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NOTE B.-[See page 65.]

QUOTATIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH AND DR. PARR, RELATIVE TO MR. Hall.

1. Extracts from a Review of Mr. Hall's Sermon on Modern Infidelity, written by Sir James Mackintosh. Published in the Monthly Review for February, 1800.

As far as philosophy and eloquence can make a publication important, and as far as very peculiar circumstances can render it interesting, certainly no sermon of our times merits a more elaborate criticism than that of Mr. Hall.

A new sect of infidels has arisen in this age, who, with a boldness unknown to their predecessors, not only reject religion as false, but condemn it as pernicious. The great majority of former unbelievers were so far from denying its usefulness, that they represented it as an invention of statesmen for the very purpose of giving aid to morality, and efficacy to the laws; but some of our modern infidels declare open war against every principle and form of religion, natural as well as revealed, as hostile to morality, and therefore destructive of the happiness of the human race. This extravagant and detestable paradox, which long lay neglected in the forgotten volumes of Cardan and Spinoza, is now revived and disseminated by men who possess the dangerous art of making paradoxes popular. Notwithstanding its evident and monstrous absurdity, it has gained many proselytes on the continent of Europe; and a few, we fear, even in this fortunate island; which, as it was the first country that was seized with the disease of infidelity, was the first also which was completely cured of that pestilential malady. Against this new sect a most vigorous and formidable attack is made in the sermon before us, by Mr. Hall, the pastor of a dissenting congregation at Cambridge; who, in his preface, most earnestly deprecates all contentions between different sects of Christians, in the presence of the common enemy; and who speaks of his being a dissenter only as a motive for generous emulation, and for vying with the church in zeal and vigour in defence of our common Christianity, in imitation of the ablest and most virtuous dissenters of former times.

"When at the distance of more than half a century, Christianity was "assaulted by a Woolston, a Tindal, and a Morgan, it was ably supported, "both by clergymen of the established church, and writers among Pro"testant dissenters. The labours of a Clarke and a Butler were associated "with those of a Doddridge, a Leland, and a Lardner, with such equal reputation and success, as to make it evident that the intrinsic excellence “of religion needs not the aid of external appendages; but that, with or "without a dowry, her charms are of sufficient power to fix and engage "the heart."

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Happy will it be if this passage shall produce its proper effects both on the dissenters and on the clergy of the establishment; if it shall animate the former to a noble rivalship of exertion in the general cause of religion; and if it shall dispose the latter to view the dissenters no longer with suspicion on

account of theological differences of inferior moment, and of supposed political differences, but to regard them with the affection which is due to fellowchristians, and fellow-soldiers in the army of religion and of truth. Unfortunate animosities and fatal suspicions have arisen between them, from causes which were, perhaps, irresistible. Neither party, probably, is entirely blameless. If the dissenters, following the example of Mr. Hall, will sacrifice the pride of a sect to the cause of religion, they will at least have the merit of making a fair experiment on the temper of the church; and it will be ascertained whether the established clergy of our days will receive the successors of Leland and Lardner, as these illustrious men were received by the most distinguished prelates of their times. We have no doubt that the experiment would be successful, and that the result of such an amicable struggle would be a new triumph for christianity, both in the defeat of her enemies, and in the closer union of all her children; in the establishment of christian truth, and in the diffusion of christian charity: so that infidelity may at length not only be exposed, but shamed and silenced, and those sects which continue to differ in inferior questions of opinion and discipline may at least agree in forbearance and mutual kindness. Mr. Hall has shewn the example to his brethren, and held out the invitation to those from whom he dissents. He has done his duty to his country and to his religion, and he has done it nobly. Let us hope that he has not sown his seed in a barren soil.

