The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-09-18
HIS LIFE AND WORK.
Career of DIR. John Hall in Irelan
and the United States.

HIS LIFE AND WORK.
Career of DIR. John Hall in Ireland
and the United States.
DIR. John Hall was born in County
Armagh, Ireland, on July 81, 1929. When
eighteen years of age he entered Belfast
College and was repeatedly Hebrew prize
man. In 1S49 he was licensed to preach and
at once engaged in labor as a missionary in
the west of Ireland. He was installed pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church at Armagh
in 1852 and in 1858, was called to the Church
of Marys Able (now Rutland square, in
Dublin. He received from Queen Victoria
the honorary appointment of commissioner
of education for Ireland. In 1867 Dr. Hall
was delegate from the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to the
Presbyterian Church in the United States,
and after his return to Ireland he received
call to the Fifth-avenue Presbyterian
Church in New York. He accepted it and
entered upon his labors In November 1867.
A new church edifice was erected for Dr.
Hall in 1875 at a cost of about $1000,000 on
the corner of Fifth avenue and Fifty-fifth
street He was elected chancellor of the
University of the City of New York in 1882
Such, in brief, is the career of one of the
foremost divines of the day.
DR.. Hall was one of the long generation of
Scotch and Scotch-Irish dvines whose ra-
cial and individual traits equipped them for
stalwart work in the pulpit. Many of them
New York has called to- the charge of
churches. He was one Of the first to find
his mission there, and for thirty years his
personality was a connecting link between
the Presbyterian bodies of the old and new
worlds, more direct than is always supposed
In the strongholds Of that church in the
British isles his name was as familiar as it
Is in this country. To New York DR.. Hall
was known as the head of the most conspic-
uous church Of his great denomination as
the pastor of one of the largest and wealth.
lest congregations in the country as the
active friend of charitable and benevolent
agencies and as the philosophical citizen
who studiously refrained from craftsmanship
while his influence always made itself felt,
powerfully if unobtrusively, on the right
side.
GIANT IN STATURE.
Through nearly. three score and ten DR..
Halls appearance of manly yNigor, until re-
Gently, was such as to make the stranger
stand and gaze when he passed on the
street. His stature, almost that of giant,
bespoke a reserve of physical strength on
that would make exacting demands of any
one, he had frequent drafts A rudy and
kindly face framed in white hair sur
mounted his broad shoulders That John
Hall was stanch friend has been abun-
dainty attested, and 1t never had a more
striking demonstration than in the scenes
of Jan. 8, last, at his church, which his an
nouncement of his purpose to retire evoked.
The evidences of emotion were general and
touching. In the greetings to the pastor
Qf "a of hn i'm nrrft
of feeling could not be restrained. Men and
women with whose sorrows and joys the
venerable minister, had been associated.
whose parents had been laid to rest by him,
whose children had been baptized and mar
ried by him saw suddenly arise before them
the inevitable moment of separation, and
their quick grief broke the bounds of con-
vention.
In the sermon which preluded the tender
ing of his resignation Or. Hall urged his
church not to be carried about with div
ers and strange doctrines" 1t was an ex-
hortation to stand by the Bible as the in
fallible and inspired word of God. This was
typical of the man. John Hall was a stead
fast believer in those conservative doctrines
against which the latter-day tide of the
higher criticism expended itself. But while
a conservative by instinct and rearing, his
influence in the controversies inside his de-
nomination over the position taken by DR..
Briggs was for peace. When he came to
this country as delegate from the Gen
eral Assembly of Ireland, in 1851 he coun-
seled church unity upon both the Old School
and the New School Presbyterians
His conspicuous position in his denomina-
ton entailed upon DR.. Hall what was prac-
tically the necessity of travelling widely.
He appeared in a representative capacity
at hundreds of places, meanwhile keeping
up his pastoral wofk, without the aid of an
assistant. His summers were spent abroad
visiting the surviving members of his family
in the north of Ireland and occasionally dis
coursing to congregations in the British
Atlantic were practically the only life rev
creation of one OF the busiest OF men: DR..
Halls capacity for work well as his APP
petite for 1t was far beyond that of the
ordinary man, and he seldom INDUCED him
self in relaxation. He never saw a play
or heard an opera. When he was younger
only exercise at home was walking, for
which his pastoral duties afforded him a
considerable opportunity.
WHEN HE WAS YOUNG.
When John Hall was young man and
had the care of thriving congregation at
Armagh, in the north of Ireland, many of
his people lived four and five and even six
miles away from the town. In pastoral calls
it was his custom to have conveyance take
him in the morning 70 the home of his most
remote parishioner. There he would dis
miss it and set forth on his round of calls.
ZigZagging afoot across the countryside. 1t
would be evening before he had walked into
town again, with more miles to his credit
than most men would care to negotiate be-
tween daylight and dark, and generally hav
ing conducted a service and preached at the
house of one of his parshioners. In his trips
abroad he loved to walk about the scenes
of his youth, as we'll as TO stroll through
the stores and bookstalls of the English
cities.
DR.. Hall was an omnivorous reader Little
of merit in contemporary literature escaped
him, and his knowledge of the classics was
wide. Few ministers have so thorough an
acquaintance with the Hebrew language and
literature. He read rapidly, his mind d.
costing easily and retaining strongly. In
deed, his memory regarded g remark
able. When he little younger he was
prone to set up into the unearthly hours
reading or writing. Further evidence of his
industry was seen in his activity in pastoral
work. The charge of a congregation num-
bering between 5000 and 1900 and contain
ing more than 1890 communicates is itself,
without the burden of preaching and out
side writing, task CT great dimensions. But
no minister in the city was more assiduous
than DIR. Hall, and no year passed without
at least one visit from him in every family
Of the congregation. 1t was his custom TO
have announced each week the streets in
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