which he cannot reason against without having his character stigmatized as a time-server; the warm language of his youth cited against his more mature opinions; and all the prejudices of his sect, or even of his congregation, artfully inflamed against his good name, his professional usefulness, and, perhaps, his professional existence. The black and fell malignity, which pervades this man's attack on Mr. Hall, raises it to a sort of diabolical importance, of which its folly, and ignorance, and vulgarity, cannot entirely deprive it. This must be our excuse for stooping so low as to examine it.

His first charge is, that Mr. Hall now speaks of the French Revolution in different language from that which he used in 1793. How many men have retained the same opinions on that subject? There may be some, and Mr. Benjamin Flower may be one; for there are men who have hearts too hard to be moved by crimes, or heads too stupid to be instructed by experience. The second accusation against Mr. Hall is, that he has imputed a great part of the horrors of the last ten years to the immoral, antisocial, and barbarising spirit of Atheism. Will this man deny, on principles of reason, that Atheism has such a tendency? If he does, what becomes of his pretended zeal for religion? Or will he, on the authority of experience, deny that Atheism has actually produced such effects? If he does, we refer him, not to Professor Robison, or the Abbé Barruel, of whose labours he, as might be expected, speaks with real rancour and affected contempt; but to the works of Atheists and anarchists themselves, which he will think much better authority. Has he read the correspondence of Voltaire, of Diderot, of D'Alembert? Has he consulted any of the publications which have issued during the last ten years from the Paris press? Does he know that all the fanatical Atheists of Europe (and England is not free from this pest) almost publicly boast that in thirty years no man in a civilized country will believe in God? Has he never heard that the miners of Cornwall were instigated to sell their clothes in order to purchase the impious ravings of Tom Paine; or that they were gratuitously distributed among the people of Scotland, with such fatal effects, that a large body of that once religious people made a bonfire of their Bibles, in honour of the new apostle? Has he been informed that the London Corresponding Society (enlightened by the Systême de la Nature, of which the translation was hawked in penny numbers at every stall in the Metropolis) deliberated whether they ought not to uncitizen Tom Paine, for superstitiously professing some belief in the existence of God? DOES HE KNOW THAT THE SAME SOCIETY RESOLVED, THAT the belief of a God was SO PERNICIOUS

AN OPINION, AS TO BE AN EXCEPTION TO THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE OF TOLERA

TION? Does he perceive the mischievous and infernal art with which only Deism is preached to the deluded peasantry of Scotland, while Atheism is reserved for the more illuminated ruffians of London? ALL THIS, AND PROBABLY MUCH MORE, WE FEAR HE KNOWS BUT TOO WELL! Yet it is in the midst of these symptoms of a meditated revolt against all religion, and of bloody persecution practised wherever Atheists are strong, and projected where they are weak, against the christian worship, and all its ministers of all sects and persuasions, that this man has the effrontery to make it a matter of accusation against Mr. Hall, that he exhorted nonconformists, not to abandon their dissent, but merely to unite their efforts with those of the church, in resisting the progress of Atheism. He, it seems, hates the church more than he loves

religion. He has more zeal for dissent than for the belief of the existence of a Deity. His pious zeal would prefer slavery, under the disciples of Condorcet and Volney, to a temporary co-operation with the church which produced Taylor and Barrow! That such should be the sentiments of an obscure scribbler, is a matter of small moment; though, notwithstanding his complaints of the state of the press, this is the first time, since England was a nation, that any man would have dared to publish them. But that such should be the sentiments of a numerous sect continuing to call themselves Christians, would indeed be a matter of very serious consideration. But it cannot be. The body of Dissenters will hasten to disavow such detestable sentiments. They will acknowledge as their representative, not this libeller, but the eloquent and philosophical preacher, whom he has so foully slandered; whom no dissenting minister has surpassed in talents, and whom none has equalled or even nearly approached in taste and elegance of composition.

3. From the Notes to Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon. Easter, 1800.

After defending Mr. Hall from the censures of those who blamed him for styling Hooker, great and judicious," he proceeds thus:

