the injury or offence ought first to be acknowledged according to the words of our Saviour: Take heed to yourselves; if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him; and if he trespass against thee seven times a day, and seven times in a day turn to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

Mr. Hall showed me his copy of Walton's Polyglot, and explained some of its various readings. This led to a discussion of several passages in the Hebrew text. I asked his opinion of the eighty-fourth Psalm, part of which appeared to be unintelligible, both in the common English version, and in the version by Cranmer. He imme diately turned to the Psalm, and translated it into English. When reading the fifth verse, he said, "You are right, sir; there is a difficulty; I think the sense cannot be given without paraphrase."

On my expressing my surprise at the facility with which Mr. Hall read the original, he replied, "Why, sir, it has become familiar to me by practice. I make a point of translating a chapter or psalm every day; and, if you remember, I took lessons from Lyon, the Hebrew professor at Cambridge. I studied the language when at Bristol, but afterward neglected it." Mr. Hall insisted on the importance of reading with points, and of paying great attention to the irregular verbs.

I asked his opinion of the translation of the request of Naaman, the Assyrian leper, 2 Kings, v., 18. Mr. Hall turned to the passage. I observed that, if the verbs would allow of the past tense, it would read thus: "Concerning this thing will the Jehovah pardon thy servant, in my lord's going into the house of Rimmon to bow himself there, when he leaned on my hand, and I bowed myself in the house of Rimmon: in my bowing in the house of Rimmon, will Jehovah extend pardon, I pray, to thy servant in this thing?" I observed, "This would give a consistency to the whole story: here is a sense of guilt and deep anxiety on the part of Naaman; a mind awakened to the knowledge of Jehovah as the only living and true God, and an expression of an earnest desire for pardon. Then the answer of the prophet harmonizes: Go in peace; as much as to say, He will pardon you." Mr. Hall replied, "There is a difficulty in the passage; but let us consult Poole's Synopsis." He did so, and read the paraphrase. "No, sir," he continued, "Poole is against you; he contends that it must be regarded as an employment of Naaman, ex officio, as a minister of state in his personal attendance on his master, and not in a religious capacity." Mr. Hall added, "I have my doubts about the passage." I thought, however, that he seemed inclined to the sense given by Poole, whom he praised as a very valuable writer, and then dropped the subject.

Mr. Hall frequently observed, as the result of his researches, that the obvious popular sense of a Scripture passage was generally the

true sense.

The following morning I left Leicester, in company with Mrs. Hall, who remained with us about three weeks. After her return, Mrs. Greene received the following letter from Mr. Hall:

August 30, 1822.

66

"MY DEAR MADAM,

Agreeably to your desire, I sit down to write a few lines, to inform you of Mrs. Hall's safe arrival. She got to Leicester about eight o'clock on Wednesday evening, a good deal fatigued with the journey, and complaining very much with a headache. During the greater part of the ride she had for her companions two Frenchmen, who behaved with great civility; after they had left, a very rough, unsocial being accompanied her during the remainder of her journey. Since her return, she has pretty well recovered her fatigue; and with the exception of some pain in her face and cheeks, is in tolerable health. She desires me to express the deep sense she entertains of the great kindness she met with under your hospitable roof, and, with her acknowledgments on that score, you must permit me, however inadeIt was unfortunate for her that repeated quately, to express my own. attacks of indisposition prevented her from availing herself of all the advantages of her situation; had she been capable of taking more air and exercise, I have little doubt she would have derived essential benefit from the excursion. I am sorry, on your own account, she was so poorly, because I am conscious that an invalid is at best but a troublesome inmate, capable of giving much trouble with little pleasure in return. I most sincerely thank you and dear Mr. Greene for your kind attention, which left nothing undone which friendship could dictate, towards the alleviation of her complaint. I believe regular exercise, could she be prevailed upon to take it, would do more for her than any medicine; her whole system needs to be braced and strengthened. I shall endeavour to exert myself to the utmost to induce her to be frequently in the air, and to take as much exercise as she can bear without fatigue: if to this she could be prevailed upon to take bark and red wine, I think it would be of great benefit to her. When she is worst, I uniformly find the most difficulty to prevail upon her to take what might be beneficial. The rest of my family are, through mercy, tolerably well. It will give Mrs. Hall and myself the greatest pleasure to see you at Leicester: we fully anticipate that pleasure, at the farthest, should we be spared to see another summer. Mrs. Hall unites with me in most grateful and affectionate remembrances to you and Mr. Greene.

