Page:Biographical sketch of the life and labours of that eminent minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Rev. James Hall D. D., of the United Secession Church, Broughton-Place meeting-house, Edinburgh.pdf/11

 on a firm foundation, securing religtous privileges, of which it was in danger of being denuded, and procuring annnal allowances from government for such of its clergymen as were to be placed in any of his Majesty's foreign dependencies.

He was a genuine philanthropist, a cordial supporter of benevolent institutions, some of which he had the honour to originate-a zealous prompter of such schemes as promised to amelierate human misery, and extend the bounderies of Messiah's kingdon. He was particularly solicitous that pure and undefiled religion should become more obviously operative, and shine with increasing lustre in his own congregation, the city he inhabited, and his much loved country. Such, indeed, was the liberality of his sentiments, that if the end to which he aspired was obtained, the means or denominations of Christians employed in producing it, he considered as a matter of inferior consequence. Hence it was that evangelical dergymen, not only from England and Ireland, but from any other part of the world, when employed on embassies of beneficence, found a ready admission to his house, his purse, and his pulpit.

His temper was mild, open, ingenuous, and affectionate. He was ever ready to befriend the unfortunate-to favour them with sympathy, advice, and personal services-and to employ his influence in endeavouring to place the unprovided in cireumstances of comfort, eligibility, or independence. To his relatives and friends, he manifested the most faithul, fraternal, and disinterested attachment; and towards all mankind he breathed the genuine spirit of Christian benevolence. It must be acknowledged, that he felt the edge of injurious treatment with the keenest sensibility, and expressed his sentiments concerning it with unreserved openness; but I am not aware that he ever was subject to sudden or excessive ebullitions of passion, that in any instance be