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LXXIX.

TO THE SAME.

My dear Friend, Leicester, Dec. 6, 1825. I have just time at present to inform you that I have come to a determination to accept the invitation the church and congregation of Broadmead have thought fit to give me, on the following terms: that I make trial of the situation for one year, and that at the termination of it, if it should not answer our mutual purposes, each party, i. e. the church and myself, shall be at liberty to separate. I do not say this from the smallest desire that the union may not be permanent; I earnestly hope and pray that it may: but futurities are in the hand of God; and if the change of situation should be found materially to affect my health, which at my stage of existence is equivalent to life, or if the ends we propose are not answered, I may be at liberty, after a fair trial, to dissolve the connexion, without incurring the charge of levity and inconstancy. If I shall be spared to come, it will be with the hope and intention of living and dying among you, nor shall I cherish any expectation of change; but imperious reasons, connected with my happiness and usefulness, may arise to determine me to the contrary, of which I shall probably be able by that time to form a judgment.

I write this in haste, as I expect Mr. Daniell every moment, who is setting out at two o'clock. I shall address a letter to the church in a few days I purpose to direct it to you; when you will be so good as to forward it, or read it to the church. I have only one thing to request, and that is of great importance; that you will grant me an interest in your prayers, that my way may be prospered, that I may be kept from falling, and that my removal to Bristol may be instrumental to the conversion of sinners, and to the building up the church in faith and holiness. Let me beg you, my dear and honoured friend, not to forget me at a throne of grace. My assurance of this on your part, and on the part of my friends in general, would add unspeakably to the comfort of,

My dear Sir,

Your affectionate Friend and Brother,

ROBERT HALL.

P. S.-I beg my love to Mr. and Mrs. James, and sister Mary. Kind remembrances to all friends.

LXXX.

TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ASSEMBLING IN BROADMEAD,

BRISTOL.

ON ACCEPTING THE PASTORAL OFFICE.

My dear Brethren, Leicester, Dec. 21, 1825. After long and mature deliberation, and earnest prayer, I write these lines to inform you that I accept the invitation you have been pleased to give me to the pastoral office. That it may become a mutual blessing, and that you and myself may reap the fruit of it, in the glory of God, the spiritual improvement of each other, and the conversion of sinners from the error of their way, will, I trust, continue to be, as it has already been, the object of your frequent and fervent supplication to the throne of Grace. Be assured I feel deeply my utter inability for the adequate discharge of the weighty duties which devolve upon me, and particularly my unfitness to walk in the steps of your late venerable pastor. My only hope amid the discouragement arising from this quarter is placed in "your prayers, and the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus." Conscious as I am of innumerable imperfections, I must rely on your candour for a favourable construction of my conduct, and reception of my labours. Permit me, my dear brethren, to conclude, by "recommending you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified by the faith of Jesus." I remain, dear Brethren, Your affectionate Friend and Brother,

ROBERT HALL.

LXXXI.

TO THE REV. P. J. SAFFERY, OF SALISBURY.

Dear Sir, Leicester, Jan. 16, 1826. I duly received your favour, and cannot be insensible to the honour you have done me, in wishing me to assist at your approaching ordination, by delivering a charge. I am sorry you appear to lay so much stress upon it, because it makes me the more uneasy in putting that negative on your wishes which my judgment and my inclination dictate. As I intend to avoid engagements out of Bristol as much as possible, and very rarely, if ever, to officiate at ordinations, I can by no means consent to begin my career there by an engagement of that nature, which would at once, by giving erroneous expectations, be productive

of much inconvenience. Nearly all the spare time I can command from my proper station will necessarily be occupied in visiting the connexions among which I have lived, and where I have numerous old and tried friends, who must be ever dear to my heart. As to ordinations, it has long been my opinion that they are best conducted by the presbyters or elders of the immediate vicinity of the party; and that to step beyond that circle is to sacrifice or impair the chief benefit of that practice, which is the putting a wholesome check on the abuse of the popular suffrage, by making it impossible for a minister to establish himself at the head of a congregation without the approbation and sanction of the circle of pastors with whom he is to act. It is an affair in which the church are chiefly or solely concerned; and though the calling in a stranger on such occasions may attract a greater audience, it is, in my humble opinion, at the expense of more important objects. For these and other reasons that might be adduced, you must allow me firmly, though most respectfully, to decline the service you have been pleased to assign me; and, to cut off any occasion of [discussion,] I must request the favour of [your] accepting this reply as final.

I cannot close these lines, however, without expressing the pleasure it affords me to find you are likely to succeed your excellent father. That a double portion of his spirit may rest upon you is, dear sir, the sincere desire and prayer of

Your sincere Friend and humble Servant,

ROBERT HALL. P.S.-I beg to be respectfully remembered to your excellent mother, though personally unknown.

LXXXII.

TO THE REV. DR. J. P. SMITH, HOMERTON.

