these. As to Pascal, few admire him more than myself: but, in writing an introduction, I should feel myself quite out at sea; I should float without any determinate direction; my mind would have no determinate object; and, not having a distinct idea of what I wished to do, I should do nothing to any purpose. For elegant and specious declamation, I have no sort of talent. I must have a brief; I must have something like a fixed thesis, some proposition I wish to establish or illustrate, or I feel perfectly cold and indifferent. For my part, I let every man pursue his own plans: how it is that I am doomed to be the perpetual object of advice, admonition, expostulation, &c. &c., as a writer, I know not. I am sure it does not arise from any proofs I have given of superior docility. I know myself so well as to be distinctly aware that importunities of this kind have always the effect of indisposing me to their object. I should have written more had I been urged less; and when the public cease to dictate to me, I shall feel myself my own master. LXXI. TO MRS. LANGDON. ON THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND. My dear Madam, Leicester, Oct. 23, 1824. The melancholy intelligence of the death of dear Mr. Langdon has deeply affected me; and most happy should I deem myself were it in my power to administer effectual consolation under such a stroke. I refrained from addressing you immediately, waiting for the first transports of grief to subside; because I well know that premature attempts to console only irritate the sorrows they are meant to heal. Let me indulge the hope, that by this time reason and religion are come to your aid, and that you are prepared to say, with the greatest and most illustrious of sufferers, "Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in thy sight." The remarkable combination of the most lovely qualities with the most fervent piety, which distinguished the character of our dear friend, while they enhance the sense of your loss, will, I hope, mitigate its bitterness in another view, by assuring you that "great is his reward in heaven." Death to him is, undoubtedly, "exceeding great gain;" nor would you, in your best moments, wish to draw him down from his elevated abode, to this vale of sorrow and affliction. The stroke was not entirely sudden and unexpected: a long series of attacks and infirmities must, no doubt, have contributed to familiarize your mind to the event. Remember, my dear madam, that the separation is but for a season; our dear friend is not lost, but preferred to an infinitely higher state, where he is awaiting your arrival To me his removal will long be a source of deep regret; for where shall I find a friend equally amiable, tender, and constant ?* I beg to be most affectionately remembered to each of your dear children, earnestly praying that their father's God may be their God. Wishing and praying that you may be favoured with the richest consolations of religion I remain, my dearest Madam, LXXII. ROBERT HALL TO J. B. WILLIAMS, ESQ., SHREWSBURY. Dear Sir Leicester, March 29, 1825. Some apology is necessary for not having sooner acknowledged your very kind present of your new and highly improved edition of the admirable Philip Henry, whom you have the honour, I find, of enumerating among your ancestors. It is a descent with which you have more reason to be satisfied than if you could trace your pedigree from the Plantagenets. I waited only until I had time to renew my acquaintance with the Life of that amiable man, and to form an estimate of the improvements it has derived from diligent researches. I have not yet entirely completed the volume; but I am now busy in doing so, and have read enough to satisfy myself of the great obligations you have conferred on the public by this excellent work. The additional documents and letters by which you have enriched and enlarged the original narrative, constitute a treasure of wisdom and piety, for which you are entitled to the warm acknowledgments of every Christian reader, and especially of every dissenter. May a double portion of his spirit descend on the rising generation of ministers! The labour and research requisite for furnishing such a repast must have been great; but not more so, I dare say, than the pleasure you derived from the consciousness of conferring so important a benefit on the public. Permit me to thank you, most sincerely, for the favour you have done me by the bestowment of so valuable a present. It were highly desirable that more such biographies of the illustrious dead, improved and enlarged as this, might be given to the public: if it had no other fruit than to withdraw their attention a little from that farrago of periodical trifles, by which the public mind is dissipated, and its taste corrupted. I remain, dear Sir, Your highly obliged Friend and Servant, Mr. Langdon and Mr. Hall had been fellow-students at Bristol; and ever after cherished for each other the warmest esteem and affection.-ED. LXXIII. TO MR. J. E. RYLAND. Leicester, May 21, 1825. My dear Sir, I am ex.remely concerned to hear the melancholy account your letter contains of the situation of your dear and honoured father, at the same time that I feel grateful to you for the communication. I had heard previously that he was supposed to be in a declining state; but, little imagining he was so ill, your letter gave me a violent shock. With God all things are possible; and who can tell but the Lord may yet raise him up, and assign him more work to do before he is taken to his eternal reward? It is my earnest wish and prayer that such may be the result. His loss will be most deeply felt, not only by his afflicted family, but by a very numerous circle of friends, and by the church of God at large. For himself, all is and will be well; nothing can possibly befall him but what will be highly to his advantage. A man of a more eminently