here let the church of Ireland find them too. On your care, and vigilance, and religion, let the united church of England and Ireland securely rest. Preserve her against the intrigues of the cunning, the lust of the avaricious, the violence of profligate and rebellious men. Preserve her inviolate against that day (a day which shall assuredly come), when Ireland shall, at last, be converted to a holier doctrine and a purer faith. Preserve her inviolate against that day, when the sons of Ireland, returning from a longer than Assyrian captivity, shall find that the temple of the Lord has been already built, and the foundations have been long since laid; and if ye shall do this, whatever may be the event of your deliberations, (as the event is assuredly in the hands of Providence,) still posterity shall say, that posterity, of whose judgment we have been not unkindly or ungenerously reminded,-posterity will say, that the peers of England, when they admitted the lay members of the Catholic body into the communion of the legislature, still did not put God out of the question, but went about Sion, and marked well her bulwarks, that they might tell them that come after." Rowland Hill. BORN A. D. 1745-died A. D. 1833. ROWLAND HILL was born at Hawkstone, in Shropshire, August 23d, 1745. He was the sixth son of Sir Rowland Hill, Baronet. All that we know of his early childhood is, that he displayed that liveliness of disposition which in later life so strongly characterized him. It is worthy of remark, too, that he never learned to look upon this gaiety of spirit as a weakness or a fault, but to the end of life reverted with pleasure to the drolleries of his childhood. There were six livings of considerable value in the gift of the Hill family, but so restricted that they could only be conferred on fellows of St John's college, Cambridge. As it was his father's wish that Rowland should enter the church, in which he fully acquiesced, he was sent to Cambridge, instead of Oxford, where most of his family were bred, in order to qualify him for presentation. He entered as a pensioner, but on a change of his designs, became a fellow-commoner, a class of students, who, from their superior rank and situation, are not eligible to fellowships. One of the earliest acquaintance of Rowland Hill at Cambridge, was Berridge, the well-known itinerant clergyman, who, though he had a stated parish, and a private fortune, preached for many years in fields and farm-yards, through the counties of Cambridge, Essex, Hartford, Bedford, and Huntingdon. He rented houses and barns, maintained lay-preachers, and travelled at his own expense. Under his influence, Rowland Hill began to manifest a zeal which, though sincere, was too erratic to escape official censure. In addition to his labours among the students, some of whom ascribed their conversion to his instrumentality, and among the sick and prisoners, he began to preach in Cambridge and the adjoining villages. In the midst of these personal exertions at Cambridge, he maintained a correspondence with such as were like-minded in the sister university. There, the opposition was more violent than at Cambridge, and resulted in the expulsion of six young men on various grounds, but chiefly on that of Methodism, and the connexion with such men as Newton, Venn, and Fletcher. This event gave rise to a public controversy, and affected Rowland Hill most sensibly. It did not, however, interrupt his course at Cambridge, where, in spite of bitter foes and cautious friends, he still pursued his bold career. It is a remarkable fact, that during this whole period his academical studies were by no means slighted, so that when he took his first degree in 1769, his name appeared upon the list of honours, an unusual thing in those days for a fellow-commoner. Nor was his religious zeal at all tinctured with moroseness. His constitutional vivacity continued unimpaired, and he was exceeded by no person, either at school or college, in athletic exercises, with the sole exception of his brother Robert. In riding, skating, and swimming, he especially excelled. His favourite branch of study seems to have been mathematics in its application to natural philosophy, a preference which he entertained through life. On leaving the university, Rowland Hill was placed in a predicament extremely mortifying, but which might have been foreseen. Unwilling to forsake the church of England, yet reluctant to promise strict obedience to her rules, he was met upon the threshold of the ministry by a severe repulse. No less than six bishops successively refused to give him ordination. His impatience to take orders was increased by a presentiment that his life would be a short one! In 1771, Mr Hill preached in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire, cheered and directed by occasional letters from Mr Berridge, in one of which we find these characteristic sentences: "God sends you out to thrash the mountains, and a glorious thrashing it is." "If you meet with success, as I trust you will, expect clamour and threats from the world, and a little venom now and then from the children. These bitter herbs make good sauce for a young recruiting sergeant, whose heart would be lifted up with pride, if it was not kept down by these pressures." The extracts from Hill's diary, at this period, show that he met with that variety of treatment in his public ministrations which Wesley and Whitefield had experienced before him. Sometimes he was pelted with stones and rotten eggs, sometimes silenced by the din of pans and shovels, horns and bells. In other cases he was heard with breathless interest, and deep respect; and on one occasion three hundred people came from a neighbouring town and took him home to preach. In the midst of these vicissitudes, we find him saying, "I am more than ever convinced that itinerant preaching does a world of good, and that God blesses it continually." "I am fully satisfied as to field-preaching. I know the Lord puts honour upon it." The winter was spent by Mr Hill at home, where he was received more kindly than he had expected. In the spring of 1772, he returned to Bristol, where he had preached before, and there renewed his labours. In the summer he came forth at London, as in some sort the successor of Whitefield, and preached to vast assemblies in the Tabernacle, and Tottenham Court chapel. The effect of his discourses is described as very great, though in multitudes of cases it was not revealed for years. He had afterwards the rich reward of being told of many, who ascribed, upon their deathbed, their conversion to his preaching. While he was in London, he was represented in the west by Captain Joss, a pious seaman, who reported progress, ever and anon, with a profusion of marine metaphor. Another