Editing Robert Hall (minister) (section)

==Bristol and Cambridge==
Between his last two sessions at Aberdeen, Hall acted as assistant pastor to [[Caleb Evans (Baptist)|Caleb Evans]] at [[Broadmead Baptist Church|Broadmead chapel]], Bristol, and three months after leaving the university he was appointed classical tutor in the Bristol academy, an post which he held for over five years. At this period his eloquence excited interest, and when he preached the chapel was generally crowded.<ref name="EB"/>

Under suspicion for heterodox views, Hall accepted an invitation from a congregation at St Andrew's Street Baptist Chapel, [[Cambridge, England|Cambridge]], of which he became pastor in July 1791. He had by this time disowned the cardinal principles of [[Calvinism]]. It was during his Cambridge ministry of 15 years that his oratory was most brilliant.<ref name="EB"/> He adapted his style from [[Robert Robinson (Baptist)|Robert Robinson]], his predecessor at the Chapel.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Hall, Robert (1764-1831)|volume=24}}</ref> 

Hall's Cambridge congregation suffered an immediate secession after his first sermon, for reasons of doctrine. A group went to study under the Unitarian [[William Frend (reformer)|William Frend]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Robert |title=The Works of the Rev. Robert Hall |date=1830 |publisher=G. & C. & H. Carvill |page=31|volume=II |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l64rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA31 |language=en}}</ref> Hall's severe views on leading Unitarians were given in an 1812 review of [[Thomas Belsham]]'s ''Memoirs'' of [[Theophilus Lindsey]]; he considered Unitarians too close to the [[Church of England]] to be called [[English Dissenters|Dissenters]], and Lindsey too close to the English aristocracy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Robert |title=The Works of Robert Hall|date=1832 |pages=188-225|volume=IV |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=h0oneqj8Do8C&pg=PA188 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lindsey|first=Theophilus|editor=G. M. Ditchfield|title=The Letters of Theophilus Lindsey (1723–1808) Vol. 2 1789–1808|year=2012|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=9781843837428|page=xxii}}</ref> In 1795 Hall took issue with [[Charles Simeon]] who had preached in support of the [[French emigration (1789–1815)|French émigrés]], and his views on Dissenters.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Robert |title=The Works of the Rev. Robert Hall |date=1830 |publisher=G. & C. & H. Carvill |pages=351-354|volume=II |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l64rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA351 |language=en}}</ref>

Hall began to suffer from mental derangement in November 1804. He recovered and was able to resume his duties in April 1805, but a recurrence forced him to resign his pastoral office in March 1806.<ref name="EB"/>