Though Mr. Hall, however, in our opinion, has victoriously established his principle with respect to this part of the subject, [the power of religion in producing the higher class of virtues,] he is with reason convinced that the indirect influence of religion, as it enters into our sentiments and forms our character, is much more extensive and important than its direct influence, as arising from a deliberate regard to the happiness or misery of another life, and from its fitness to fill up that chasm that is founded merely on the utility of virtue in the present world. It is on the subject of the indirect influence of religion, that he has chiefly displayed all the powers of his vigorous understanding, and all the stores of his richly endowed mind. It is here that he exhibits an union of comprehensive philosophy with animated and splendid eloquence, of which few other examples are to be found. It is here, on a subject which has been discussed and (it might have been thought) exhausted by the greatest men of many successive ages, that Mr. Hall has given the most decisive proof of his genius, by many arguments and reflections which are at once original, just, and profound. Those who are familiar with moral discussions know the extreme difficulty of producing even a new paradox, on subjects which have so often and so long employed all the powers of the human understanding. It is easy for men of sense to deliver very important moral truths, if they will content themselves with repeating and enforcing what has been often said before, which we are far from denying to be very useful, and indeed absolutely necessary. It is possible, though not easy, for men of ingenuity, if they merely seek singularity, and throw off all regard to truth and the interests of mankind, to discover some new path in the wilderness of error, which no former hunter of paradoxes had explored. To be original and just, however, is on all subjects very difficult; and it is a mark of the highest superiority of understanding,

when displayed on a subject which seemed so nearly exhausted as the connexion between morality and religion.

If we were to indulge our own feelings without regard to the limits of our review, we should scarcely know when to finish our extracts, or how to bound our praises. This sermon, indeed, is in every respect entitled to rank among the first productions of the age. It is distinguished by solid and profound philosophy; the very reverse of that sorry and shallow sophistry which has of late usurped the name. It breathes a spirit of humility, piety, and charity; worthy of that pure and divine religion, to the defence of which the author has consecrated his talents. His eloquence is not a puny and gaudy bauble, fashioned by the tools and tricks of a mechanical rhetorician; it is the natural effusion of a fertile imagination, of an ardent mind, and of a heart glowing with zeal for truth, with reverence for God, and with love for men. His style is easy, various, and animated; not free, indeed, from those petty incorrectnesses, which seem to be scarcely separable from natural composition, but perfectly exempt from affectation, a blemish far more unpardonable than negligence, and into which those who too studiously avoid carelessness have in general been too liable to fall. On a review of all his various excellencies, we cannot but expect with confidence that the name of Mr. Hall will be placed by posterity with the illustrious names of Paley and of Watson, among the best writers of the age, as well as the most vigorous defenders of religious truth, and the brightest examples of Christian charity.

2. From Sir James Mackintosh's Review of Proceedings in the case of Benjamin Flower. British Critic, August, 1800.

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He tells us in his preface, "There is no one living more guarded in bringing unsubstantial charges than myself.” p. 17. He also observes, that "the mere change of sentiment is not in itself criminal, it is sometimes virtuous." p. 22. After these declarations, we should of course have expected that he would not have applied the most contumelious and opprobrious language to virtuous men, on no better pretext than that of a "mere change of sentiment." As this "change" might be "virtuous," all " charges" founded only upon it must be "unsubstantiated." Now mark the conduct of this man, and let him be tried by his own principles. Mr. Hall, his townsman, and, as we understand, formerly his pastor, is well known to have lately published a most admirable Sermon, in which he employed all the powers of reason, and all the vigour and splendour of eloquence, in displaying the abominable consequences of Atheism. “The very head and front of his offending hath this extent, no farther." His whole guilt consisted in this: that, being a minister of christianity, he had the illiberality and cruelty to attack poor Atheism, and its meek and unbloody apostles, the amiable French republicans. For this great crime, this miserable scribbler attempts to raise a louder clamour against Mr. Hall, than has been raised against other dissenting ministers for renouncing their belief in God. Bishops may be libelled, kings may be slandered, all laws, human and divine, may be insulted and reviled; but France and Atheism are sacred things, which it seems no Englishman, or at least no dissenting minister, is to attack with impunity;

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 contemp 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 TOLERATION? 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

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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:

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 rov σeμvov Tηy xapiv éxel. 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 8 συνετος και ὁ θεοφιλης άνηρ δρεπόμενος, οὐκ ἀν των συντεταγμένων κορον KaтayVoiŋ. 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.

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