He

from his infancy to regard with the utmost reverence. selected for his text, 1 JOHN i. 5, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all;" and, it is affirmed, treated this mysterious and awful subject with such metaphysical acumen, and drew from it such an impressive application, as excited the deepest interest.

On the arrival of the summer vacation, in 1780, he again visited Arnsby; and during the period he then remained at home, his father became fully satisfied that his piety was genuine, as well as that his qualifications for the office of a preacher were of a high order. He therefore expressed to many of his friends his desire that he should be "set apart to the sacred work." Solicitous not to be led aside from a correct judgement by the partiality of a father, he resolved that the church over which he was pastor, should judge of his son's fitness, and recognise their conviction by a solemn act. The members of the church, after cautious and deliberate inquiry, ratified the decision of the anxious parent, and earnestly and unanimously requested "that Robert Hall, Jun. might be set apart to public employ."

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Accordingly," as the following extract from the Churchbook' testifies, on the 13th of August, 1780, "he was ex"amined by his father before the church, respecting his incli"nation, 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.

*

As the words church, deacon, &c. when used by congregational dissenters, whether baptist, or pædobaptist, are employed in senses differing from what are current among episcopalians, I annex this brief note to prevent misconception.

Among the orthodox dissenters of the class just specified, a distinction is always made between a church and a congregation. A congregation includes the whole of an assembly collected in one place for worship, and may therefore comprehend not merely real christians, but nominal christians, and, it may be, unbelievers, who, from various motives, often attend public worship. The church is constituted of that portion of these, who, after cautious investigation, are believed, in the exercise of judgement and charity, to be real christians. It is regarded as the duty of such to unite themselves in fellowship with a church, and conform to its rules; and the admission is by the suffrage of the members of the respective church; its connected congregation having no voice in this matter. A christian church is regarded as a voluntary society, into which the members are incorporated under the authority of Christ, whose laws they engage to obey, for the important purposes of promoting the mutual improvement of those who compose

"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 THESS. i. 7, 8. The Lord Jesus shall be "revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming "fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that "obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.-May the "Lord bless him, and grant him great success!"

It is worthy of observation that, on this solemn occasion, as well as when he preached at Clipstone, Mr. Hall selected texts of the class most calculated to elicit those peculiar powers for which he was through life distinguished.

In little more than a year after Mr. Hall had been thus publicly designated a preacher of the gospel, having pursued his studies at Bristol with great assiduity and corresponding success, he was, as already hinted, appointed to King's College, Aberdeen, on Dr. Ward's foundation. In his journey thither, he was accompanied by Mr. Joseph Stennett, the son of the late Rev. Dr. Stennett, and another student, Mr. John Pownall, still living. The two former of these had letters to the venerable Dr. Erskine of Edinburgh; and he again supplied them with introductions to two eminent individuals at Aberdeen. This appears from a letter sent by the doctor, 2d Nov. 1781, to Mr. Ryland of Northampton; from which, as it exhibits his view of the state of things at Aberdeen, at that period, I present a brief extract.

it, by an orderly discharge of religious duties, and of bringing others to the knowledge of the truth. Every such church of Christ is considered as an independent society, having a right to enjoy its own sentiments, to choose its own officers, maintain its own discipline, admit members, or expel them on persisting in conduct unworthy of the christian profession; without being controlled or called to an account by any others whatever.

Such a church, as a christian community, observes the Sacrament, or Communion of the body and blood of Christ," at stated seasons; the members of other churches being admissible, with the consent of the members present, on any specific occasion.

The officers of such a church consist of bishops or presbyters (i. e. pastors), and deacons. The latter are not, as in the church of England, and among other episcopalians, an order of the clergy, but are laymen. They are chosen from among the members of the church, and their business is "to see that the table of the Lord, the table of the poor, and the table of the minister, be supplied." They attend to the secular concerns of the church, as a body, and to all that relates to the convenience of the society, in reference to their public meeting. In many societies, too, they assist the pastor in his general superintendence.

"I had the pleasure of your letter by Messrs. Stennett and Hall last week. They appear to me pleasant young men, and I should have been happy to have had further opportunities of showing my regard to the children of so worthy parents, than their short stay here allowed. Though there are many excellent teachers at Aberdeen, and both they and the ministers are remarkable for purity of morals, I have some fears, from different accounts, that the general strain of preaching there is less evangelical than in several pulpits in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Principal Campbell and Dr. Beattie are, in my opinion, able and worthy men; and my difference with the first, as to the American War and the Popish Bill, has not impaired our mutual esteem. I wrote letters to introduce the young gentlemen to both."

Mr. Hall, for many years afterwards, used often to speak of the affectionate attentions of Dr. Erskine, on this occasion; and of his own feelings, when, on taking leave, the venerable man of God exhorted him to self-vigilance, kissed him, laid his hand upon his head, blessing him and commending him to the watchful care of the great Head of the Church.

