Dr. Doddridge's Academical and Theological Instructions

A BRIEF account has been already given of the founding of Dr. Doddridge’s academy at Harborough in the year 1729. One of the most interesting public incidents connected with it was the prosecution which was instituted against Dr. Doddridge, after his removal to Northampton, for conducting his academy without the license of. the Episcopal chancellor of that diocese. It awakened some, painful apprehensions at first in the mind of Dr. Doddridge, and gave him much trouble; but by the energetic assistance of the Earl of Halifax, and other eminent friends, the case, when tried at Westminster Hall, was decided in favor of Dr. Doddridge; but as that decision might not prevent a renewal of the prosecution in Some other form to. his. great annoyance, such a representation was made by some influential Mends to His Majesty. George II., of the worthy character, loyal and moderate principles, and eminent abilities of Dr. Doddridge,- that an express command was issued from his majesty, that all further prosecution of the matter should be discontinued, in accordance with the laudable maxim which his majesty had adopted, that during his reign there should be no persecution for conscience’ sake. After this. Dr. Doddridge was allowed to pursue his career as the instructor of a dissenting academy without further molestation or annoyance from an ecclesi-

2T0 PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

astical quarter. Yet in 1733 his house was assailed by a Jacobite mob, the ctief agents in which were, however, discovered and punished by the civil magistrate.

The fame pf Doddridge had reached the court, not only in connection with his persecutions, but in the excellence of his works. The oldest son of George II., and father of George III., died during his father’s reign, in the forty-fifth year of his age: As Prince of Wales,, and heir to the British throne, he had great influence; and he opposed the infidelity of Boliilgbroke and Chesterfield, in consequence of reading the works of Dr. Doddridge, which had made a deep impression on Ms mind. His sudden death excited deep sorrow, but his pious friends were cheered by the recollection of his piety, which had been thus cherished. The Princess of Wales also very readily allowed Dr. Doddridge to dedicate to her his “Pamily Expositor,” and- afterwards expressed the great pleasure she enjoyed in reading it.

We may add to this statement another made to the Rev. John Stoughton by a gentleman who held an appointment under George III., at Windsor castle, to whom the king said,” If I know any thing of religion, I owe it to Dr. Ayscough, and that at an early age.” Dr. Ayscough was a friend and correspondent of Doddridge, and wrote to him in February, 1745, “I must tell you Prince George, to his honor, and my shame, has learned several pages in your little book of verses, [Principles of the Christian Religion,] without any direction from me.”

The following is part of an interesting correspondenc6 to which the above-mentioned persecution gave birth. It illustrates some of the annoyances to which dissenters were at that period exposed; and shows the spirit and ability of Dr. Doddridge.

To the Earl of Halifax.

“Northampton, 1732.

“My Lord — An affair has occurred which obliges me to refer to your lordship for advije and protection, not only as a favor to myself and my friends in this county, but as one to the whole- body of the king’s Protestant, dissenting subjects; it being’ a case in which their civil rank, welfare, and liberties are apparently concerned.

“On Tuesday last there was a diocesan visitation at Northampton, when Chancellor B«ynolds was pleased to address a pretty long and warm harangue to the church-wardens of the parish in which I live. The substance of it was, to use his own words, that ’ he was informed that there was a fellow in their parish who’ taught a grammar-school,’ which he .had the assurance to call my academy, ‘as he supposed without any license from the bishop;’ and ordered them, therefore, to examine whether I had such a license, and if I had not, to present me, so that I might be prosecuted according to law.

“Considering the great decency and candor with which the chancellor and several of his family have been pleased to use my name and character in a great variety of companies, I should have wondered at the contemptuous style, and indeed, my lord, I had almost said brutal rudeness, of some of this language, had I not well known that where the spirit of the ecclesiastie begins, the politeness of the gentleman and the moderation of the Christian “”must of course end. ‘JVbw bene cowpeniunt, nee in una sede inveniuntw.’* But arms of this kind hurt the person against horn they are levelled as little as they honor him by whom they are used; nor am I at all concerned about them. The question here is not how far the decency and moderation, but the law of these spiritual men will extend.

