to our "faith, virtue; and to virtue, know- | which placed him high in the first class ledge; and to knowledge, temperance; of the most admired writers. With but and to temperance, patience; and to pa- a small compass of voice, the character tience, godliness; and to godliness, bro- of his ideas, their lucid order, his happy therly kindness; and to brotherly kind- choice of expressions, the melody of his ness, charity." Then shall we joyfully tones, the rapidity of his utterance, the aid each other, at every renewal of our fire of his eye, and the ardour of his feelintercourse our moral atmosphere will ings, drew from our lips, and from our become purer and purer as we approach hearts, the testimony which can be neithe land, the inhabitants of which shall ther controverted nor suppressed, “This never say, "I am sick"-and at length is eloquence-this is eloquence indeed!" an entrance shall be ministered to us abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Had it been his destination to speak in the senate, or to plead at the bar, with a few exceptions, he would have eclipsed every competitor. But God gave him a better promotion. Not most certainly of that kind to which avarice and ambition aspire, but that which infinitely exceeded all that was ever reached by her most prosperous votaries. His Saviour "counted him faithful, putting him into the ministry," and thus honoured him with the weighty, yet delightful commission, "I send thee among the people, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." It is now my duty to request your particular notice to the dispensation which has clothed this assembly in the attire of mourning. The voice of our departed friend has been sounding in the public ear for almost half a century, and will sound through the nation for ages yet to come. A more eminent man seldom occupies the sphere of human agency. His reasoning powers were of the highest order. To him it was given, if I may so speak, to penetrate subjects as by a momentary intuition, and to fetch into view, soon after he had commenced his search, those deeply hidden treasures of the intellectual mind, to the discovery and the display of which most men, even of ac- My esteemed hearers, attend me now knowledged talent, must have employed in the survey and estimate of Mr. Hall an elaborate process. According to the as occupying the department, in which, best import of the term, he gave the im- through the influence of divine grace, he pression of his being a profound meta-shone to the greatest advantage; and that physician, who, had he thought it proper not for his own sake merely, but for that to pursue the science of the mind-so of others. May you especially that are great was his acumen would probably young, cherish into a devout and firm have been rivalled by few, and surpassed purpose, as it regards yourselves, the by none. Sound judgment, and finished recollection that he could say, with Obataste, and rich imagination, accompanied diah, "I feared the Lord from my youth." with real, unaffected piety and earnest-It was before he had attained his sixteenth ness, together with touching pathos, per-year, that he publicly professed the relivaded his compositions in general, and gion which continued to be the guide, rendered those, particularly of a religious and the stay, and the ornament of his nature, inimitably grand. He had all the truly Christian life. There are nany attributes of genius-that rare and mas-who, as if the Creator stood low on the terly faculty which it is more easy to appreciate than to define. His erudition was that of the elegant scholar. He had formed his style on the purest models of Greece, Italy, and his native land. He took pains with it, and wrought it into that force, and beauty, and plainness, list of claimants-as if his service were perfect drudgery-and as if he might be neglected with impunity, pass the meridian of life without the least care to honour or to glorify him, or even to be accepted in his Son. At length, it may that some, satiated with the world's luxu with emphasis, which my heart venerated, "Do not, in your discourse, overlook so opportune an occasion of pressing a life of thoughtfulness and piety on the young." ries some oppressed by disappointment truth requires me to add-of one who said --some stung with remorse, and dreading God's fiery judgments, tender him a few quivering sparks-a fragment or two of time-the mere wreck of what they once were both in body and in mind, as they approach, doubtful and tremulous, the It has been intimated by me, that in dark confines of eternity. How different becoming a Christian minister Mr. Hall was it with our departed friend! He not only obeyed the divine will, but enbegan his pilgrimage and warfare at the tered upon the most useful, and therefore very dawn of life's cheerful years. Some the noblest, career. I had not such an present may recollect and will appreciate acquaintance with his spiritual history, the joy, which must have quickened into at that period, as would enable me to an enlivened warmth of gratitude, of the speak concerning it with minuteness, or heart of his excellent and gifted father on in positive terms. The pleasing