288 OUR HYMNS:
earlier studies were pursued at the Grammar School at Shrewsbury. He afterwards studied at Eton. When a child, religious impressions had been produced by reading Dr. Watts’s " Hymns for Children," and while at Eton, the reading to him by his brother of a sermon of Beveridge’s, on the words, " Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world," was so blessed to him that he became decided for God. This was in 1762. He afterwards often attended the ministry of the Rev. John Beveridge, at Everton. After leaving Eton he went, in 1764, to study for the Church, at St. John’s College, Cambridge ; and, in 1769, he obtained his bachelor’s degree with honours. Evangelical religion was at that time at a low ebb at Cambridge ; and Mr. Hill having advocated it with all the ardour of his native zeal, soon brought upon himself opposition and persecution, such as he was often to meet with in his outspoken and earnest life. Subsequently, we find him coming to London to preach at the Tabernacle, for Whitefield, who was then exceedingly popular. Mr. Hill afterwards took his M.A. degree, and was, after overcoming some preliminary difficulties, ordained by Dr. Moss, Bishop of Bath and Wells.
Mr. Hill’s first public position was that of a curate at Kingston, near Taunton. Afterwards he itinerated for about twelve years. He preached much in Wilts, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire, as well as in various parts of London. He often addressed multitudes in the open air, and frequently met with the coarse ridicule and rude violence of the unchristianized masses of those days. He was alike happy in disarming their opposition and in gaining their attention. He was master of a humour that exposed, without exasperating, the wrong-doer ; he had ready access to the fountains of human feeling ; and all were struck with his disinterested devotedness to his Master’s service, and his tender yearning for the souls of his perishing fellow-men.
At Wootton-under-Edge, he built a tabernacle and dwelling-house, and always took a deep interest in that place, preaching there usually a part of the year, and the other part at Surrey
