the revivalists of religion had but one choice, either to break through the strict discipline of the church, or to let sinners perish in their sins. Their conduct shews that they valued souls more than all earthly considerations, and we trust that such men will be found in every age of the church, men who, like the martyrs, 'with the irresistible might of weakness, shall shake all the powers of darkness.'* Wickliff in this country, and Luther in Germany, would have been comparatively useless characters, had their hands remained tied with the withes of human regulations. The Lord, who by his providence speaks to special agents, said, "Loose them, and let them go.' There can be no doubt that a wise and gracious Providence permitted Mr. Hill to pursue an "irregular" course. He was not to be confined within the limits of any particular church, that he might, among other things, "bring back many of those who had wandered from the fold, only because its dimensions were not sufficient to contain the multitude."+ How could these wandering sheep be reclaimed, unless the shepherd left the fold in pursuit of them? * Milton. + Life of Walker, p. 281. Yet Mr. Sidney remarks, "Had Mr. Hill confined himself, for these last thirty years, to the community of which, by ordination, he was a member, his talents as a preacher, his exalted character, and distinguished family connexions, would have opened to him a wide and most influential field of action, and he would have been spared numerous trials and embarrassments, in which he was involved from want of a well-defined rule of action."* On this point, it will be seen from the following memoir, that Mr. Hill's opinions were decidedly opposed to those of his biographer. He felt that he had pursued a right course, though one of tribulation, and he could not look back. His Master had placed him in the situation he occupied, and he would not forsake it. His usefulness, in calling many souls to God, justified the plans he had adopted, and the fact that, as a churchman, he was freely admitted into every respectable evangelical dissenting pulpit in the united kingdom, must have "opened to him a wider and more influential field of action," than he could have found within the limits of the largest parochial district in the country. It may be * Sidney's Life of Hill, p. 413. See last chapter of this Memoir. said of Mr. Hill, as of Felix Neff, the pastor of the Alps, that he was precisely the man for the work he had to do. "Herein appears that admirable economy of the Lord, which prepares a labourer for a certain portion of the gospel field, and establishes a sort of relation between the gifts of the workman, and the requirements of the work which He allots to him; between the character of the work to be done, and that of him who is to do it. This admirable economy of our Divine Master is very perceptible in the history of his church. The Lord has always raised up, prepared, and placed a workman, a special servant, wherever he has had a special work to be done, or a particular station to be filled. Thus it was, that at Athens, in encountering the Epicureans and the Stoics, and before the Areopagites, Paul was more necessary than Peter. Calvin would have failed in Germany, and Luther in Geneva. Chalmers would not have suited the High Alps, nor Felix Neff, Edinburgh. "When a man is truly called of God to his work, he will find, in some part of the world, a situation which has been expressly made for him only. Happy the servant of God who is in his place; who feels it, and remains there, and who has no desire to leave it. A star escaped from its orbit, and condemned, like Cain, to wander without finding a place of rest, would be but a faint image of any unhappy intelligence, who should not have kept the place which the Lord had assigned him. As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place,' Proverbs xxvii. 8. A man is blessed in the service of the Lord, not when he occupies an eminent post, where his ministry attracts public attention, or when he displays the splendour of some fine talent; but rather, I repeat, when he has found his place, whatever it be, whether unknown to the world, or well known, humble or eminent; when he loves it, and abides in it; and, above all, when he is faithful in it. Such was the happiness of Neff: he found his place, he kept it, he was faithful in it."* And such, also, was the happiness of Rowland Hill. He found his place, he kept it, he was faithful in it; and the Lord manifested his approbation, by adding to the church a great multitude through his instrumentality. A dif * Memoir of Felix Neff, published by the Religious Tract Society. be asked, Did the ministers of the Establishment adopt any sufficient measures to prevent the secession of the people? If not, on whom should rest the guilt of their loss? "Had the clergy been disposed to co-operate in this evident revival and spread of true religion; and had the heads of the church been willing to sanction itinerant labours among its ministers, and private religious meetings among the serious part of the people for mutual edification, the great body of Methodists might have been retained in communion with the Church of England."* On the other hand, if it can be shown, that when Wesley, Whitefield, and their successors appeared, there was not an efficient moral agency in the establishment, commensurate to the wants of the people, then may all episcopalians say, with the present Bishop of London, "It was necessary that Christ should be preached; and if we did not possess the means of doing so within ourselves, we have reason to rejoice that it was faithfully, though irregularly, done by others."+ • Watson's Life of Wesley, p. 104. |