pect to remain many years longer. The society having increased in numbers and wealth, were able to bear without inconvenience the augmentation of expense involved in the proposed change, and accordingly, on the 1st of January, 1827, the Rev. Alonzo Hill was invited to become colleague with Dr. Bancroft. Accepting the invitation, Mr. Hill was ordained the 28th of the following March.

Introductory Prayer, by the Rev. Alexander Young of Boston; Prayer, by Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, D. D. of Dorchester; Sermon, by Rev. John Brazer of Salem; Ordaining Prayer, by Rev. Dr. Kirkland, Pres. of Harvard University; Charge, by Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D.; Right Hand of Fellowship, by Rev. George Ripley of Boston; Address to the People, by Rev. Dr. Thayer of Lancaster; Concluding Prayer, by Rev. Isaac Allen of Bolton.

Mr. Hill is a native of Harvard, in Worcester County. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1822. For a year or two he was assistant teacher in Leicester Academy. In 1824, he entered the Theological Institution at Cambridge. Having completed the studies preparatory to his professional life, he became the junior pastor of the Second Church in Worcester. At the commencement of his ministry here, he was not only greeted with the affectionate re

"The society has become respectable in numbers, and of sufficient wealth conveniently to bear a great augmentation of expense. The firmness and constancy of its members have been proved by a sure test; few at any period have separated from the society; and the descendants of its founders, who now reside in this town, generally belong to the parish. The society has never been disturbed by divisions; the harmony and peace which have here reigned, now exist; and its present members, I trust, hold their opinions as the result of diligent inquiry, and are fixed in their course by religious principle."-Dr. B's Sermon, 1827, p. 17.

gards of his people, but also cordially welcomed by his predecessor and colleague. "I bid my young brother a cordial welcome to a part in the ministry of reconciliation. May a divine benediction rest on you in the office which you now fill. May you possess the spirit of your Master, and like Him may you find delight in doing the will of His and your Father, who is in Heaven." The senior, who thus addressed his junior associate, labored and advised with him for twelve years, and then was gathered to his fathers. The relation between the two was one of mutual pleasure;* and their union acted favorably on the interests of the people for whom they both labored. Soon after Mr. Hill's settlement, it was deemed expedient to erect a more spacious and convenient house of worship. It was dedicated Aug. 20, 1829; sermon by the senior pastor.

Mr. Hill has labored here almost a quarter of a century. Since the decease of Dr. Bancroft, he has been sole pastor of the church, and discharged his duties to the general ac

"His communications with me have ever been affectionate and respectful; and our intercourse is harmonious and pleasant.""-Semi- Centennial Discourse, p. 26.

"The new brick Meeting-House on Main street was erected at an expense, including the site, of $17,000. The foundation was laid August 11, 1828, when an address was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Hill, and religious services performed by the Rev. Dr. Bancroft. The building was 75 feet from east to west, and 68 feet from north to south; the walls 31 feet high, and the tower, surmounted by a cupola, 125 feet in height. The floor was divided into 104 pews."—Lin. Hist., p. 347.

This house was consumed by fire in 1849. Another has been erected on the same site, far exceeding the one which it replaces, not only in its dimensions, but in its plan of architecture and elegant finish. It is one of the finest structures in the State and an ornament to the city. Its cost was about $25,000. The Rev. Mr. Hill preached the sermon at its dedication, March 26, 1851, from HAGGAI 2: 9. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts.

ceptance of his people. His services in behalf of the public schools and of the general interests of the city have been highly appreciated, and won for him in return respectful consideration. In the maturity of his strength, and sustained by the confidence of an attached and appreciating people, years of pleasant and useful labor are still before him. Though ministering to a large and intelligent congregation, he has yet found time to prepare several works for the press. One of the latest of these is a "Discourse delivered in the ancient meeting house of the First Congregational Society in Hingham, Sept. 8, 1850." Some extracts from this discourse are hereto appended as illustrations of its author's mode of thought and style of utterance.

EXTRACTS

FROM THE

REV. MR. HILL'S DISCOURSE.

"When I received an invitation from your committee to preach here, I was told that I should preach in the oldest church in the United States, the only surviving relic of the earlier Puritan times, where for many generations the ancestors of honored and beloved parishioners of my own had worshiped. This seemed to me inducement enough to make even a longer pilgrimage, and to be here. It seemed to me something to be permitted to worship with you in an edifice which had survived the casualties and

changes of a hundred and sixty-eight years;-an edifice which dates back to the days of Charles II., and in which strength was obtained to resist his infringement of New England's charter;—an edifice whose beams were laid in New England's darkest days by men who were fresh from the desolating wars of Philip, aided by women whose sons had been butchered at their own doors by Indian tomahawks. It is something to stand in the pulpit under which men who had shared in the perils of the winter's passage of the "Mayflower" may have sat and worshiped; where Eliot may have stood in his old age, and bent himself in prayer; and where Gay, for nearly seventy years, with strength unabated, and eye undimmed, ministered. Associations of this kind must be familiar to you, and must endear this venerable church as no modern edifice, however beautiful and adorned with art, can be endeared. To you, this antique structure must be all written over with the memories of the past; this pulpit, these walls and pews, must bear to your hearts the history of the men and women who are gone, the venerated and loved, whose names are recorded in your village annals and on the tombstones of your grave-yards. But associations like these belong to yourselves, and with them the stranger cannot intermeddle. There are, however, those connected with this venerable relic which belong to us all. They are such as are dear to the heart of New England and Christian men. Let us pause while we gather them up, and contemplate them together.

"Before I begin, there is one thought to which I wish to give utterance. We cannot fail to observe a peculiarity in the genius of Christianity which distinguishes it from all

other religions; and that is its entire independence of time and place and circumstances. Paganism had no being but in the sacred enclosures and consecrated groves where its rites were performed. Judaism could exist only in Judea, and under the shadow of the gorgeous temple. When that temple was demolished, when the altar of sacrifice was overturned, and the long array of Priests and Levites, with their emblematic robes and imposing ceremonies had ceased, then Judaism was dead. It could no more flourish without this central object to which all eyes could be turned,—it could no more exist in foreign lands, away from the hills and streams of Zion, than the earth could exist in greenness and beauty without a central sun. But Christianity, a spiritual religion, drawing its life from Christ, who is its invisible Head, addressing the intellect and affections, and acting through the medium of great religious thoughts, regarding each individual as a temple and each heart as an altar of incense, is not constrained to time and place. It teaches that neither on Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem is the only place where men ought to worship. Familiar in all ages, a denizen of all countries, it is at home alike in the frozen and the burning zone, in the mountain and plain, and islands of the sea. It may flourish and be a living and life-giving influence in the crowded city and in the solitude of the country; and worship, as spiritual, as enkindling, and as acceptable, may be rendered in the plain meeting-house as in the proud cathedral, in the hall which no formal prayers have consecrated, in the upper chamber appropriated to other uses, in the grove arched by the branches of the spreading trees, as in the church dedicated by the hands of venerable ministers and devoted