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    impressive as anything to be met with in other writers who are gifted with the power of calm and serious argumentation . His sermon on Modern Infidelity evinces unquestionable marks of a deeply reflecting mind ; and that which he delivered on occasion of the death of the Princess Charlotte , in point of f ancy , delicacy

    of imagination , fervour and tenderness of application , is unrivalled . TrisTTUt ^ byth ^~ ifTo \ eIty of ^ Eis ~~ TK 6 ughts that He surprises ulsTiTor by the weight and number of his arguments , but Jay . the striking manner in which he places them , by the terse , and , in some instances , epigrammatic way in which he sums up his enumeration . Were we to analyze any one of his sermons , we could compress the subject-matter into a few words : yet , in perusing It , we find nothing redundant , nothing that could be omitted with advantage

    to the unity of the composition . By the help of a lively fancy , and a great skill in amplification , he sets an idea in so many new lights , clothes it with so many circumstances , all of them striking and apposite , that we are enticed along by the seeming variety that is set before US 3 while at the conclusion we are delighted with the unity of thought iand purpose which pervades the whole . The great defect in his sermons , we should say , is that they are too abstract ; they are not sufficiently personal and individual ; they

    deal too much in general truths ; they do not sufficiently enforce specific duties .- This is perhaps attributable , in some degree , to the contemplative turn of mind that belonged to-him , and which could not have scope for its exercise so fully in the , things of common life : yet it is somewhat surprising , for in his admirable ordination charges , of which we are presented vvith several , he expressly and strenuously urges upon the young minister the duty of plain and practical exhortation .

    The defect cannot have arisen from his reluctance to stoop from , the heights of his own imaginings , for no one was ever more truly humble , and imbued with a more genuine wish to do good . It is ascribable to the bent of his mind , which he could not altogether divert , nor indeed would he necessarily have been equally efficient in his ministerial capacity if he had subdued it . His excellencies are many and great , and they would not , in all probability ., have been so striking if he had curbed the impulse of his own ardent and well-disciplined mind .

    We have awarded most cheerfully our meed of praise to the distinguished man whose name stands at the head of this article ; for we should be ashamed not to acknowledge merit , be he in whom we find it never so opposed to us . Unqualified praise does not belong to him , and we think we have cause of deep complaint against him . After we had proceeded a short way with his writings , we formed a very high idea of his candour and charity , and were disposed to rank him with Jortin and Hoadly , those illustrious defenders of the unrestricted right of individual free inquiry , and the consequent innocence of speculative honest error . More particu «

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    WRITINGS OF ROBERT HALL . 259

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    S 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 1, 1833, page 259, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2621/page/3/