ner in which he would have treated the subject. Mr. Hall was a very candid hearer, being always more inclined to approve than to censure. He considered that the late Rev. T. N. Toller and the Rev. A. Fuller, of Kettering, were the two best preachers of the age.

I shall never forget the enthusiasm with which he spoke of a sermon preached at Bedford by Mr. Toller, from 2 Pet., i., 12–15. Sir," said he, "if the Angel Gabriel had come down from heaven on purpose, he could not have preached a more solemn and impressive discourse; it was like a dying minister preaching his last sermon; it quite overcame me-there was scarcely a dry eye to be seen in the place."

When at Cambridge, Mr. Hall generally expounded the Scriptures on a Sabbath morning, and preached from a single text in the afternoon; the exposition generally suggested a subject for the sermon. I found him expounding the Gospel of John, afterward the Acts of the Apostles, then he went to the Epistle to the Philippians, and the two Epistles of Peter; the three Epistles of John closed his labours at Cambridge, previously to his indisposition. I preserved the leading ideas in his exposition of the Epistle to the Philippians, making more than one hundred pages of post paper, since written out into long hand, which I consider a great treasure. I inquired his reason for omitting the Epistle to the Romans; he replied, "I do not under stand it, sir. The Apostle Peter says, there are many things hard to be understood: I shall reserve the exposition of that Epistle for the last work of my life."

He had only one service during the week at Cambridge, which was held between the hours of seven and eight on Thursday evenings. His custom was to sit in an arm-chair in the vestry, to read a hymn, which was sung; then he requested one of the members of the church to pray after this, name another hymn, and make some observations on one or more verses from the Scripture, for about twenty minutes, he then concluded the service himself by a short prayer. He fre quently read the following hymn from Dr. Doddridge at the commencement of these services:

The sentiment expressed in the two last lines he experienced in his dying moments. He literally "hailed the sharpest pangs of death, to break his way to God."

Another of his favourite hymns on these occasions was Dr. Watts's hymn which commences thus:

See Mr. Hall's own account of this sermon in his Memoir of Mr. Toller, vol. ii., p. 394, 395, in this edition of his works.-B.

VOL. IV.-C

"Thy favours, Lord, surprise our souls;
Will the Eternal dwell with us?
What canst thou find beneath the poles

To tempt thy chariot downward thus ?"

At this period he frequently lost sight of the lecture. After waiting some time, I have often left the vestry, and ran to his rooms to fetch him; on entering, I found him in the midst of his books. Instantly after an How do you do, sir?" I said, "It is Thursday evening, sir, and the people are waiting for you at the vestry." Oh no, it is impossible, sir; it cannot be Thursday." "Indeed it is, sir." Then, rising up, "Well, how strange it is, sir, that I cannot remember the days of the week, they are all alike to me, sir; I have nothing to mark and distinguish them." The distance from his rooms was not five minutes' walk from the meeting-house; he usually found that one of the deacons had commenced so that not much ume was lost.

I shall now briefly notice the peculiar situation in which the Dissenters were placed, and the difficulties they then had to encounter. They were at this period very unpopular, from their decided attachment to the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and their opposition to the Pitt administration and to the French war. There was the University on the one side, with Mr. Pitt for its representative, and a corrupt corporation on the other, with the Duke of Rutland at the head, both of which were leagued together to put down the principles of liberty, and to support corruption and war, while the Dissenters were contending for peace and reform. The contest was so unequal, that it seemed at one time almost impossible that we should keep our ground, much less that we should finally triumph. We were assailed from every quarter with accusations of disloyalty, and of being enemies to "Church and State." This was carried so far as to insult us when we walked the streets. Though a small band, we were, however, firm and united: there was not a single individual in the whole congregation who did not warmly espouse the "good old cause." This, with such a powerful advocate and leader as Mr. Hall, ensured for us the victory; especially as many of the Dissenters were men of the largest property, as well as of talent and respectability, in the town. Thus we kept bigotry and intolerance at bay. Mr. Hall, however, never introduced his politics into the pulpit, although he was falsely charged with doing so by a clergyman of the University, who had the mortification, to my certain knowledge, afterward to make the amende honorable. His printed letter to Mr. Simeon, as well as his letter to Mr. Clayton,* and his Apology for the Freedom of the Press, will show how firmly he embraced and

* The reference here made by Mr. Greene is to the first article in the second volume of this edition of Mr. Hall's works. Mr. Clayton, for very many years, was pastor of the Weigh House Congregational Church in the city of London, over which the Rev. Thomas Binney at present ably presides. Mr. Clayton was so ill-advised as to print, in 1790, a sermon far more suitable for a dignitary of an established church, and a follower of Sacheverel, to deliver than an humble dissenting minister. It is truly gratifying to me to add, that this venerable minister of Christ lived to see and to regret his former mistakes, and to give full evidence of possessing more enlightened views of freedom than those he once cherished. He died in 1843, at the advanced age of more than ninety years.-B.

upheld those noble principles for which our forefathers fought and suffered.

