Philip Doddridge Books: A Reading Guide and Where to Start
Philip Doddridge (1702–1751) was an English pastor, teacher and hymn writer who spent most of his ministry in Northampton. His best-known book, The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, isn't in TheWay Library yet, and neither is his big New Testament commentary, The Family Expositor. But the library does have four of his books, all free to read, and together they show him from four sides: the worshiper at the Lord's table, the grieving father, the friend and biographer, and the teacher of preachers. For his life story, see who was Philip Doddridge.
Where to start
If you're new to Doddridge, start with Thoughts on Sacramental Occasions. The entries are short, and they show his heart better than anything else he wrote.
After that, choose by what you need:
- If you've lost a child, or you're helping someone who has: Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children.
- For a true story: The Life of Col. James Gardiner.
- If you preach, teach or lead prayer: Lectures on Preaching.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of Philip Doddridge quotes.
Devotional
Thoughts on Sacramental Occasions
These are private diary entries Doddridge wrote around the Lord's Supper, from his fourth communion in 1730 through the 1740s. There are fifty-three of them. Many sum up the short talk he gave at the table: Zechariah's "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced," Moses viewing Canaan from Pisgah, "Behold the Lamb of God." Others record his self-examination, his renewed vows to God, and days when, as he put it, God gave him unusual enlargement of soul.
The diary is honest about sorrow. Meditation XXIII was written on the day his daughter Betsey died, and later entries mention standing at the table directly over her grave. It's a good book to read a page at a time before communion, or any morning.
The grave has lost its darkest gloom since Christ was laid in it.
Thoughts on Sacramental Occasions, Meditation XXV
Read Thoughts on Sacramental Occasions.
A sermon for grieving parents
Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children
Doddridge preached this sermon after the death of his own daughter, about five years old. His text is the Shunammite mother in 2 Kings 4, whose son had died and who still answered Elisha's servant, "It is well." Doddridge explains why a Christian parent can say that: the child belonged to God before it belonged to us, it was given back to Him in baptism, God has been kind in countless other ways, and the child is safe with Christ. He urges parents not only to accept God's will but to glorify Him, and to watch against hard thoughts of Him.
It's short, about an hour's reading. The postscript shares one memory of his daughter: asked why everybody loved her, she said she supposed it was because she loved everybody.
Let us sorrow like Men, and like Parents; but let us not, in the mean time, forget that we are Christians.
Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children
Read Submission to Divine Providence. It's also one of our picks for the best Christian books on death and grief.
Biography
The Life of Col. James Gardiner
Colonel James Gardiner was a Scottish cavalry officer and a close friend of Doddridge. He spent his early years in the army living for pleasure. Then one night in July 1719, while waiting for a sinful appointment, he saw, as it seemed to him, Christ on the cross, and he was a changed man from that hour. He lived a devoted Christian life in the army for more than twenty-five years and was killed at the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745, standing his ground after his men had fled.
Doddridge draws on Gardiner's letters and their long friendship. He covers Gardiner's wound at the Battle of Ramillies, his conversion, his marriage and family, his conduct as an officer, his prayer and generosity, and his last stand. The book was widely read for more than a century. An appendix includes Doddridge's own reflections on the death of his child.
Such was the close of a life which had been zealously devoted to God, and filled up with many honourable services.
The Life of Col. James Gardiner, chapter XV
Read The Life of Col. James Gardiner.
For pastors and preachers
Lectures on Preaching and the Several Branches of the Ministerial Office
These are the lectures Doddridge gave to the students at his academy. There are twenty-five, written as short, numbered advice. He begins with the weight of the work, then reviews the best practical writers of his day (whom to read and why), gives rules for composing and delivering sermons, and goes on to public prayer, explaining Scripture, teaching children the catechism, baptism and the Lord's Supper, visiting the sick, conversation, and how to treat other ministers.
It's the most practical of his books. The lectures on prayer (Lecture XIII) and on visiting the sick (Lecture XXII) are worth reading even if you never preach.
Remember it is the peculiar office of the Spirit of God to help in prayer.
Lectures on Preaching, Lecture XIII
A note on these editions
These texts come from older printings and some pages have scanning errors. Lectures on Preaching has the most, with misread words and stray marks scattered through the numbered advice. Submission to Divine Providence keeps the 1740s spelling and capital letters, and small footnote letters sometimes run into the words. The other two have only scattered errors.
Why read Doddridge today
Doddridge is warm without being soft, and honest about pain without losing hope. He loved Christ, and he wanted every sermon and every prayer to lead people to Him. Begin with Thoughts on Sacramental Occasions, and keep Submission to Divine Providence in mind for the day you or a friend needs it. All four books are on the Philip Doddridge author page.