“Your lordship knows that ‘this fellow,’ who has the honor of being Lord Halifax’s most humble servant as faithfully as thig chancellor or any of his courtiers, has been and is trusted, by many of the most considerable persons among the Dissenters, under a public character; and has in his hands thfi education of several gentlemen intended for the learned professions, who have finished their studies at grammarschools; and perhaps you may have heard that a society of the principal dissenting ministers and other gentlemen in London, has favored me with a peculiar token of respect, never before extended to any tutor in the country, by making me a grant towards the expense of an apparatus for lectures on experimental philosophy, out of the public monies- deposited in their hands. I hope, therefore, I may without vanity say, that I can reasonably expect the -countenance and support of a considerable number of persons, if I am prosecuted as a dissenting tutor. Nor can I think that I am called upon to act as I might do in any private case, in a matter where my public charac-

* They do not well agree, nor are found sitting in the same chair. ter and our common liberties are concerned, and that so nearly. I am determined therefore to make no unnecessary submission, nor to pay any compliment to these reverend gentlemen from which I may be legally excused, lest they should consider it as an encouragement to pursue further attacks upon my brethren. What the law of England requires I will submit to as far as I can with a safe conscience; but if there be any, thing which it is matter of duty to contest, it seems very proper, my lord, that it should be determined. We may then know on what ground we stand 5 for I am sure that if we are to depend upon the sovereign pleasure of a bishop to license schoolmasters, or even tutors, we shall owe our best privileges, as British subjects, to convenience and caprice, rather than to the law of the realm ;• and, what I never imagined, shall be more obliged to the lenity of our ecclesiastical, than to the equity of our civil governors,

“Be it as it will, I cannot persuade myself to bear any unnecessary burden under the present administration; nor could I ever have been attacked at a time when I should have been more sanguine of meeting with just protection. The kindest things imaginable have been lately said of the Dissenters by public writers, who are apparently under the direction of the ministry; and I believe the government, as it is now happily settled and administered, will find the Dissenters as firm and warm in ita support as they have ever been. I am sure, my lord, I am -here laboring to the utmost to engage. all within, my influence to be good sulgects; and indeed things appear much more favorable than they did when I had the honor of -writing to your lordship last. In the mean time, it would be both weak and ungrateful for us tq question the readiness of the court to do us not only justice but favor; for to leave us a prey to our enemies would be to add force to its own.

“When I write thus, my lord, it is not to screen myself from any thing the law requires, but only to make way for my first petition to your lordship, which is, that you would please to inform me, as soon as you conveniently can, whether, as things at present stand, it be necessary for me to ask a license; and if so, on what terms T may demand it. I bless God I have nothing to fear as to My ministerial character ;^nd I hope I shall endeavor to preserve it by a steadiness and decency of conduct in this affair.

“I would give the kind and generous Lord Halifax no trouble I could properly avoid: when I considered how zealously he had always asserted our liberties, I thought he had an undoubted “right to know what is now passing; and I flatter myself so far as to believe, that as the natural greatness of your lordship’s soul inclines you to protect the meanest of your countrymen from injury and oppression, so the friendship with which you are pleased to honor me,, will give you a peculiar pleasure in assisting,

“My lord, your lordship’s most faithful and obliged humble servant, The next letter states the matter more fully, being written to his earnest friend the Rev. John Barker.

HIS ACADEMICAL CHARaE. 275

“November 25, 17’33. “I must- beg leave to mention to you an affair, which, though it be’ immiediately my personal concern, is not only mine, and t)f which it is probable you may already have heard: I mean my prosecution before the spiritual court. The chancellor -of our diocese promoted it, as ‘he acknowledged, not out of any ill will to me as a Dissenter, but, pm-ely to establish and vindicate the authority of the court where he presides. Nothing has yet been done in a public way, more than admonishing me to appear to receive articles which are to be exhibited against me next court’ day. He has, however, dpne me the honor to send for me in private, and treated me with abundance of complaisance. He complains of it as a failure in due respect to himseE as chancellor, that I have taught the gentlemen under my care without applying fo him for a license; and now, not to tire you with a long detail of particulars, he desires me,- within a few days, to give him a positive answer to this one question: whether I will take up a license, if it be offered me on terms consistent with my religious pi’inciplds as a Dissenter; that is, by resubscribing to the articles I have already subscribed as a teacher, taking’ the oath to the g6vernment, and submitting my character and abilities to teach to his examination. To qualify the last part of the proposal, he was pleased to say that he was so well satisfied with both as to engage not to give me the least trouble by disputing, either; This might seem a very easy way of ending the affair; though he adds, at the same time, that he is not sure that he can offer me a license on these’ terms, because the Act of Toleration does not expressly repeal a clause in the Act of Uniformity, which requires much harder things. The wisest persons I have yet consulted, both in town and country, look upon this proceeding as a very artful scheme to bring us, under ecclesiastical inspection more than we have ever yet been; and they think, as I do, that it is trusting our academies and schools to the impartiality of a party which has not always shpwn the nicest honor, not to touch upon its integrity.

