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and sketch the history, of his late colleague, in his own words, before we proceed to express our opinion of these relics of the excellent and venerable man.

"The Rev. Noah Hill was born at Cradley, in the parish of Halesowen, in the county of Worcester, February 2, 1739. His father was a very worthy man, of the Baptist denomination, and died whilst our friend was quite young, leaving a widow and five children. Deprived at an early period of a father, it was his happiness to be blessed with an eminently pious mother: she was a member of the church of Christ, at Cradley, and the distinguishing features of her character were cheerful piety, and active benevolence. After enjoying a long, a happy, and a useful life, she died in great serenity and peace, on the 9th of May, 1796, at the advanced age of 84. Under so excellent a mother our friend received his early education, and soon began to manifest a serious disposition, and an inclination towards the work of the ministry; the first idea of which arose from this simple circumstance; when very young, an aged minister took him on his knee, and said, Noah, you must be a preacher of righteousness;' and from that time he had an idea that he was to be a minister.

"He was initiated into the rudiments of classical learning, by the Rev. Noah Jones, then minister of Cradley, and who resided in the house of his widowed mother. In the year 1756, when seventeen years of age, he went to the Academy at Daventry, then under the care of Dr. Caleb Ashworth; here he applied diligently to learning, and made cousiderable progress; he rose high in the esteem of his tutor; as a proof of which, when he had finished his course of studies, he was invited to become an assistant tutor, which important station he filled with honour to himself, and advantage to the Institution, during ten years.

* The following extract from the letter of a respectable friend, who was a pupil of the deceased, bears honourable testimony to his character and abilities.

"When I entered Dr. Ashworth's Academy, Mr. Hill had resided there nine years; four years as a student, and five as an assistant tutor in the department of classics and mathematics. In the year 1766, Mr. Coward's trustees appointed a second assistant for the classical department only, after which Mr. Hill gave lectures to the first and second year's classes in Euclid, in Algebra, and Plane Trigonometry; also in Geography, in

"At length, in the year 1771, in the prime of life, with a judgment fully matured, a mind richly fraught with intellectual stores, and a heart devoted to the glory of God, Providence directed him to this place, where he was destined long to labour in preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ, and showing to fellow-men the way of salvation. In this vineyard he laboured diligently, faithfully, and successfully for thirty-seven him, about seven years ago, to resign his years; until growing infirmities induced important trust; from which time, to his death, he has been usefully occupied in going about doing good, and preaching, by a holy, upright, and benevolent life. At length, in a good old age, the messenger death was commissioned to call him home. A painful disease was sent before as the harbinger, which, though removed by eminent surgical skill, yet left behind that debility of frame which soon ended in his dissolution.

"During his illness, he conversed but little, but almost his last utterance, when his speech had nearly failed him, was expressive of the composed state of his mind. On my asking him if he was comfortable in mind, he replied, somewhat indistinctly, Yes, mercifully so,' which were almost his last words. When he could no longer speak, I repeated to him some of the plain promises, and encouraging declarations of the word of God, the hearing of which produced a sweet smile on his countenance, Soon after this, his faculties of sight, of hearing, and of speech, failed, and for several hours he was gradually sinking, until at length, without a struggle or a groan, he breathed his last, and slept in Jesus. Thus fell this great and good man. 'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' Who does not feel ready to exclaim, Let me die the death of the

Logic, in the Philosophy of the Human Mind, in the first principles of Moral Philosophy, in the Doctrines of Natural Theology, and in the Theory of Civil Government. This course was finished in two years. The lectures were very interesting and instructive. Mr. Hill possessed great felicity and copiousness in illustration, and was very strict in examination. He was particularly clear and excellent in his Mathematical Lectures, which made many of his pupils wish that he had carried them a little further than the elements of that beautiful and attractive science. Mr. Hill was very amiable in his manners, and possessed the confidence of the principal and the affection of the students in a very high degree.”

righteous, and let my last end be like his!'.

"I shall now attempt to exhibit some of the leading features of his character, and in doing this I am not apprehensive that I shall dip the pencil in colours too glowing.

"As a MAN. In domestic life he was an affectionate husband, for a short period a tender father, and ever a kind and indulgent master. Blessed with a competency of the means of life, and with a partner like-minded with himself, he enjoyed an unusual share of domestic felicity. In social life, he was an intelligent and a cheerful companion; he had seen much of life, had been a close and a judicious observer of men and things, and had treasured up much useful knowledge in things pertaining to this life: his mind was furnished with a good share of political, historical, legal, and medical knowledge; it was stored with useful anecdotes, which rendered his company interesting and instructive; he was ever ready to communicate instruction, and impart advice to those who needed. He had a noble sense of honour, and a thorough detestation of every thing mean and in him integrity and uprightness were embodied. He was a strenuous advocate for the civil and religious liberties of mankind, nor was he careful to conceal his just indignation of those men and measures which tended to infringe or subvert them. In short, he considered himself as a citizen of the world, and breathed a spirit of good-will toward all mankind.