Rev. and dear Sir, Bristol, Nov. 3, 1826. I have to complain of a good deal of misrepresentation in what is stated in your letter, as having passed in my interview with Dr. Malan. The conversations (for they were two) passed at my house, not at Clifton. He was insisting much on the absolute necessity of the full assurance of our personal salvation, which, as he appeared to carry it to a great extent, led me to remark that it seemed to me a most desirable attainment, and what every sincere Christian ought to seek after with diligence, rather than as essential to the very [existence] of religion. And in the course of conversation, I confessed that I had it not myself. At this he expressed his surprise, and began with emphasis to recite that passage in John's epistle, "He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." His discourse to me on this subject was not satisfactory. Part of it was not very intelligible;

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and part, as far as I did understand it, was injudicious, and bordering on enthusiasm. I certainly was extremely struck with the indications of exalted piety and love exhibited by his whole deportment, and particularly his countenance. I must confess there was something in his looks that reminded me more of the ideal picture I have formed of the Saviour, than I ever saw before in any human being: and as I am too prone to express myself in the style of hyperbole, it is to that part of his character that the expression your letter quoted must be understood to allude. Though I am certain I never used some of the words imputed to me, particularly those in which I am represented as saying, "All other men were brutes and beasts compared to him." I am equally a stranger to the words and the ideas, you may depend on it. I never acknowledged the little success of my sermons arose from my ministry not being accompanied with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He observed that my printed discourses (of these only he spoke) wanted simplicity: nor was I at all concerned or surprised at that; for he found much fault with Maclaurin's, on "Glorying in the Cross of Christ," which he accused of the same defect, observing that it exhibited the truth, but did not exhibit his Master; a remark which appeared to me (as I observed to him) very unintelligible. I never gave thanks aloud that Dr. Malan was brought to Bristol; nothing of the kind ever passed from me. I probably did (indeed I know I did) express myself much gratified in having an opportunity of a personal interview; and I parted from him with much esteem and affection on my part. I thought him, on the whole, a very extraordinary man; though much more to be admired for his ardent piety and lively imagination than for judgment or profundity. Even on his favourite topic of assurance he seemed sometimes to retract all that he had asserted. I did not hear him [preach;] but I learned afterward that his hearers generally went away with the impression of their having heard very new doctrine. If Dr. Malan has given the statement you have copied, I am heartily sorry for it, because it is extremely inaccurate, and must necessarily diminish the high regard in which I held him. Thus I have given you, my dear sir, a brief outline of what passed; and most earnestly wish you every degree of success in your labours to maintain the truth as it is in Jesus.

I am, dear and Rev. Sir,

With very high esteem, your affectionate Friend,

ROBERT HALL.

N. B.-Permit me to return my most sincere thanks for your admirable defence of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ against Belsham: it will benefit the church, I trust, as long as the English language lasts.

LXXXIII.

TO W. B. GURNEY, ESQ.

ON THE DEATH OF MRS. GURNEY.

Bristol, August 25, 1827.

My dear Friend, It is a very few days since I heard the very melancholy intelligence of the removal of dear Mrs. Gurney; and I was not willing to obtrude on the sacred privacy of grief till its first agitation was in some measure subsided. Most deeply is this stroke felt, and long will continue to be so, by that very large circle of which she was the ornament and delight; but how much more severe the stroke on him who was united to her by the tenderest of earthly ties! To me the information was like a thunderclap: it was so sudden, and so unexpected, that I could scarcely persuade myself it was a reality; it seems now like one of those frightful visions of the night which vanish at the return of dawn.

Alas! how fresh in my mind is the figure of the dear deceased, presiding in the social circle with that inimitable ease, elegance, and grace which captivated every heart:-changed now, and clouded for ever with the shades of death! Never was a victim snatched by the great destroyer more beloved, or more lamented.

But why should I dwell on what is so distressing to remember, rather than advert to the brighter side of this melancholy picture? You, my dear friend, have lost the richest of earthly blessings in a most admirable and amiable wife; but grace has completed its triumph in adding to the celestial choir one more spirit of "the just made perfect." Bright as she shone in her earthly sphere, her light was dim and obscure compared to that which now invests her. Her pure and celestial spirit has ascended to its native seat, where she "bears the name of her God on her forehead, and serves him day and night in his temple." Your loss, my dear friend, is her unspeakable gain; and your mind is too generous in your calmest moments to wish her hurled from her celestial elevation. Let a few more months and years revolve, and you will be reunited to part no more; the days of your mourning will be ended; the Lord will be to you (as he is already to the dear deceased) "your everlasting light, and your God your glory." I hope you will not suffer the excess of grief so to absorb your mind as to shut out the consolations of piety, or the claims of duty. It is my earnest prayer that God himself may comfort you, and that he may be pleased so to sanctify this most heavy trial, that though "faint," you may be "still pursuing ;" and that, though you "sow in tears," you may "reap in joy."

I beg to be most affectionately remembered to every branch of your family, as well as to all inquiring friends; and remain, with deep concern, Your affectionate and sympathizing Friend,

ROBERT HALL.

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