his quitting Aberdeen, he was appointed classical tutor in the Bristol Academy, on the resignation of the Rev. James Newton. This office he held for more than five years, discharging its duties with honourable zeal and activity.

At this period of his life, however, Mr. Hall appears to have been

* Eclectic Review, Feb. Art. Sir James Mackintosh, p. 98.

+ We cannot refrain from expressing our surprise and regret, that the Reviewer in the Christian Observer should have taken occasion from this circumstance to introduce a homily against clergymen wandering after a popular (i. e. Dissenting) preacher. Does he mean to say, that clergymen did wrong in occasionally going to hear Mr. Hall preach? If so, we pity his contemptible bigotry. If not, his anecdote is at all events irrelevant and mal à propos. Is there no difference between venturing into a licensed chapel to hear such a man, and running after a mountebank?

in imminent danger of making shipwreck, if not of faith, of the spirit of piety. The free and daring speculations which he advanced in private, grieved and alarmed his judicious friends, although he never promulgated direct and positive error from the pulpit; and his conversational sallies were occasionally marked by a vehemence and extravagance of expression, a bitterness of sarcasm, and a characteristic imprudence, which made him many enemies. Admired as a preacher, courted as a companion, feared as a satirist, looked up to as a tutor, while scarcely one-andtwenty, the only cause for astonishment is, that, in the intoxication of intellectual pride, he never relaxed his hold of the main doctrines of the Gospel, nor was betrayed by youthful impetuosity into flagrant inconsistency. We may, perhaps, be justified in concluding, that the strength of his reasoning faculties and the solidity of his attainments, preserved him in some degree against the vague and shallow scepticism of the half-learned and the half-reasoning. But we must believe at the same time, that he was upheld, at this critical period, by a sovereign and almighty superintendence; and that the prayers of his aged friends were a more effectual means of his safety, than his own strength of mind or of principle. There is something at once touching and instructive in the brief and expressive remarks which Dr. Gregory has transcribed from the private diaries of two of his constant friends, in reference to this period of Mr. Hall's career. The first two are from Mr. Fuller's diary.

1784, May 7. Heard Mr. Robert Hall, jun. from "He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Felt very solemn in hearing some parts. The Lord keep that young man!'

1785. June 14. Taken up with the company of Mr. Robert Hall, jun. :-feel much pain for him. The Lord, in mercy to him and His churches in this country, keep him in the path of truth and righteousness!'

The following are found in Dr. Ryland's journal.

June 8, 1785. Robert Hall, jun. preached wonderfully from Rom. viii. 18. I admire many things in this young man exceedingly, though there are others that make me fear for him. O that the Lord may keep him humble and make him prudent!

June 15. Rode to Clipston to attend the ministers' meeting. R. Hall, jun. preached a glorious sermon on the immutability of God, from James i. 17.

1786, June 13. Sent off a letter to Robert Hall, jun., which I wrote chiefly in answer to one of his some months ago, wherein he replied to mine concerning some disagreeable reports from Birmingham: added some new hints respecting another matter lately reported. that God may keep that young man in the way of truth and holi

ness !'