"Which make man, man;

The wise illumine-aggrandize the great."

I remember a county meeting for the dismissal of the Pitt administration, headed by the late Duke of Bedford and the Dissenters. Mr. Hall attended both the meeting and the dinner, and assisted in escorting and defending a small party on their return.

In reference to many of these persecuting “Church-and-King" men, we have frequently observed to each other, For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. Many an imperious University man, who, by his look of contempt, appeared to expect that every Dissenter should do him homage, and who spoke of Mr. Hall as one Hall preaching in a conventicle, has departed from the place into a state of obscurity and insignificance, "alike unknowing and unknown," while the name of Robert Hall is known, revered, and admired wherever the English language is spoken or read, and will be to the end of time. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green baytree; yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. This has frequently reminded me of a fine stroke of satire given us by Mr. Hall, when expounding that part of the Acts of the Apostles which refers to Festus's declaration of Paul's case to Agrippa, Acts, xxv., 19: But had certain questions against him of their own superstitions, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Observe," said Mr. Hall, "the contemptuous manner in which this Festus speaks of the Saviour of the world, asone Jesus' which was dead. It is very remarkable that this one Festus owes all his celebrity to this one Jesus; for had it not been for this one Jesus, we should never have heard anything of this one Festus, for his name is never mentioned in profane history."

None of the foregoing remarks apply, however, to that excellent nobleman, Lord Hardwicke, nor to the late Dr. Mansel, who, when in possession of high university honours, treated Mr. Hall in the kindest manner, and decidedly opposed this rude conduct. Mr. Hall told me, that after he had published his sermon on "Modern Infidelity," when walking by Addenbroke's Hospital, Dr. Mansel crossed over from the other side of the road, and, shaking him by the hand, said, "Mr. Hall, I thank you most sincerely for your masterly sermon; it does you great honour, sir." Mr. Hall said this was so unexpected that he did not recollect how he answered the doctor, but politely thanked him for his good opinion.

His popularity now increased so much in Cambridge, that I have seen forty or fifty under-graduates, fellow commoners, and noblemen, in their costume, at the meeting-house. Some of the heads of houses were alarmed at this popularity, and made an attempt to prevent the attendance of the young gentlemen. At a meeting on the subject, Dr. Mansel, as Master of Trinity College, rose and said, "I will never be a party to any such measure as this; I think the young men can

not spend their time better on a Sunday than going to hear Robert Hall; and were it not for the dignity of my situation as master, I should go and hear him myself." This at once stopped the proceeding.

Among others who were almost constant in their attendance at this time, were two Mr. Grants, who are now, I believe, both members of Parliament and ministers of the crown; together with a clergyman, who has since distinguished himself as the author of the Velvet Cushion. They were generally accommodated in one of the best seats in the place, belonging to E. Hollick, Esq., a country gentleman. I mention this, because Mr. Hall and ourselves considered it very ungenerous on the part of the reverend gentleman that he should afterward have lampooned the Dissenters, by saying "that Dissenterism was the religion of barns," while he would not acknowledge that he was indebted to one of these barns, and to Mr. Hall's ministry while at Cambridge. The place, it is true, was a very plain building, not like King's College Chapel or a cathedral, but then we paid for it ourselves. After this ungenerous attack, I inquired of the deacons whether this gentleman had ever subscribed anything; they told me he never had. I asked whether he had ever made Mr. Hall a present; and the answer was the same. Under these circumstances, it has appeared to us that the attack was neither in good taste nor good keeping. If Dissenterism is the religion of "barns," who occasioned it? Who forced our ancestors to worship in "dens and caves, and barns of the earth?" The predecessors of this gentleman, who, by their cruel edict of uniformity, in the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar, condemned those who would not conform, and bow down, and worship, to be cast out, which was actually carried into effect on August 24th, 1662,t which we Dissenters justly denominate "Black Bartholomew Day." By this unmerciful edict, it is well known that nearly 2300 faithful ministers of the Gospel were ejected from the Church of England; and it is affirmed, upon a modest calculation, that it procured the untimely deaths of 3000 Nonconformists, and the ruin of 60,000 families. In her is found the blood of saints and of prophets. This is a blot and stain in the history of the Church, which, to use Lord Chatham's words, "all the waters of the Delaware will never wash out."