probathe day which witnessed the baptismal bility, however, is that he had previously recognition of such a son's surrender and abased himself, as a perishing offender, dedication of himself to God. Are none before the Holy One of Israel-that he of you, in such manner, at least, as con- had believed in Jesus to the saving of the science dictates, found substantially walk- soul, and that he was moved with coming in his steps. A portion of you, who passion for a world lying in wickedness. acknowledge Him to whom you are in- That he was afterwards, at least, strongly debted, could furnish me with an answer, marked with these characteristics, there which I pray that God would make uni- can be no question. He belonged to what versal. Why should not all, during the is called the evangelical school, a school vernal season of the moral year, discover, which, owing to the speculations and colamidst the gardens of Zion, those fair lisions of modern partizans, cannot be so blossoms, which, cherished by the dew exactly described as it might have been of the Holy Ghost, and the rays of the Sun thirty years ago. Still, it may, and it of righteousness, shall expand till the will, be represented as the depository of weeks of an abundant harvest arrive-that those expositions and confessions in harvest of which so sweet a specimen which the protestant churches, according, has lately been conveyed from earth to at least, to their respective acknowledgheaven. Allow me this morning, to ad-ments, are mainly united. It asserts, in vance a plea for God. Indeed, he is wor- plain language, the corruption of human thy to be adored, and trusted, and loved, nature-the divinity of Jesus Christ, and and obeyed. O that I felt towards him of the Holy Spirit-together with the what it becomes me to feel, and had ability vicarious pains and sorrows of the former, and leisure to express myself accordingly! and the renewing influence of the latter. But I advance not a plea for God alone; I The venerable and bold Archbishop am also your advocate. Come and join Leighton announces the system well, in yourselves to him in an everlasting language which has long since been made covenant. He waits to receive you; common, and which marks it distinctly. already his paternal heart melts over you; He says, "It lays low the sinner, exalts and, on your first approach, he will smile, the Saviour, and promotes holiness." I and declare, "From this day will I bless speak it to the credit of Mr. Hall, that you." Did it once enter the mind of him, he knew, as a theological speculator, where whose voice and countenance will, in this to stop-that, having arrived, through vale of mortality, arrest your attention divine assistance, farther and farther, no more did it once enter into his mind after reasoning appeared to fail, he reto regret that he was too early in avouch- joiced to sit a humble learner at the feet ing the Lord to be his God? Accept my of Jesus-that he shrank from scholastic tribute of affectionate solicitude thus cor- subtleties—and that he was too wise, too dially, though at the special instigation-modest, and too scriptural, to attempt M becoming the founder, or the factious patron, of a sect. As a biblical critic he was capable, after all that has been affirmed in Britain and on the continent, of throwing much additional light on obscure passages and disputed doctrines. As an expositor he was clear, perspicuous, and most energetic; and, in his social addresses from the pulpit, he did indeed speak as the oracle of God, and held up truth in its interesting-its solemn-its encouraging, and its alarming aspects. There, in a style peculiarly his own, he warned, rebuked, and remonstrated. There, he disclosed the enormity of sin, its varieties, its windings, and its worthlessness. There he unfolded the richness of divine grace, the beauties of holiness, and the felicities of our eternal home. There he constantly renewed his purpose to expatiate on Jesus Christ, as our wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. I have no doubt that many have been compelled to acknowledge that the gospel had no charms for them, or none that conquered their sceptical indifference and carnality, before they beheld it through the medium of his illustration. The simple text of the Bible, when he was the reader, was elucidated I had almost said, more than by the extended commentary of an ordinary man. He quoted well; so that, like a celebrated female writer within your own circle, and a preacher of high reputation in a neighbouring city, he has often impressed me with the beneficial dexterity which may be evinced in detaching portions of the Bible, so as to set them like "apples of gold in pictures of silver." The exordiums of his discourses were conducted deliberately, and not without a degree of hesitation. His divisions were always natural, and nearly always simple. He kindled as he proceeded, till, borne upwards on the wings of seraphic delight, he seemed as if he could spare only a single glance even for his beloved flock, and that for the purpose of stimulating them to share with their pastor in the joy of their common Lord; and that moment he shut the book and finished his discourse, leaving