I regret that it has not been convenient for me, at an earlier day, to comply with your request, in furnishing for your excellent Register and Journal some recollections of the late Rev. Gordon Hall, Missionary at Bombay.

As my acquaintance with this devoted servant of Christ was short, being chiefly limited to one year, which he spent in my family, as a theological student, I shall attempt only to give you a very brief statement of facts which exhibit the principles that contributed to the formation of his character as a man and Christian.

Mr. Hall was a graduate of Williams College, of what year, I am not quite certain, as I have no Catalogue at hand; but, if I mistake not, he came to my house in the autumn of 1809, to commence his professional studies. The developement of his powers, during his theological investigations, satisfied me, that, in intellectual strength and discrimination, he was more than a common man. Of this, however, he was apparently unconscious, being simple and unpretending in his manners, and altogether remote from the sanguine, self-complacent temper often manifested by young men, who are greatly his inferiors. But it was not so much any one distinguished characteristic, such

No. IV.

as we sometimes see in eccentric men, with great excellencies, counteracted by great defects, as it was a combination of good qualities, that made Mr. Hall what he fully proved himself to be in his subsequent course, a superior man.

Among this combination of qualities, is to be reckoned his piety; which was not a hectic flush of emotion, rising and subsiding occasionally or periodically; but a steady glow of feeling, arising from a heart warm with the vitality of holiness and spiritual health ;-his persevering industry, which enabled him to master difficulties, insurmountable to the vaccillating and irresolute :-his sobriety of judgment, which enabled him to weigh consequences, to adapt means to ends, and which secured him againstrash resolves, and inappropriate expedients for their accomplishment; and finally his inflexible decision in purpose and execution. By this latter trait in him, I do not mean obstinacy, that acts because it will, without reason perhaps, or against reason ; but an intelligent fixedness of purpose, that will not abandon a proper object, on account of trifling obstacles to its attainment.

With the circumstances of Mr. Hall's childhood, I have no acquaintance, but suppose he was trained up, amid the plain fare of a New-England farmer's family, to habits of hardihood; in distinction from the sickly effeminacy too often produced in and the President's letter informing him of that appointment, spread before him very urgent motives to ac

commodated to his means, so that, by economy and personal effort, he managed to sustain himself through an academical education. This was accomplished, as I suppose, (for I am not fully certain of the fact,) without charitable aid from any quarter; at least, there were then none of those noble institutions, which have since arisen, to aid the strugglings of pious and needy young men, preparing for the ministry.

The result of the personal qualities, and of the circumstances to which I have now alluded, was the formation of a character, which prepared Mr. Hall for the bold enterprises of Christian benevolence, in which he was destined to bear so prominent a part. While he was in my family, several incidents occurred, which I will mention, though of no account in themselves, except as indicative of charac

ter.

At the season of hay-making, he came to me one day with a request, that I would procure him a scythe, and allow him to go into the field, with my laborers. As he had for some time been withdrawn from agricultural pursuits, I feared the consequences, but assented to the proposal, admonishing him to begin moderately. From respect to my wishes, though he had no apprehension, he labored but a few hours the first day. For the rest of a fortnight he was in the field early and late, mowing, raking, or pitching hay, with as much skill, and as little fatigue, as any of his fellow laborers. This was as much a matter of surprise to them, as it was to me; and it denoted a firmness of constitution, (the result, probably in a great measure of his early training,) which prepared him for the hardships he was to encounter as a Missionary.

During the same year, he was appointed a Tutor at Williams College;

pondered a short time on it, he came to me for advice; and having heard what I would say on the subject, he made his decision that evening, and there the thing ended; -it was dismissed from his thoughts, and never again adverted to by him, in conversation. This incident, trifling as it may seem, made a strong impression on me, at the time, as indicating the promising structure of his mind. I had then seen, as I have often seen since, young men, who would make of such a question, a mighty concern," not to be decided without many and long consultations; and who could not, "in fixing, fix" their decisions, so but that they were perplexed with frequent revision, if not reversal of their own half-formed resolves.

In the autumn of 1810, if I do not mistake in dates, Judge S.of W- Con. came to my house to enquire for a candidate. Of the three or four residents in my family, who had been licensed that week, I thought Mr. Hall the fittest man for the place, on account of some local peculiarities there, and accordingly introduced him to Judge S.-The conversation that ensued between them was in my presence. Mr. Hall was very explicit in settling one point, namely, that if the people of the place should be ever so united, and earnestly desirous of his stay, his preaching to them should not be considered as implying any obligation on him to remain there. The Judge wished him to go, on his own terms, saying, "If you can unite a people, now much divided, you will do us an unspeakable service, even though you afterward leave us." He went. On the third sabbath, his morning sermon contained some pointed reprehensions of what he thought amiss in the morals of some in the congregation; and his afternoon sermon was on the doctrine

of " divine decrees." The following week there was much complaining, by some of the people, of Mr. Hall's "hard sayings." On the fourth and last sabbath of his engagement, his subject was chosen with this state of things in his eye. Expecting never to see this assembly again, in this world, he expressed his regret that so many should have been dissatisfied with his ministrations. He assured them that to have given them offence, was a source of severe trial to his own heart; but as an ambassador of Christ, he must act from higher motives than regard to their approbation. With deep solemnity and pathos, he carried them onward to the judgment, where he must meet them again, and where all the motives of his heart and of theirs, must undergo the scrutiny of the omniscient eye. The appeal was irresistible. The assembly were melted down with strong emotion, and immediately after his departure, despatched a messenger, to insist that Mr. Hall, who had gone to Massachusetts, should return.

He

did return, and in spite of his remonstrances, they gave him an urgent call to become their pastor. Then the heart of the Missionary came out. Then was revealed the secret, so long cherished between himself, and his beloved brother, Samuel J. Mills. These kindred spirits, associates in College, often interchanged visits afterwards, mutually enkindling that holy flame which nothing but the hand of death could extinguish, in their own bosoms; and which has since extended its sacred influences to so many thousands of other hearts. The general purpose of these devoted young men was fixed. Sometimes they had talked of "cutting a path through the moral wilderness of the west, to the Pacific." Sometimes they thought of South America ;

then of Africa. Their object was the salvation of the Heathen; but no specific shape was given to their plans, till the formation of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Before this period the churches were asleep. Even ministers were but half-awake. To many it seemed a visionary thing in Mr. Hall, that he should decline an invitation to settle, attended with so many attractive circumstances, and so much prospect of usefulness. But I can never forget with what a glistening eye and firm accent, this youthful pioneer of Foreign Missions, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, said,

No, I must not settle in any parish of Christendom. Others will be left whose health or preengagements require them to stay at home; but I can sleep on the ground, can endure hunger and hardship ;-God calls me to the Heathen ;-wo to me if I preach not the gospel to the Heathen." He went, and the day of judgment, while it tells the results of his labors, will rebuke the apathy with which others have slumbered over the mis eries of dying Pagans.

Of Mr. Hall's qualifications as a Missionary of the cross, I may be a partial judge, but I have considered them to be of the very first order; and highly as I estimate the character of many who have been his predecessors, and his cotemporaries in this great field of Christian enterprise, none of them, in my opinion, has been superior to Gordon Hall. But "his record is on high;" and I trust that his admirable character, as exhibited in his labors and trials in India, will ere long be given to the public, from a hand competent to the undertaking.

With best wishes for the success of your most important labors, I am, Rev. and dear Sir, very affectionately yours, &c.

E. PORTER.