of our state and condition, Mr. Hall put this question: "What reason have we to believe that when he shall appear we shall be like him? Is it such as will satisfy our desires? Can we say, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee?-As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness?" These were some of the general ideas: but it is impossible to give a conception of the sermon but from its effects. A clergyman, who had never heard Mr. Hall before, observed to his friend, at the close of the service, that he never heard any thing like it; and that he could hardly tell whether he was in the body or out of it. Several persons were taken ill from the extraordinary excitement. A physician of my acquaintance told me, at three o'clock on the Monday afternoon, that he had not got over the impression. Several of the deacons and others declared, that they had never heard any thing to equal it. I did not recover from the effects before the Wednesday,* when I called upon Mr. Hall, and inquired, whether he had heard of the extraordinary effects produced by the sermon of Sabbath evening: "No, sir,” he replied, “I was not aware of any thing remarkable in it; I should have thought you very candid, sir, if you had told me that it was an inferior sermon.”

An American gentleman, having taken the tour

* It was a sort of religious crisis on the spirits, something like that which animal magnetism was formerly said to produce on the frame.

of Europe, was very anxious to see Mr. Hall before his return, and procured a letter of introduction for that purpose. On his arrival at Bristol, I was invited to meet him at Mr. Hall's house on the Sabbath evening: the next evening a party was made up. Mr. Hall was very much interested with him as an intelligent man. In the course of the evening, while Mr. Hall and the celebrated John Foster were engaged in conversation, the gentleman observed, You cannot conceive, sir, the exquisite feelings I have at this moment, in being in company with two such great men; no persons are more admired in the United States than Robert Hall and John Foster; and, on my return, there will be the greatest anxiety to hear the particulars of this interview.' I inquired his opinion of Mr. Hall's preaching on the previous Sabbath. Why, sir, when he commenced his sermon in the morning, I was not at all struck with him; and was ready to inquire, Is this the great Robert Hall? but, in a few minutes, he opened, as it were, a battery; and the effects of it were such, that I thought I should have fallen from my seat. I was quite electrified; as soon as I had recovered from one shock, it was succeeded by a second and a third. I never heard any thing to be compared with it.' In short, this American gentleman was in a perfect state of enthusiasm. I think it was in the month of February, that Mr. Hall told me that he had commenced Matthew Henry. He observed, "I have often read portions of it, and consulted it; but I have now begun with

the first chapter of Genesis, and I mean to read the work through regularly; I have set myself, sir, two chapters every morning, and I anticipate it as a feast. That is the way to read Matthew Henry, sir; I discover new beauties in him every day, that are not obvious when reading detached parts. I would advise you to adopt the same method, sir; you will be quite delighted with it. I have found, that the most pious persons of my acquaintance, in the latter period of their lives, have been great readers of Henry. There must be something next to inspiration in him, sir; for as face answers to face, so does the heart of one Christian to another." I asked his opinion of Scott's Com/mentary. "O, it is a good work, sir; but it is not to be compared to Henry: there is not that unction of spirit which there is in Henry." About a month or six weeks after this, he said, "Well, sir, I continue my plan of reading Matthew Henry every morning, and have come to the second chapter of Exodus; and am more and more delighted with him."

One evening, in a party of friends, I asked Mr. Hall, whether he intended to enter upon any course of exposition of the Scriptures. I reminded him, at the same time, of his course of expositions at Cambridge, when he first entered upon the gospel of John, and then the Acts of the Apostles, the epistle to the Philippians, the epistles of Peter and of John and if you remember, sir,' I added, 'I asked you at the same time the reason of your omitting the epistle to the Romans; on which you

replied, "For a very good reason, because I do not understand it: it is the most difficult of all the epistles; as the Apostle Peter says, wherein are some things hard to be understood. I mean to leave that for the last work of my life, when I may be better able to understand it." I wish you would begin that exposition, sir.' He replied, with great pleasantry, "What, then, sir, you wish me to die, do you, sir? that is very kind, sir; but I do not mean to perform the last act at present."

We did not meet again till September, 1829; when Mr. Hall paid his accustomed visit to Cambridge. Little did I imagine that I was about to hear him for the last time, and that, too, in the place where I first listened to his 'hallowed' eloquence. His text was, The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all. The service was attended by several dignitaries of the University, by Lord Osborne, the county member, &c. &c. I knew, from a certain expressive look, that he had worked up one passage in his sermon quite to his own satisfaction. It referred to the mutual dependence of the rich and the poor. He introduced it after the following quotation from Tertullian, in his apology for the Christians:-" It is true we are but of yesterday, and we have filled all your towns, cities, &c. We leave you only your temples: if we were to make a general secession from your dominions, you would be astonished at your solitude, and the barrenness of your fields." Mr. Hall then applied this to shew the wisdom of the arrangements of Divine

Providence, in respect to the various classes of society.

The Rev. Mr. Edmonds preached in the afternoon, when Mr. Hall was present. The evening was spent together. He expressed himself much pleased with the sermon. "What a marvellous sermon Mr. Edmonds, gave us this afternoon, sir; it was striking and impressive. I wish that I could preach such a sermon.' I spent the Tuesday with him at the house of Mr. Fordham, at Melbourne Bury. Mr. Gurney, the barrister, was there. We met for the last time in the body.

Mr. Hall closed his illustrious career at his residence in Ashley-place, Bristol, on Monday, February 21, 1831. He appeared for the last time in the pulpit at Broadmead, on the 6th of the same month. The evening discourse has been considered one of his most interesting addresses. The attack, which was sudden and unexpected, took place on the following Thursday evening, while he was engaged in preparing the usual monthly discourse prior to the administration of the Lord's supper. On the morning of the 20th a note was received by the officiating minister, soliciting the prayers of the church and congregation for their 'dying pastor;' the afternoon sermon was omitted, and a meeting held for the purpose of commending him to God. It presented, if we may be allowed the term, a scene of audible weeping: the tears of his affectionate people, however, formed a happy contrast to the hallelujahs of heaven, with which he was about to be welcomed