Mr. Hall was by no means insensible of these supercilious airs of consequence and lordly superiority over God's heritage. It was a kind of "stand by, for I am holier than thou;" while, at the same time, there was no extraordinary merit to justify this. Such persons know nothing of the native dignity of a genuine Puritan, who was con scious of obeying the will of his Master, whose kingdom is not of this world. It is to the noble army of the Puritans, or, as Mr. Hall termed them, the "celestial nobility," that this country is chiefly indebted for its invaluable liberties, in the stand they made against the arbitrary power

One of them is the present Lord Glenelg.-B.

+ See Dr. Calamy's account; Brook's History of the Puritans; Palmer's Nonconformists' Memorial, &c.

I have also had oral testimony of this fact. My mother, who died last year [1833], at eightysix, actually received, when a child, a circumstantial account from her grandmother, who was one of those pious worthies and sufferers.-GREENE

and encroachments of the clergy. Mr. Hall declined very high preferment in the Church from Mr. Pitt, and Dr. Barrington. bishop of Durham: he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the highest honours for a season; for he had respect unto the recompense of reward. He frequently armed himself and animated his followers with the anticipations of future blessedness. Well do I remember his preaching from those words, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. "This great event," said he, "is reserved for the excellent of the earth, of whom the world is not worthy. It will soon be their turn to shine; then shall all other lights be put out to make room for the brightness and splendour of their appearing: they shall shine for ever and for ever."

Every one who has heard Mr. Hall give out a hymn, will recollect the dignity and feeling he would exhibit in reading the following lines from Dr. Doddridge, at the close of the service:

"The splendid crown which Moses sought
Still beams around his brow,

Though soon great Pharaoh's sceptred pride
Was taught by death to bow."

It may be proper for me here to observe, that, notwithstanding the contumelies to which I have referred, Mr. Hall had many friends and admirers in the Establishment, who were greatly attached to him; who fully appreciated his excellences, and who could estimate his conscientious objections as a Dissenter, without imputing to him factious motives. Among these was the Rev. Thomas Robinson, of Leicester. His splendid eulogium on that clergyman will be found among his printed works. Many persons have imagined, from the high opinion he expressed of this gentleman a few years afterward, and his panegyric on the Liturgy of the Church of England, that he relaxed in his principles as a Dissenter; but I have heard him say repeatedly, that he was very sorry such a construction should ever have been put on what he intended only, abstractedly, as his opinion of the composition, and not as an approval of its adoption in preference to extemporaneous prayer. I can testify that Mr. Hall never changed his political opinions, as expressed in the " Apology for the Freedom of the Press;" nor were his decided objections to the hierarchy of the Church of England ever removed, being, in his opinion, antichristian. The learned Dr. Parr frequently visited him at Cambridge, and afterward at Leicester, and fully appreciated both his principles and *Vol. ii., p. 380-387, of this edition.-B.

As one illustration, among many others, of the unaltered character of Mr. Hall's political sentiments, it may be mentioned that, when he was told of the famous declaration of the Duke of Wellington, that there needed no parliamentary reform, and that there should be none, he replied, "Why, sir, he deserves to be tied to the tail of a comet, and whipped round infinite space throughout eternity."-B.

On the republication of this pamphlet in the year 1825, one passage in the prefatory remarks was omitted, which referred to the late learned Bishop Horsley. Mr. Hall told me that mature reflection by no means justified this attack upon so distinguished a scholar and so profound a divine. It was as follows: When we reflect on the qualities which distinguish this prelate, that venom that hisses, and that meanness that creeps, the malice that attends him to the sanctuary, and pollutes the altar, we feel a similar perplexity with that which springs from the origin of evil. But if we recollect, on the other hand, that instruction may be conveyed by negatives, and that the union, in one character, of nearly all the dispositions human nature ought not to possess. may be a useful warning, at least we shall cease to wonder at the existence and elevation of Dr. Horsley, Charaoters of his stamp, like a plague or a tempest, may have their uses in the general system, if they recur not too often."-GREENE.