holy and devoted spirit than that of your dear father it has never been my lot to witness, and very, very few who made any approach to him. I feel, in the prospect of his removal, much for the family, the academy, and the church. You, my dear sir, together with your very excellent mother and sisters, will be the objects of a deep and extensive sympathy: but God, whose ways, though mysterious, are always gracious and merciful towards them that fear him, will, I doubt not, sustain and support you under this afflicting stroke, and cause it afterward to work the peaceable fruits of righteousness. His prayers will draw down innumerable blessings on those who were nearest and dearest to him; for who can doubt that the prayers of such a man must avail much The impression of his example and the memory of his virtues will suggest a most powerful motive to constancy, patience, and perseverance in the ways of God. You will never cease to bless God for having bestowed upon you such a parent. His humility, meekness, tenderness, devotedness to God, and zeal for the interests of truth and holiness, will long endear him to the Christian world, and make his name like the odour of precious ointment. What, in the event of your dear father's removal, will become of the academy and the church; I tremble to think of the consequences: never, surely, could he have been spared with more serious injury to the most important interests! May the eyes of all of us be [turned] to God for his direction and blessing! I should have written to your dear father himself, but feared it might agitate and disturb him. I beg you to remember me to him in the most earnest, respectful, and affectionate terms, and assure him of a deep interest in my feeble prayers. I beg, also, to be most affectionately remembered to your dear mother, sisters, and every part of the family. That the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may take your dear father under the cover of his wings,-and should he walk through the valley and shadow of death, afford him his rod and his staff, and that this most affecting visitation may be sanctified for the eternal benefit of all the parties concerned, is, my dear sir, the earnest prayer of Your most affectionate and sympathizing Friend, ROBERT HALL. LXXIV. TO MR. J. E. RYLAND. (EXtract.) Leicester, May 29, 1825. It gives me much pleasure, but no surprise, to hear that the end of your dear father was emphatically peace. What else, or what less, could be expected from such a life? As he was one of the brightest examples of holiness on earth, no doubt great is his reward in heaven. May it be your happiness, my dear sir, and mine, to follow, though at an humble distance, so bright a pattern. May we not be slothful, but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. I need not repeat how much I feel for your dear mother, and the whole bereaved family. It is, indeed, an irreparable loss; but such is the tenure of all earthly bliss. May we be enabled to lay hold on eternal life! * LXXV. TO MRS. RYLAND. ON THE DEATH OF DR. RYLAND. * Permit me, my dear madam, to express the deep sympathy I, in common with innumerable others, feel for you under your irreparable loss. The magnitude of it none can adequately estimate but yourself: but it is consoling to reflect, that you are not called to sorrow as those that have no hope; that, on the contrary, our loss is his unspeakable gain.. And the time is short: a very few years will put an end to all our sorrows; and, if we are the Lord's, will reunite us to all those whom we have most loved upon earth. As you have been highly distinguished by the blessing of possessing such a companion for life, so it is no inconsiderable honour to have contributed so essentially and so long to the felicity of the best of men. All who know you will ever respect you, not only as the relict of Dr. Ryland, but as the distinguished individual who entitled herself to his gratitude by such a series of unremitting attentions and kind offices (the remembrance of which must be a source of melancholy pleasure) Your affectionate and sympathizing Friend, LXXVI. TO MR. ARTHUR TOZER,* BRISTOL. IN REFERENCE TO MR. HALL'S REMOVAL TO BROADMEAD. My dear Friend, Leicester, July 19, 1825. I am very sorry your kind letters have remained unanswered so long: it was the consequence of their arriving while I was absent from home. I did not arrive at Leicester till last Saturday, having staid at Kettering, in order to preach for the mission, which I did morning and evening. The letters from you ought, in all reason, to have been sent forward; but this was impracticable, because my whole family were, at the same time, on an excursion for their health. I hope you will be so good as to accept this as a sufficient apology for my apparent neglect. Had I been guilty of any voluntary one towards a friend whom I so highly esteem, I should never forgive myself. It is impossible for me to hear the favourable opinion which you and the rest of my friends entertain of me, without being deeply sensible of their kindness. I feel myself most unworthy of such an expression of their regard; the consciousness of which, while it enhances my gratitude, impairs my pleasure. Could I see my way clear to leave Leicester, I should still tremble at the thought of being placed in a situation in which I must necessarily sustain a comparison with your late beloved and lamented pastor. In an affair of so much magnitude, I should wish to avoid whatever might wear the appearance of precipitance; and on that account, should the church at Broadmead see fit to give me an invitation to the pastoral office, I should wish to be allowed some time before I give a decisive answer. On some very obvious accounts I should prefer Bristol, perhaps, to any other situation; and the state of the church at Leicester * Mr. Tozer was one of the deacons of the church at Broadmead |