66

In common with all men of letters, I read with exquisite delight Mr. Hall's sermon, lately published. As compositions, his former works are replete with excellence; but his last approaches to perfection, μera tov σeμvov Tηy xapιv exeɩ. He apologizes for its length, but the apology was unnecessary: for every man of taste and virtue will apply to this publication, what Photius said upon the λειμωνάριον of Joannes Moschus, ἐξ ἁπαντων το χρησιμον ὁ συνετος και ὁ θεοφιλης ἀνηρ δρεπομενος, οὐκ ἀν των συντεταγμένων κορον KATAYνOIN. Bacon tells us that "the contemplative Atheist is rare, and that Atheism did never perturb states, because it makes men weary of themselves as looking no farther." But I agree with Mr. Hall, that "the present times furnish a melancholy exception to this general observation;" and Mr. Hall probably will agree with Bacon, "that superstition also has been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of government." (Bacon's 17th and 18th Essays). The liveliness of Mr. Hall's imagination, and the strength of his feelings, may now and then have led him to speak rather too strongly in each of his late publications. In the former, [the Apology for the Freedom of the Press], I thought that he ascribed too much to the effects of Popery under the French monarchy; and, in the latter, too much to the effects of philosophy in the French Revolution. But, in both works, he has made many wise and interesting observations; in both he has preserved a most beautiful and animated stile; through both he has been actuated, I believe, by the purest motives; and by the last more especially, he has deserved well from every friend to civilized society and pure religion. I am not sure that Mr. Hall stands in need of any vindication upon the score of inconsistency; but I am sure that he is most able to vindicate himself against accusations really strong, if such there be, and I am equally sure that he has too much candour and too much magnanimity to persist in any error, which his own sagacity may discover, or the objections of his antagonists shall clearly prove.

Having stated my wishes, that in a few, I mean a very few, instances, Mr. Hall had been a little more wary in pushing his principles to consequences, which they may not quite warrant, I will give my general opinion of him in the words that were employed to describe a prelate, whose writings, I believe, are familiar to him, and whom he strongly resembles, not perhaps in variety of learning, but in fertility of imagination, in vigour of thinking, in rectitude of intention, and holiness of life. Yes, Mr. Hall, like Bishop Taylor, "has the eloquence of an orator, the fancy of a poet, the acuteness of a schoolman, the profoundness of a philosopher, and the piety of a saint.”"

Sincere as my attachment is to Protestantism, I confess that I have been pained by some outrageous invectives that have been lately thrown out against the Church of Rome; and at the present crisis, I must further confess, that they appear to me not only unjust, but indiscreet, and even inhuman. Let me remind the accusers of Mr. Hall, that, in the estimation of Lord Bacon, "divisions in religion, if they be many, introduce Atheism;" -" that there is a superstition in avoiding superstition, when men think they do best by going farthest from what they think the superstition formerly received; and, therefore, care should be had that the good be not taken away with the bad, which commonly is done when the people is the reformer." Among those who censure Mr. Hall, there may be thoughtless and injudicious persons, who often repeat the witty and decisive answer of Sir Henry Wotton to the priest, who asked, "Where was your religion to be found before Luther?" Let me then recall to their memory the advice which Sir Henry gave to one, whose earnestness exceeded his knowledge, and who was perpetually railing against the Papists: "Pray, Sir, forbear, till you have studied the points better; for the wise Italians have this proverb, 'He that understandeth amiss concludes worse;' and take heed of thinking, the farther you go from the Church of Rome, the nearer you are to God." To men of sounder judgment and more candid dispositions, I would recommend the serious perusal of "Cassandri Consultatio," of Grotius's notes upon it, and his three replies to Rivetus. When they read the "Syllabus Librorum et Epistolarum doctorum aliquot et priorum virorum," in the third volume of Grotius's works, they may cease to think Mr. Hall singular, when he remarks, in his preface, "How trivial, for the most part, are the controversies of Christians "with each other!" They may be disposed to join him in his prayer, that "Ephraim may no longer vex Judah, nor Judah Ephraim;" and they may be converted to the wise and salutary opinion of Grotius, "Quam non sit difficilis in Religione Conciliatio, si controvertendi studium vitetur!"

NOTE C.-[See Page 85.]

CHARACTER OF MR. HALL AS A PREACHER,

From the London Magazine, No. XIV. Feb. 1, 1821. Written by the Editor, Mr. John Scott, Author of Visits to Paris, &c.

Some of them (the dissenting ministers) are, at the present day, exhibiting no ordinary gifts and energies; and to the most distinguished of these, we propose to direct the attention of our readers.

MR. HALL, though, perhaps, the most distinguished ornament of the Calvinistic dissenters, does not afford the best opportunity for criticism. His excellence does not consist in the predominance of one of his powers, but in the exquisite proportion and harmony of all. The richness, variety, and extent of his knowledge, are not so remarkable as his absolute mastery over it. He moves about in the loftiest sphere of contemplation, as though he were "native and endued to its element." He uses the finest classical allusions, the noblest images, and the most exquisite words, as though they were those which came first to his mind, and which formed his natural dialect. There is not the least appearance of straining after greatness in his most magnificent excursions, but he rises to the loftiest heights with a childlike ease. His style is one of the clearest and simplest—the least encumbered with its own beauty-of any which ever has been written. It is bright and lucid as a mirror, and its most highly-wrought and sparkling embellishments are like ornaments of crystal, which, even in their brilliant inequalities of surface, give back to the eye little pieces of the true imagery set before them.