In 1790, Mr. Hall received an invitation from the Baptist

congregation at Cambridge, recently deprived of their pastor by the sudden death of Mr. Robinson, to preach to them for a month; and in July of the following year, he was invited to assume the pastoral charge, which he accepted. Circumstances had occurred at Bristol, which rendered his longer continuance there alike unpleasant and undesirable. Nothing could be more flattering to a young pulpit orator, than to be deemed a fit successor to the most fascinating preacher of the day, whom he had at one time resolved to make his model, but had now, perhaps, been led to regard as a beacon. The post, however, which he was called to occupy, was difficult and perilous. His unhappy predecessor had thickly sown the church with the seeds of heresy and irreligion, although the poorer members still maintained their attachment to the fundamental doctrines of Revelation. Mr. Hall was indebted to his very moderate orthodoxy, for the invitation he received; and it might have been feared, that he was more likely to suffer a deterioration of his own religious feelings, than to reclaim his auditory from laxity of sentiment and levity of conduct. He has himself forcibly described, in his Memoir of Mr. Toller, the perils of so unfavourable a position. If,' he remarks, in a lengthened ministerial course, the people are usually formed by their pastor, in the first stage it is the reverse: it is the people who form the minister. The reciprocal 'influence of a minister and a congregation on each other is so incessant and so powerful, that I would earnestly dissuade an inexperienced youth from connecting himself with a people whose doctrine is erroneous, or whose piety is doubtful, lest he should be tempted to consult his ease, by choosing to yield to a current 'he would find it difficult to resist."* In Mr. Hall's case, the result exhibited the genuine force of his character and the decision of his principles, as well as illustrated that providential guidance which had hitherto kept him from falling. The death of his father, in March 1791, had greatly tended to bring his mind to the state of serious thought with which he entered upon the pastoral office.

• Meditating with the deepest veneration upon the unusual excellencies of a parent now for ever lost to him, he was led to investigate with renewed earnestness, the truth as well as value of those high and sacred principles from which his eminent piety and admirable consistency so evidently flowed. He called to mind, too, several occasions on which his father, partly by the force of reason, partly by that of tender expostulation, had exhorted him to abandon the vague and dangerous speculations to which he was prone. Some important changes in Mr. Hall's sentiments, resulted from an inquiry conducted under such solemn impressions; and among these may be mentioned his re

* Works. Vol. IV. p. 310.

nunciation of materialism, which, he often declared, he "buried in his father's grave."

Attentive to the voice of heavenly admonition, thus addressing him from various quarters, he entered upon his new duties with earnest desires that he might be able to "commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Feeling that to him was consigned the charge of transforming, with God's assistance, a cold and sterile soil into a fruitful field, he determined not to satisfy himself with half measures, but proceeded to expose error, and to defend what he regarded as essential truth. The first sermon, therefore, which he delivered at Cambridge, after he had assumed the office of pastor, was on the doctrine of the atonement and its practical tendencies. Immediately after the conclusion of the service, one of the congregation, who had followed poor Mr. Robinson through all his changes of sentiment, went into the vestry, and said: "Mr. Hall, this preaching won't do for us: it will only suit a congregation of old women." "Do you mean my sermon, Sir, or the doctrine?" "Your doctrine." Why is it that the doctrine is fit only for old women?" "Because

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it may suit the musings of people tottering upon the brink of the grave, and who are eagerly seeking comfort." "Thank you, Sir, for your concession. The doctrine will not suit people of any age, unless it be true; and if it be true, it is not fitted for old women alone, but is equally important at every age."' pp. 30, 31.

6

This individual, and three or four other men of influence, with about twenty of the poorer class, shortly afterwards withdrew from the congregation, and assembled for a few months on the Sunday evenings at a private house, where the then Rev. William Frend, fellow and tutor of Jesus College, an avowed Socinian, 'became their instructor.' But the conviction of their host for sedition, and the expulsion of their teacher from the University, soon dispersed this band of seceders, the dregs of poor Robinson's heretical ministry.

Mr. Hall's ministerial labours were beginning to be blessed with the happiest results, when, in an evil hour, as he himself regarded it, he complied with the urgent solicitations of his friends, in appearing before the public as a political writer. So far as the urgency of the occasion, the patriotism of the motive, and the usefulness of the result would warrant the temporary deviation from the immediate sphere of his duties, Mr. Hall's conduct in this instance lies open to no just reproach; but the inconveniences of political celebrity led him subsequently to recede, 'not

as

He had always considered materialism, he tells his Bristol friends, a mere metaphysical speculation,' and wished them so to consider it. But such mere metaphysical speculations, putting aside their unscriptural character, are almost sure either to wither and dry up the affections, or to be swept away by the first spring-tide of genuine emotion.

VOL. IX.-N.S.

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