them to regret that he had finshed it so soon. Need I remind you of his humility, his simplicity, and his importunity in prayer. He gathered up himself to take hold of the strength of God, and to enjoy it for his own benefit and that of all others. Perhaps we could have no view of him more striking, and more conducive to our improvement, than when we saw him drawing nigh to the throne of the heavenly grace, and heard him imploring mercy there. What a spectacle for the eye, what sounds for the ear, of men who, without a tenth part of his talent or of his virtue, think it useless to pray and needless to repent! In the divided state of Christendom we necessarily show our respective preferences. He did. Mr. Hall was decidedly a Protestant dissenter; but who has more warmly eulogized the "Liturgy of the established Church?" His expressions are these, "I believe that the evangelical purity of its sentiments, and the chastened fervour of its devotion, and the majestic simplicity of its language, have combined to place in it the very first rank of uninspired compositions." He was an uncompromising Baptist, but he respected the rights of conscience. He conceded that liberality which he required and exercised. He recoiled from the thought of augmenting, as he would have deemed it, the ritual peculiarity of so small a denomination into a barrier that should exclude from sacramental fellowship the members of every denomination besides, when a Howe, an Owen, a Baxter, a Wesley, a Whitfield, a Doddridge a Watts, were entreating to be admitted. So, on the other hand, it is to be lamented that such a saint and such a preacher as he was, should have been disqualified, either by law or by convention, from visiting wherever a sanctuary was prepared and a congregation was eager to receive him. At the end of each Sabbath he returned to bless his household; and day after day, whether at home or abroad, his advice, his sympathy, his bounty, and his spiritual gifts, awaited those who had need of what it was in his power to communicate. I have remarked with some surprise, not unconnected with admiration, that neither at Cambridge, nor at Leicester, | had beaten vehemently upon his earthly nor at Bristol, was he understood to fre- tabernacle without destroying it; again quent, with an undue zest, the society of and again it was, as it were, repaired, so the learned or the opulent, notwithstand- as to continue, though incommodious, ing he must have met the eager invita- yet tenantable by its immortal occupant. tions of all who were qualified to enjoy At length, after only four years spent the feast of reason. That he was es- here, he heard the voice of the dispensateemed by a Mackintosh, and such men, tion, which said, "These are your last some of you are aware. Disease, I am public labours. Your warfare is all but sensible, tends to lessen the literary ap- accomplished. One stroke more and petite for fame; yet, if the love of fame your tabernacle shall be dissolved; and had been his unconquerable passion, it thou shalt be elevated to thy destined would have overwhelmed the banks state, among the spirits of just men made within which prudence and piety sought perfect." In the course of his illness, to confine it. He had an early passion, when the nature of it did not interfere to but it was generous and sacred, and hence prevent, he showed where his thoughts he condescended to men of low estate. were. That he had embraced the gospel It was enough for him that he perceived was manifest by signifying, in a whisper there the fruits of the Spirit, and he im- to his dearest relative, his need of Christ, mediately attempted to accelerate their and his reliance on him. growth for immortality. From this adulatory account are there no deductions to be made on the score of failings? He, decidedly, would have exclaimed, "Yes, and they are serious and many." He had his failings, but your candour traces even these admixtures, in part to his temperament, and in part to the very source of his eminence. The gay and satirical strain of his juvenile communications-the exuberance of that wit which was dignified and pure, as well as original, and his occasional vehemence of expression, sometimes degenerate from the energy with which he wielded the sword of the Spirit against the army of the aliens. There were a few points of singularity, and, now and then, a want of precision in minute arrangements. Attaching, however, chiefly to his early years, were they not resolvable into those habits of sublime abstraction which are scarcely compatible with a full measure of attention to the affairs and usages of common life? Now I turn to you, his deeply afflicted sisters, and to you, the still more deeply afflicted widow. You have lost much, but you mourn not without encouragement, from the pleasing recollection, and the more pleasing hopes, that to him "the bitterness of death is past." He is conscious of no sin-he endures no pain-he fears no evil. He is where and what he would be, and shall be for ever and ever. You cannot wish to recall him. I trust, however, that you are following himthat you will be comforted from stage to stage, and finally be united to him more