assistant in the same field was a grazier and butcher by the name of Hogg. In the summer of 1772, Mr Hill proceeded to his second degree in the arts, after which he preached in London, Kent, and Surrey, retiring, as the winter approached, to his father's seat in Shropshire. At the close of his second chapter, Mi Sidney gives an extract from a letter in relation to the doctrines preached by Mr Hill, who there complains of Wesley's gross injustice, in branding Calvinists as Antinomians, and appeals to the constancy with which they denounced iniquity and preached the necessity of personal and universal holiness. "I have often known it to be a fact, that when some of those good people connected with him (Mr W.) have ventured to break through his command, to hear what dreadful doctrines we Antinomians have to advance, they have been as much astonished at what they have heard in favour of holiness, as if they had been sitting on enchanted ground." Early in the year 1773 Mr Hill opened a negotiation, through his brother-in-law Mr Tudway, with the bishop of Bath and Wells. The necessity of regular ordination, as a means of greater usefulness, was so apparent, that he prevailed upon himself to exercise great caution for the purpose of securing it. It is curious to observe the effect of these restraints upon a man of such erratic temper and habits. In a letter to a friend he gave particular directions, with respect to the inducements and considerations to be laid before the bishop, and in order to avoid "giving immediate disgust," consented to withdraw from public labours for a time. It would be unjust, however, not to add, that he refused to pledge himself, in one way or another, with respect to proceedings after ordination. For some weeks he confined himself to an inactive state at home, but near the end of March set out upon a journey. We are amused with the result. His diary informs us, that, on the evening of the first day, he preached "to a small congregation; notice not having been given, in the Baptist meeting-house" at Coventry. Two days afterwards, March 26th, he "hastened to Northampton and preached in the late Dr Doddridge's meeting-house, to a large assembly;" "in the evening to a still larger congregation;" the next morning, "in the same place, excessively crowded;" on the 28th, at Olney, and as no meeting-house would hold them, he preached out of doors. At Woburn he preached with much appearance of success; but was admonished, by a letter, of his great imprudence in sacrificing future usefulness to immediate action. In his answer he exclaims with some bitterness of spirit, "O that I were at liberty to labour for my God!" And even when, to his surprise and pleasure, he was informed that his overtures had been well-received by Bishop Wills, it was with great reluctance that he took the necessary step of withdrawing for a time from public view. This reluctance indeed could not be expressed more strongly than in his private record of his actual retreat. "There being," says his journal, "a considerable prospect of my ordination, retired into Shropshire, and preached a few sermons at Hardwick, Marchamley,' &c. Well may his biographer say that preaching was his element; and well might Mrs Hill, in later life, express her dread of his becoming more violent than at Cambridge, and resulted in the expulsion of six young men on various grounds, but chiefly on that of Methodism, and the connexion with such men as Newton, Venn, and Fletcher. This event gave rise to a public controversy, and affected Rowland Hill most sensibly. It did not, however, interrupt his course at Cambridge, where, in spite of bitter foes and cautious friends, he still pursued his bold career. It is a remarkable fact, that during this whole period his academical studies were by no means slighted, so that when he took his first degree in 1769, his name appeared upon the list of honours, an unusual thing in those days for a fellow-commoner. Nor was his religious zeal at all tinctured with moroseness. His constitutional vivacity continued unimpaired, and he was exceeded by no person, either at school or college, in athletic exercises, with the sole exception of his brother Robert. In riding, skating, and swimming, he especially excelled. His favourite branch of study seems to have been mathematics in its application to natural philosophy, a preference which he entertained through life. On leaving the university, Rowland Hill was placed in a predicament extremely mortifying, but which might have been foreseen. Unwilling to forsake the church of England, yet reluctant to promise strict obedience to her rules, he was met upon the threshold of the ministry by a severe repulse. No less than six bishops successively refused to give him ordination. His impatience to take orders was increased by a presentiment that his life would be a short one! In 1771, Mr Hill preached in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire, cheered and directed by occasional letters from Mr Berridge, in one of which we find these characteristic sentences: "God sends you out to thrash the mountains, and a glorious thrashing it is." "If you meet with success, as I trust you will, expect clamour and threats from the world, and a little venom now and then from the children. These bitter herbs make good sauce for a young recruiting sergeant, whose heart would be lifted up with pride, if it was not kept down by these pressures." The extracts from Hill's diary, at this period, show that he met with that variety of treatment in his public ministrations which Wesley and Whitefield had experienced before him. Sometimes he was pelted with stones and rotten eggs, sometimes silenced by the din of pans and shovels, horns and bells. In other cases he was heard with breathless interest, and deep respect; and on one occasion three hundred people came from a neighbouring town and took him home to preach. In the midst of these vicissitudes, we find him saying, "I am more than ever convinced that itinerant preaching does a world of good, and that God blesses it continually." "I am fully satisfied as to field-preaching. I know the Lord puts honour upon it." The winter was spent by Mr Hill at home, where he was received more kindly than he had expected. In the spring of 1772, he returned to Bristol, where he had preached before, and there renewed his labours. In the summer he came forth at London, as in some sort the successor of Whitefield, and preached to vast assemblies in the Tabernacle, and Tottenham Court chapel. The effect of his discourses is described as very great, though in multitudes of cases it was not revealed for years. He had afterwards the rich reward of being told of many, who ascribed, upon their deathbed, their conversion to his preaching. While he was |