"I am, dear madam, your affectionate friend,

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

"ROBERT HALL."

"September 24, 1823.

"It is a serious disappointment to Mrs. Hall, as well as to myself, that we have not, before this, enjoyed the pleasure of a visit from you and Mrs. Greene at Leicester. I have had such a succession of engagements, as, combined with yours, have hitherto deprived us of that pleasure, and write now to inform you that next week I shall certainly be at home, and if you and dear Mrs. Greene can favour us with your company then, we shall esteem it a great favour. On the 7th of next

month I am engaged to preach at Kimbolton; the next day at St. Ives; and shall spend the succeeding Sabbath at Cambridge.

“Mrs. Hall will, I believe, accompany a friend of hers to London in about a fortnight hence; so that the time I have suggested is, I fear, the only one previous to next winter. Should you decline our proposal respecting that time (which, however, I earnestly hope you will not), let me entreat you to promise us a visit during the winter. There are many fine days in that season when travelling is not unpleasant; and no season is so favourable to social fireside enjoyment. I hope, however, we may promise ourselves the pleasure of seeing you next week. Mrs. Hall is gone with three of our children to Marine Baths, in this neighbourhood, from whence I am going to fetch her on Saturday. It is with her knowledge, and by her request, that I have suggested next week as the time when we hope to have the pleasure of seeing you. Her reason for going to the Baths was not so much the state of her own health as that of our children, particularly the youngest, who has been very poorly a long time. Mrs. Hall unites with me in most affectionate and grateful remembrances to you and to Mrs. Greene. It will be a great disappointment to her, as well as to myself, not to see you.

"I remain, my dear friend,

On receiving this invitation, I wrote to fix the day of our being with Mr. Hall at Leicester; preferring to go there at once, rather than defer our visit till the winter.

On the Saturday after our arrival, we took breakfast in his study; and, after family prayer, I remained alone with him. About eleven o'clock I arose, observing that he would probably wish to prepare for the Sabbath. He replied, "Oh no, sir, don't go yet: sit down; I want to have a little talk. I do not know what subject to select. I have been preaching here so long, that I find great difficulty in fixing upon new subjects; and you know, sir, I do not like to preach the same sermons again." "Why, sir," I replied, "you never had any difficulty of this kind at Cambridge: you generally expounded in the morning, and we observed that the exposition suggested a topic for the afternoon discourse; and you will remember that, in addition to your stated expositions, you frequently selected a Psalm, or an interesting subject of Scripture biography-for instance, the character of Abraham, Eli, &c. We enjoyed the expositions, sir, exceedingly." "But, sir," said Mr. Hall, "my people at Leicester do not like expositions. I have frequently tried them, and it does not do to expound when the people are not interested. My congregation, sir, is composed principally of plain people, who are engaged in manufactories, and who have not enjoyed the advantages of education. They are by no means so intellectual as our friends at Cambridge; I am sorry they do not like expositions, for I am convinced that more solid instruction may be derived from them than from sermons. I have

