Robert Hall, Leicester, to the Rev. Mr. Richard, Attercliff, near Sheffield, 31 March 1817.

March 31. 1817

Dear Sir

        I am deeply sensible of the Honour the Auxiliary Society for Yorkshire[2] has shown me, on the present occasion, by inviting me to be one of the preachers at their anniversary & was I so situated as to give one sermon, it would afford me pleasure. I consider it not only as a common cause, & rejoice greatly in the brilliant success with which providence has crowned the efforts of your Society, in Africa, the South Sea Islands, &c. &c. May that noble vision send forth its bounty to the rivers, & fill the seas of the Earth with fruit. But the truth is, all the time, I can with the least propriety be absent from Home, & more than I ought is already engaged, & on that account, feel myself under the necessity of most respectfully declining an invitation which I shall always consider as no small honour.

       My sense of this you will oblige me by conveying in the most respectful terms to the Society in whose behalf you write.

                                                               I remain dear Sir

                                                                                 Yours most sincerely

                                                                                                   Robert Hall   

Text: Timothy Whelan, Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1741-1845 (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2009), p. 178 (annotated version); also Eng. MS. 377, fol. 859c, John Rylands University Library of Manchester. Most likely Hall has received another invitation to speak before an auxiliary of the London Missionary Society.