The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-09

has produced since the Apostle Paul
unless some of the Patristic writer's
and orators be excepted-some Au-
cuisine or other name-Was Robert
Hall. That reader has studied his
-four octave volumes to little
purpose or interest, who has failed to
discover. that whilst he was among
the profoundest of theological think
ers he was indeed a speaker of rarest
eloonence and force. He did not en-
robe his thoughts in gorgeous rhe-
toric. so much as he kindled his mas
siye periods from the fires of his own
richly endowed and penetrating mlnd,
and surcharged his sermons with a
passion that was intense and heart-
controlling. DR.. Olinthus Gregory,
the English astronomer Of nearly q
century ago, in his valuable DO
graphical sketch of Mr.. Han, says
when he was the pastor OF the Baptlst
church at Bristol. he frequently
preached his congregation TO thelr
feet and when he closed all were
standing. His thoughts were strong,
even massive often, his style was Gle
waited. and clear, and his utterance
was in consonance with the grandeur
and Sublimity of his thoughts. HIS
three sermons-all that we have IN
their fulness, and as nearly in his style
as it was ever possible to secure one,
rs no shorthand writer's ever reported
him, and ne did not write his sermons
arc Modern mfidelity'' "On Ihe
Death of the Princess Charlotte and
con War;" give us at least some idea
OF his greatness and eloquence. They
show that while he was one of the
most thoughtful, philosophical, he was
still one Of the most eloquent and even
imaginative of divines. He who could
draw listening congregations, not once.
hut often, 20 their feet by the over
Whelming incarnation of his oratory,
and in q style equal to the masters,
surely possessed something more than
profundity or earneStness Of thought
he must necessarily have command
Ell at will the resources of art, the
rich treasures of learning, and the
teeming graceS of poetry. When
Mary Wolonstoncraft wrote her cele-
brated essay on '"fhe Rights OF Wo-
nan''--the first of the kind ever writ.
tent attracted wide attention among
eminent men. When the very able
and greatly distinguished William Pitt
the Younger, was asked who should
answer it, he replied: "Mr. Hail." /
probably do not spell correctly the
name of the able woman referred to.
| have no work at hand to give tt
exact spelling. She married an ex
traordirary writer, now almost forgot
ten, William Goodwin, who wrote some
books of distinguished power and
originality-"Caleb Williams and est.
Leon" His wife was the mother of
the very gifted wife of that wonderful
poet, Shelley, named after her mother
and who wrote that very strange
novel, "Frankenstein." Like those
peculiar and original novels of Orien-
tai character, the 'Vattick," of Beck
ford; the romance of "Anastasius," by
Hope, and the inimitable HAIL Bahia
OF Morier, the novel of Mrs. Shelley
has been neglected and only read by
the curious or the genuinely cultured
few. Byron, Shelley and herself
agreed that each should write a novel.
The others wrote and destroyed, but
she published.
Pass now for a moment with me
across the British Channel. and in
Massilon, Fenelon and Bossuet, whom
/ stop not to characterize, we find en-
inent examples of such a combination
of thought and decoration, / am con-
tending for. They We're preachers of
high, rich commanding gifts that
have perhaps eternized their names.
There is, however. one French writer,