"As a CHRISTIAN. He was eminent in all the essential and substantial qualities which form this important character. He possessed an enlightened understanding, and a sanctified heart; he felt an ardent love to God; a strong desire after conformity to the divine image; a warm attachment to the divine word and ordinances. He was a firm believer in the glorious doctrines of revelation, and his faith was operative; to it he added virtue, and knowledge, and temperance, and godliness, and brotherly kindness, and charity. His piety was rational, cheerful, and scriptural; his light shone with a bright and steady lustre, and in the whole of his walk and conversation he adorned the doctrine of his God and Saviour.

"As a MINISTER. He was judicious, diligent, affectionate, and attentive to his flock. His mind was well stored with biblical and theological information, and from these sources he drew things new and old; he did not offer to God that which cost him nothing; no, he diligently laboured in his study before he came into the pulpit. From his comprehensive and well-informed mind,

he viewed his subject in all its bearings, and aimed at imparting the same views to his hearers; and if there was any fault in his discourses, it was an excess of matter, which is by no means a general fault, and one which might well be excused.

"If as a public speaker we cannot assign to our friend the highest rank; if, with many of the elements necessary to form an orator, such as a clear, strong voice, great energy of character, and warmth of feeling; he had not particularly studied those modulations and inflexions of voice which please the ear; yet, those who regarded the matter more than the manner, and came with a view to be edified rather than amused, were always sure to meet with something to inform their judgments, and to benefit their souls.

6

"It is but a part of a minister's work which is to be performed in the pulpit; and, perhaps, the excellency of the ministerial character is rather to he estimated by his conduct out of the pulpit than in it. I have sometimes heard it said of a minister, he is an excellent preacher; it is a pity but he could be always in the pulpit.' This I consider as far from being an encomium. On the other hand, 1 deem it no disparagement, but an honour, to our departed friend, to say of him, that he shone with equal, perhaps, may say, with brighter lustre out of the pulpit than in it: he not only broke the bread of life in the sanctuary, but he carried it from house to house; he was very assiduous in visiting his flock, and often very useful in advising and assisting them in their worldly, as well as in their spiritual concerns. especially in seasons of trouble and affliction, he was sure to be present, to console by his exhortations, and assist by his prayers. There is an anecdote recorded of him, which contains in it a whole volume of encomium.-Two of his hearers meeting one day, one of them accosted the other, and said, 'Do you know how Mr. Hill is? It is some time since he called at our house :'-to which the other replied, I congratulate you; it is a sure sign that you have had no affliction in your family.'

But

"In short, whether viewed in the rulpit or out of it, he was, in every important point, a good minister of Jesus Christ; a good shepherd, who diligently looked to the state of his flocks and his herds, endeavoured to know their individual circumstances, and to give to every one a portion of meat in due

season.

"He not only preached the Gospel, but he exemplified the doctrines he delivered, in his own life; thus he set a good example, especially in acts of

charity. He was truly liberal; and he had it in his power to indulge his charitable disposition, not only by distributing a good proportion of his own property, but also by being appointed the almoner of others; for, from his great respectability, and well-known integrity, he was connected with several important trusts and never was there one more conscientious in endeavouring

:

to execute the wishes of the testator.

"I venture to affirm that our friend had his imperfections, otherwise he would not have been human-otherwise he had

not died; but if asked to point them out, I should feel exceedingly at a loss; they were certainly very few, and far from being prominent; they were almost concealed from human view by the lustre of his excellencies, and were chiefly

known to God and himself.

"Thus I have attempted to draw a portrait of our deceased friend; I am aware it is a very imperfect one; yet, I trust, as far as it goes, it is correct; and such as will justify the application of the words of our text to him, A great man is fallen in Israel." "-pp. 448--455.

Such is the brief, but interesting, outline of Mr. Hill's character and history, presented to us, at the close of the volume, from the pen of his friend, and successor in the pastoral office, the Rev. J. Hooper. We are happy in being able to say, from the information we have gathered in other quarters, and from some personal knowledge of Mr. Hill, we believe it to be perfectly just and true. He was one of those unobtrusive, circumspect, good men, who do not shine, perhaps, in a circle of brilliants, but whose worth grows with your acquaintance, and whose excellences wear a veil to ordinary observers, and are more calculated to refresh our spirits, than to astonish and excite admiration. Of

the volume of posthumous sermons, now presented to Mr. Hill's friends and the public, our opinion is highly favourable. To say that they are good sermons, would be to use a somewhat vague epithet, which every reader would interpret, according to his own ideas of the chief excellences of his favourite standard. We would rather specify what we consider to be

the characteristics of Mr. Hill's compositions, and these, we must say, have a striking affinity to the peculiarities of his character. His discourses are all judicious, correct, and well arranged. An admirable vein of scripture simplicity runs through them all; yet they never dwindle into insipidity or dullness. The sentiments are truly evangelical, the dress becoming the grace and dignity of gospel truth, and the spirit and feeling which characterize them, truly worthy an ambassador of the Prince of Peace. The following extract, from the sermon on the great subject of the apostolic ministry, is worthy of universal regard, and will exhibit a fair specimen of Mr. Hill's sentiments, style, and manner.