At the time when he went to Aberdeen, the reputation of the two colleges, King's and Marischal College, was almost equally balanced. At the latter, Principal Campbell and Dr. Beattie, Professor of Moral Philosophy, had attained a high and merited celebrity both on account of their lectures and their writings: while at King's College, the Divinity lectures of Dr. Gerard were much and greatly esteemed; and some of the other professors were men of eminence. Many, therefore, especially of the divinity students, attended the appropriate lectures at the two colleges.*

Mr. Hall, in a letter addressed to his deservedly prized friend, the late Dr. Ryland, towards the end of this first session at college, speaks thus of his studies and of two of the profes

sors:

• At King's College, during Mr. Hall's studies there, Mr. John Leslie was Professor of Greek; Mr. Roderick Macleod, Professor of Philosophy, including Mathematics; Mr. W. Ogilvie, Professor of Humanity; Mr. James Dunbar, Professor of Moral Philosophy; and Dr. Alexander Gerard, Professor of Divinity. Though some of these were highly distinguished men, Dr. Gerard was most known to the world of English literature. Among his works are " An Essay on Genius," "An Essay on Taste," two volumes of valuable Sermons, and his "Lectures on the Pastoral Care," published in 1799 by his son, Dr. Gilbert Gerard.

"We entered the Greek class under Mr. Leslie, who, though a man of no apparent brightness of parts, is, notwithstanding, wellfitted for his office, being a good grammarian, and attentive to the interests of his pupils. We have been employed in the class in going over, more accurately, the principles of the Greek language, and reading select passages in Xenophon and Homer: and I have privately read through Xenophon's Anabasis, and Memorabilia of Socrates, several books of Homer, and some of the Greek Testament; and am now reading Longini de Sublimitate liber, which I hope to finish next week."

In the same letter he mentions his reading with Professor Ogilvie, whose versions of the Latin poets he characterizes as extremely elegant." He laments the want of religious advantages in this seat of learning, and deplores the profanity and profligacy of many of the students; one of whom, he assures his friend, affirmed that he knew no use even in the word "God," except to give point to an oath! To make up for this sad deficiency, he adds, "we have found some agreeable acquaintances in the New Town, and among them the sister of Mr. Cruden, the author of the Concordance."

The same letter contains evidence that he did not confine his attention solely to classical and mathematical studies. After expressing his admiration of the devotional as well as rational spirit that "lives and breathes in every page of Edwards,” he adds:

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:

My thoughts are at present too much immersed in literary exercises to admit of long or close application of thought to any thing else. I have, however, been thinking a little on the distinction of natural and moral ability, and have in my mind an objection upon which I should be glad to have your thoughts. It is, briefly, this: If, according to Edwards, the will always follows the last dictate of the understanding, and if it be determined, directed, and biassed by the view of the understanding, what room then is left for any notion of moral ability, as distinct from natural? or how can there, in this case, be any depravity of the will, without supposing a prior defect in the understanding? Since the will, if it be wrong in its bias, is first led to that bias by the understanding; and where then the possibility of a moral inability consisting with a natural ability? This I hope to have some conversation with you upon, when I have the happiness of seeing you. I have with me Edwards on the Will,

and have lately perused it often; and the more I read it, the more I admire."

The lamented death of Sir James Mackintosh has left a blank which none can adequately fill, with regard to Mr. Hall's character, habits, and the developement of his intellectual powers at this period. On application, however, to an esteemed friend, Professor Paul, he has kindly communicated a few particulars, which I shall give in his own language.

"What I now transmit is drawn from the College records, from the recollection of Dr. Jack, Principal of King's College, and formerly for three years a class-fellow of Mr. Hall, and from my own knowledge; for I, also, was a cotemporary of Mr. Hall, having commenced my first year's studies when he commenced his fourth. It appears from the album that Mr. Hall entered college in the beginning of November, 1781. His first year was spent principally under the tuition of Mr. Professor Leslie, in the acquisition of the Greek language; his second, third, and fourth years under that of Mr. Professor Macleod, when he studied mathematics, natural philosophy, and moral philosophy. He took his degree in arts (i. e. A. M. degree) on the 30th of March, 1785. Principal Jack says that he attended the Professor of Humanity, Mr. Ogilvie, during the four years he was at college, both for Latin and Natural History; but, as there is no record of the students of the humanity and natural history classes, this fact depends wholly on the Principal's recollection. I learn from the same source that Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Hall, while at college, read a great deal of Greek in private, and that their reputation was high among their fellow-students for their attainments in that language. Principal Jack also bears testimony to Mr. Hall's great success in his mathematical and philosophical studies, and affirms that he was the first scholar of his class, in the various branches of education taught at college. During one of the sessions the Principal was member of a select literary society, consisting of only eight or ten students, of which society Sir James and Mr. Hall were the distinguished ornaments. None of Mr. Hall's college exercises are now to be found in this place; but my impressions correspond with those of the Principal, that his acquirements were of the very first order; and as Sir James had left college before I entered, having received his A. M. degree 30th March, 1784, there was no one at college in my time who could be at all put in competition with Mr. Hall. But, it was not as a scholar alone that Mr. Hall's reputation was great at college. He was considered by