intimately and more happily than could, under the most gratifying circumstances, have been permitted here. I am not unmindful of you, the surviving orphans. Bereaved of so good a parent, what can you do? I would recommend you-contemplating God, who is most wise, most mighty, and most merciful-from this time, if never before, to say, "Thou art my Father, thou shalt be the guide of my youth." Were the indiAs to his reluctance to become an au-vidual whom you have so much reason thor, and so to extend the sphere of his usefulness, he was, indeed, physically disabled; and the ground which he would have preferred was, in his opinion, and according to his modest estimate, preoccupied by his superiors. Whatever he was, it has pleased God to remove him from us. Many a storm to love and venerate again to call you around him, would he not allure, encou rage, and admonish you to choose God fo your Father, and serve him with a per fect heart and willing mind? All secrets, all hearts, all understandings, and all the imaginations of the thoughts are open and naked before him. "If thou seek hin he will be found of thee, but if thou for- | not a right to do what I will with mine sake him he will cast thee off for ever." own?" Walk as Mr. Hall did, closely Many a prayer has been and will be offered on your behalf; and the substance of them is, that you may be the children of God, the members of Christ, and the heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Then, instead of being mentioned as samples of that degeneracy which so often stigmatizes a minister's children, you will love one another you will prove comforts to your surviving parent-you will rejoice the church-you will elicit the friendly attestation, Thy son and thy daughters are worthy of their parentage. Is there not already found, in more than one of you, some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel? Next I appeal to you, the members of this church, and the rest of the stated congregation. When recollecting what I have either known or seen recorded of Mr. Hall, Dr. Ryland, Dr. Evans, Dr. Hugh Evans his father, and Mr. Fawcett, I rehearse the ministerial progress of five such men as have seldom presided in uniform succession over any one of our churches. Thankfully resign what the universal proprietor has demanded. Maintain your oneness with the Saviour. Treasure up the things which your late pastor has taught you. Be anxious to deepen the impressions which he has made. Tremble at the idea of being lost after so long an attendance on such means of grace and salvation, and pray that every succeeding reference to the name of Hall may conduct you to that of the chief Shepherd, may bring a reinforcement to your faith, to your charity, to your spiritual-mindedness, and to your holy zeal. As it regards your loss, may God supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. As for you, my esteemed friend, once the delighted and admiring colleague of him whom you will serve in the gospel no more, you will, I am persuaded, seriously repair to the everlasting spring of consolation. And you, the candidates for the sacred office, deprived now of the finest specimen of ministerial address, I mourn with you, but justify him who hath said, "Have I and humbly with God. Take heed unto yourselves and to your doctrine. Search the Scriptures. Serve your generation according to the will of God. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might; and keep in view the assurance given by our Lord's apostle, "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." You may be wanting in those accomplishments which rendered Mr. Hall one of the phenomena of the age-his depth, his sublimity, his mental vigour, his breathing thoughts, his burning words;-but you may hope, by the divine aid, to approach him in sanctification, in kindness, in devotedness to God, and in a concern for the salvation of men. You may also hope to make an effectual display of the truth as it is in Jesus; and, singling out some of the great assembly that shall be converted hereafter, it may be yours to exclaim, “Behold, here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me." All Christian ministers are impressed by this solemn event. Many of them feel as though, in parting with this one brother, they had parted with many. They look down on the dreary chasm produced by the ascent of his triumphant spirit, and ask despairingly, When will it be filled as it was before he left it? They are dispersed through a diversity of religious connexions, but they were wont to claim him as a fellow member with them, applying to him the encomium first applied to another minister, "Such he was as every Christian church would have rejoiced to have adopted." Some have never heard him, but they have read his printed productions, and in them they recognise the illuminated and strenuous asserter of divine truth, or they have heard of him as a preacher who scorned the tinsel of heartless eloquence. Various individuals have sunk in the most important kind of reputation as they have advanced in years, or have suffered shipwreck even within sight of the harbour; but you have perceived that his doctrine and his example shone "more |