"Need I say, that preaching Christ cannot be confined to any one particular respecting him, however true or important

t

-to his divine nature alone-to his doctrines alone--his precepts or example alone or to any of his characters and

offices, to the omission or slight mention of the rest? It is essential to a faithful minister that he shun not to declare the whole counsel of God,' without regard to popular fame, the preconceived opinions, prejudices, or corrupt bias of

any.

"If we, who are engaged in this lecture, preach Christ as the apostles did, we shall represent the true state of manwhich they had fallen--and their consekind--the deplorable circumstances into quent need of a Mediatorand Redeemer ; Christ's peculiar and entire fitness for the great work he undertook; his apfree and voluntary acceptance of the pointment to it by the Father; his own office; divine promises and predictions concerning him under former dispensations; his coming, in the fulness of time, the most proper era of the world, to answer these predictions and promises, in instructing mankind by his life and doctrine; to make such an atonement for sin by his sufferings and death, as that a way might be opened for pardon,

in full consistence with the honour and

dignity of the Divine Government, and every perfection of the Divine Nature; and, by his ascension and exaltation, to secure and apply the purchase of his death. If we copy apostolic example, we shall never fail to represent him as the medium of access to God, and of all

divine communications; and shall ever hold up to view the mediation of Christ as one main pillar of Christianity. We shall not represent Christianity as a mere republication of the law of nature, or what the light of nature either had discovered, or could enable mankind to discover but as that which, besides confirming the best dictates of the human mind, with respect to every divine, personal, and social duty, publishes to the world a scheme of salvation through Christ, as Mediator, by which sin is most effectually discouraged and condemned; universal holiness most powerfully enforced; the highest honour of God's law and government secured; and lustre cast upon every divine perfection, The church of Christ in Britain never knew a period which called for a more thorough investigation of the Scriptures on this subject, or a more steady defence and maintenance of this leading doctrine of the Gospel. From my own views of the mediation of Christ, inseparable from his sufferings and death, I do conceive of it as that which ministers should never lose sight of in any one sermon they deliver, or any one prayer they put up to God.

Preaching Christ takes in the whole compass of Christianity: in which comprehensive sense there is no doctrine, institution, precept, promise, grace, duty, or privilege, which it does not include. He who copies the example of the apostles will treat on these things in his name, and under his sanction; interweaving him with them, and showing him as concerned in them. He will represent and recommend every thing that is truly great and good, as known or practised by light and grace derived from him; as enforced upon us by motives and obligations borrowed from him: and as tending to the glory of God in him. He will give an evangelical turn and cast to his discourses on moral, practical subjects; urging the various duties incumbent on the professors of Christianity, on Christian principles. We can be at no loss what the strain of the preaching of apostles was-how they blended doctrine and duty-how they evangelized and enforced both tableshow the Son of God appeared in their discourses, and cast a life and lustre on all their holy ministrations. If mini

sters, in the present day, tread in their steps, it will appear in their preaching that the Gospel is the first of booksthat, as a system of religion, both of principles and practice, truth and duty, it stands without a rival-- that one is their Master, even Christ-that they were brought up at his feet--that they are so far from being ashamed of him or his Gospel, that they are their glory--and

that the determination of the apostles is theirs; that they will know nothing among their hearers save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' --pp. 327-330.