The works of this great preacher, are, in the highest sense of the term, imaginative, as distinguished not only from the didactic, but from the fanciful. He possesses "the vision and faculty divine," in as high a degree as any of our writers in prose. His noblest passages do but make truth visible in the form of beauty, and "clothe upon" abstract ideas, till they become palpable in exquisite shapes. The dullest writer would not convey the same meaning in so few words, as he has done in the most sublime of his illustrations. Imagination, when like his, of the purest water, is so far from being improperly employed on divine subjects, that it only finds its real objects in the true and the eternal. This power it is which disdains the scattered elements of beauty, as they appear distinctly in an imperfect world, and strives by accumulation, and by rejecting the alloy cast on all things, to embody to the mind that ideal beauty which shall be realized hereafter. This, by shedding a consecrating light on all it touches, and “bringing them into one," anticipates the future harmony of creation. This already sees the "soul of goodness in things evil," which shall one day change the evil into its likeness. This already begins the triumph over the separating powers of death and time, and renders their victory doubtful, by making us feel the immortality of the affections. Such is the faculty which is employed by Mr. Hall to its noblest uses. There is no rhetorical flourish-no mere pomp of words-in his most eloquent discourses. With vast excursive power, indeed, he can range through all the glories of the Pagan world, and seizing those traits of beauty, which they derived from primeval revelation, restore them to the system of truth. But he is ever best when he is intensestwhen he unveils the mighty foundations of the rock of ages-or makes the hearts of his hearers vibrate with a strange joy, which they will recognize in more exalted stages of their being.

Mr. Hall has unfortunately committed but few of his discourses to the

We use this epithet merely as that which will most distinctively characterize the extensive class to which it is applied, well aware that there are shades of difference among them, and that many of them would decline to call themselves after any name but that of Christ.

i

press. His sermon on the tendencies of Modern Infidelity, is one of the noblest specimens of his genius. Nothing can be more fearfully sublime than the picture which he gives of the desolate state, to which Atheism would reduce the world; or more beautiful and triumphant, than his vindication of the social affections. His Sermon on the Death of the Princess Charlotte, contains a philosophical and eloquent developement of the causes which make the sorrows of those who are encircled by the brightest appearances of happiness, peculiarly affecting; and gives an exquisite picture of the gentle victim adorned with sacrificial glories. His Discourses on Waron the Discouragements and Supports of the Christian Minister-and on the Work of the Holy Spirit—are of great and various excellence. But, as our limits will allow only a single extract, we prefer giving the close of a Sermon preached in the prospect of the invasion of England by Napoleon, in which he blends the finest remembrance of the antique world—the dearest associations of British patriotism—and the pure spirit of the gospel-in a strain as noble as could be poured out by Tyrtæus.

[The passages quoted are from pp. 183–192, Vol. I.]

There is nothing very remarkable in Mr. Hall's manner of delivering his sermons. His simplicity, yet solemnity of deportment, engage the attention, but do not promise any of his most rapturous effusions. His voice is feeble, but distinct, and as he proceeds, trembles beneath his images, and conveys the idea that the spring of sublimity and beauty in his mind, is exhaustless, and would pour forth a more copious stream, if it had a wider channel than can be supplied by the bodily organs. The plainest, and least inspired of his discourses, are not without delicate gleams of imagery, and felicitous turns of expression. He expatiates on the prophecies with a kindred spirit, and affords awful glimpses into the valley of vision. He often seems to conduct his hearers to the top of the "Delectable Mountains," whence they can see from afar the glorious gates of the eternal city. He seems at home among the marvellous revelations of St. John; and while he expatiates on them, leads his hearers breathless, through ever-varying scenes of mystery, far more glorious and surprising than the wildest of oriental fables. He stops when they most desire that he should proceed-when he has just disclosed the dawnings of the inmost glory to their enraptured minds-and leaves them full of imaginations of "things not made with hands,"—of joys too ravishing for smiles-and of impulses which wing their hearts "along the line of limitless desires."

NOTE D.-[See page 114.]

AN EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM DR. PRICHARD.

THE following extract of a letter, from Dr. Prichard to Dr. Frederick Thackeray, of Cambridge, describing concisely the results of the post mortem examination, unfolds the cause of Mr. Hall's acute suffering for so many years.

"We found the heart diseased in substance, and the muscular structure soft, and looking like macerated cellular membrane; the left ventricle was