been astonished, sir," continued Mr. Hall, "at the superior knowledge of the Scotch, compared with the English, in this respect. It is the uniform practice of clergymen in the Church of Scotland to expound every Sabbath morning. On these occasions, the people have their Bibles before them; and, by this plan, are accustomed to hear and to read the Scriptures in their connexion, which is a very great advantage, sir." "Well. sir," I said, "will you allow me to suggest a plan? Suppose you were to commence a course, and continue it at intervals -for instance, every third week, or once a month: you might thus gradually accustom the people to it." "Why, sir, that is a very good idea; I never thought of that before, sir. I think it may do very well; I will try that plan, sir." I reminded Mr. Hall of the order of his expositions at Cambridge: the Gospel of John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Philippians, the two Epistles of Peter, and the three Epistles of John; and added, "We were very much interested, sir, in your remarks upon the Acts of the Apostles, and especially with the geographical information respecting the different places the apos tles visited; the reception they met with; the manners and customs of the inhabitants; their present condition," &c. "Yes, sir," he replied, thoughtfully, "it is a most interesting book." "There was one thing, sir, that you frequently noticed, which made a deep impression upon my mind. It was the strong, incidental evidence of the divinity of our Lord: it breaks in upon us without any formality of proof. The apostles seem to take it for granted as a first principle, which was universally received and believed by the first converts." You are quite right, sir; it is a powerful argument; I have been frequently struck with it. There is no meaning in the language employed by the apostles in speaking of our Lord, if opposed to this supposition. The incidental evidences, as you observe, are certainly irresistible."

After sitting with Mr. Hall some time, I left him on perceiving that his mind was at work. He spent the remainder of the day in his study.

On the Sabbath morning I found him in the upper kitchen reclining upon the dresser: in one hand was his Bible, and with the other he held his pipe. On my entering, perceiving that I felt surprised, he exclaimed, "What! are you frightened, sir?" "Rather so," I replied: "I had no idea of finding you here." Why, sir, I derive great relief from lying on the boards of the dresser in this posture; it cases my back amazingly, sir; you cannot think how comfortable I find it." He did not then allude to the subject of his discourses, but announced from the pulpit his intention of expounding the Acts of the Apostles, and then repeated the topics of our conversation on the preceding day. His remarks were to the following effect: that it was his uniform plan at Cambridge to expound the Scriptures in the morning; that the practice obtained generally in Scotland; and to this fact might be attributed the superior biblical knowledge of the Scotch to that of the English, the former being in the habit of reading and hearing the Scriptures in their connexion; that the practice of preaching from single texts was of modern invention; that in most of our dis

senting churches, the Scriptures formerly were expounded; it was, therefore, his intention to expound in future, not every Sabbath, but once in three weeks or a month. He then added, that, in case the plan was not generally interesting, he would relinquish it. After this preface, Mr. Hall read the first eleven verses of the Acts of the Apostles, finishing with the account of the ascension. In the evening he took his text from Luke, xxiv., 52: And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. The sermon was a sequel to the morning exposition. If the reader will refer to the account of the ascension, in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and compare it with this verse in Luke, he will better understand the fol lowing brief and imperfect outline.

Mr. Hall observed, The cause of the apostles' joy was the astonishing scene which they had just witnessed. And he led them out as far as Bethany, &c. While they were conversing with their Lord and Master on the mount called Olivet, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. The sacred historian has not informed us as to the nature of this cloud, but there is no doubt that it was the cloud-the Shekinah-the visible symbol of the Divine presence. "This, my brethren, was the day of the Redeemer's solemn publie inauguration, when he received the reins of universal empire. The apostles looked steadfastly; they saw him enter into the cloud, into the bosom of the Deity, and veiled in the insufferable brightness of the Divine glory. He had told Nathanael that he should hereafter see greater things than these: Verily, verily, I say unto you, You shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This was now fulfilled: they beheld him in the splendour of his glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father; and the angels of God ascending and descending upon Him as he entered into his glory. Two of these angels descended while they were looking steadfastly towards heaven, and stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Observe, it is said, he shall come in like manner; and, in another place, he shall come in his own glory, and in the glory of his Father; and here it is said, he shall come as ye have seen him go into heaven. What an astonishing scene, my brethren, was this! such as the world never witnessed before; and as soon as the apostles had recovered from their transport, well might they worship him, and return to Jerusalem with great joy; they witnessed the ascension of their risen Redeemer, after his public recognition by the Divine Being as Lord of heaven and earth, thrones, and principalities, and powers being made subject unto him this it was that filled them with great joy. From this time they assumed a new character. The Jews were astonished at the bold. ness with which they preached the Gospel at Jerusalem, and publicly charged the Jews with the murder of their Lord: This Jesus, whom ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, is both Lord and Christ; whom God hath raised up. Such was their forti