It is delightful to us to see a minister who had, in his earlier

With

* This strain of preaching I recommend to my younger brethren in the ministry, with all the sincerity and friendship my heart is capable of; and this on the fullest conviction. whatever pleasure or advantage they may have read, or may continue to read, the writings of ancient philosophers, or of moralists in later times, they are not their masters-they belong not to their school--they can furnish no such information as the Saviour gives, and the condition of the world wants; nor such motives as are best adapted to the nature of man. Take sermons as compositions: the most beautiful, sublime, and animated, will in vain be sought for among those where a shyness of Scripture, and its forms of expression, is discovered. Were I to read sermons merely for entertainment (laying modes of faith aside), I could be at no loss in a choice. From a warm wish for the pleasure, advantage, and success of the rising ministry, I must recommend to their attentive peruIf I am parsal, divines of the last age. tial to them, it is the frequent perusal of them, and the advantage which I have Makreaped from them renders me so. ing an allowance (which common sense must dictate) for alteration, which time has produced, in language, style, method of division, arrangement, &c., I fancy I discover that strong and manly sensethat intimate acquaintance with, and reverence for Scripture--that deep sense, as well as knowledge, of divine things— that devotional, and, often, pathetic strain--and that ardent concern for souls, and the success of their ministry, which render them the best models for their imitation. A well-instructed, judicious, and at the same time zealous preaching of Christ, is become the more necessary on account of the neglect into which such preaching has, in many places, fallen. I would not be uncandid. It is not the sin that most easily besets_me. But I must distinguish between Socrates and Jesus-between natural and revealed religion; and enter my protest, however feeble, against that slight, cold, unfrequent mention of the Saviour, observable in the prayers and sermons of many. God's unspeakable gift,' understoodvalued as he ought--wrought into our discourses, and made the pervading soul of our ministry, would give a weight and dignity to both, not discoverable any other way,

any other system. I have no conception of principles that can so effectually warm and enliven the heart, and engage the diligent cultivation, and constant prac tice, of every grace and virtue, as those which eminently distinguish the gospel. The obligations to holiness, in all its branches, are attended with an energy of persuasive argument, such as in vain is sought for in any other system. There is nothing which the light of nature can

connexions and engagements, dwelt in some of the more chilling and unfruitful sections of the religious world, and who had formed his habits, and received his education, in an age not favourable to evangelical piety or apostolical zeal, discovering so decided an attachment to the great doctrines of the Gospel, and urging so prominently upon his brethren the exhibition of the cross. It would afford us great pleasure to insert several other passages of sterling worth, but our limits forbid a lengthened article. We cannot, however, pass over the following passage, which we introduce as much on account of the note appended, as for its own excellence.

"Christ within the soul-his most excellent spirit introduced there—his meek, gentle, benevolent temper prevailing over every opposite principle- the apostles preached wherever they went. What they recommended and enforced (in which they will be copied by every minister who is himself a Christian), is that Christianity, which has its seat in the heart which enters into the inmost recesses of the man; purging the conscience from dead works; subduing the passions; rectifying the judgment; renewing, sanctifying, and raising every depraved power, and directing their sincerest and noblest operations to God. As Christ was formed in their hearts, it was the object of their most earnest wish and persevering endeavour that they might be made the happy instruments of his introduction into the hearts of others. This the apostle expresses in very emphatical language to the Church in Galatia-" My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ is formed in you."*

"When the temper and conduct of men take their complexion from Christ, they feel a strong and a prevailing disposition to bear the impression of their great Lord and Master; it is the best proof they can give the world that their faith is divine, and the surest evidence to themselves that they are Christians in reality. Christian doctrine, when set home on the conscience, binds the soul to that holiness in which the image of Christ consists, by the most animating considerations; and is calculated to produce an obedience of a far more generous and elevated kind than can proceed from

*Galat. iv. 19.

CONG. MAG. Supp. 1823.

enable the mind of man to discover in receives a vast increase of evidence and favour of religion or morality, but what force from evangelical truth: not to say that the morals of a Seneca, and the most admired systems of Natural Religion, in later times, owe their excellence, and, perhaps, their very existence, to Divine Revelation. The question is not, what the powers of the human mind could have discovered by their utmost exertions; or what those things are, which approve themselves to its best dictates, when suggested from some other quarter; but what was actually discovered, or is discovered now by the inhabitants of those parts of the globe where the Scriptures are not known? The apostles were deeply affected on the view of that ignorance and darkness in which the most polished states in the known world lay. They saw and felt ciples, at once to enlighten and reform the grand advantage of christian prin-. mankind; and in their noble and unparalleled career, invariably kept both in sight the Doctrines of Christ, and Christ himself within the souls of men. What was joined in their high commission, and inseparable from the salvation of man, they never put asunder.*

"It is no less painful than astonishing, that any who call themselves Christian ministers, should betray, in their preaching, low notions of Christ within, with such examples as the apostles before them. To what can it be ascribed that does not merit censure on some ground or other? Is it to ignorance or inattention? In them, they would be crimes. How did Christ's inspired servants preach, whose labours were so signally blessed? is one of the first questions a minister should ask himself. Did they separate Christ, and Christ within-doctrine and duty or make void the law through faith? Is it to zeal for the honour of divine grace in the salvation of men, that such infrequent and slight mention is made of what enters into the spirit and

character of a Christian? But can that be better secured by the management preachers of the Gospel? of ministers now, than by the first And why must I strike on Scylla to avoid Charybdis, when a safe passage is so clearly laid 4 Y