“I perceive that a general alarm is taken; and I have had letters from the most distiant parts of England, to entreat that I would make no submission, nor accept of a license on any terms, until the matter has been brought before a civil court and it has been there declared necessary that I should do it. I confess, sir, that this advice is very agreeable both to my own inclination and judgment, for we know the worst that can occur. The government has hitherto prqtected us; and we cannot imagine that we have yet received the last favors it would grant, and that we shall now be given up to our enemies, on a point where our common rights, as British subjects, are so evidently concerned. People of the best sense, among very different parties, are amazed at the conduct of Doctor Reynolds at such a juncture; and sever-al gentlemen of the Established church, of considerable rank and in public estimation, have warmly acknowledged their disapprobation of the whole proceeding, and have advised me to stand it out to the utmost; nay, the very person in whose name the measure is to be carried on, cam to assure me of his abhorrence of the step, and to know, before it commenced, whether he could, with safety to himself, being now a churchwarden, refuse to sign the presentment, or, in any other circumstance, make the matter easier to mei

“On the whole, sir, I would not be so unjust to myself, and to that generous and condescending friendship with which you are pleased to honor me, as to come to any determination in this matter until I had consulted you. I beg you will please to communicate the contents of this letter, with my most humble services, to Doctors Harris, Wright, and “Wxitts, and to any other gentleman, whether of the ministry or laity, to whom you may think it proper; so that in an affair in which all are concerned, we may, as far as possible, act 6n united counsels.

“The question with me is not, for a moment, what will be my easiest way out of this trouble, but by what line of conduct I may most effectually serve that cause of liberty and truth to which I hope I shall always be ready to sacrifice my personal ease and advantage; sentiments in which I am sure you heartily concur.”

From the Rev. John B^iker.

“Hackney, Dec. 29, 1733. “I laid your last letters before Mr. Jacob, who has consulted with Mr. Holden about them, and -they are come to a resolution to employ Mr. Marryatt-, as you desire,, in this affair. I am glad the gentlemen round about you have interested themselves in your cause, to get you satisfaction for tlje violent assault made upon your house. I hope, good may come out of this evil. I saw the account of it in the newspaper, and I think it well drawn up. As to your letter to the chancellor, I find no objection to it: I expect the matter is now too far gone to expect a dismission; though if, after all, the chancellor should himself offer to dismiss it, doubtless you should advise with your friends here before you refuse it; but I think you should by no means ask it of him, nor do I see that you can now do so.

“I hope God will give you courage, and find you friends, and keep up your spirits, and- prolong your life and usefulness.”

To Doctor Reynolds.

“December 29, 1733.

“Reverend Sib — The proposal you were pleased to make to me was judged so important by the gentlemen in London to whiom I communicated it, that they thought it proper to lay it before the whole body of ministers, and other gentlemen of our persuasion, at one of their public meetings; and also to consult some of the most eminent counsellors in England on the occasion. This prevented my receiving a determinate and complete answer till last night. And now, sir, I can tell you that, after the most deliberate consideration, they unanimously agree that it is not. proper or advisable for me to take up a license on any terms whatsoever, until the cause has been brought before a civil court of judicature.

“I thought it my duty, sir, to give you this information immediately, and shall, according to the order, attend next TuSsday to receive articles of accusation, or a dismission, as you, sir, upon the whole, may think most proper. I am told that other prosecutions’ of the

same kind are now on foot, “and as this is apprehended to be one of the most important, and there are some peculiar circumstances attending it, there is no cause in which we had rather the rights of an ecclesiastical court on the one hand, and the freedom- of dissenting academies on the other, should be fully, and, as we hope, very amicably discussed. When the question is determined, if I am required to submit, as it is very possible I may be, I shall do it with so much the greater cheerfulness as I, am concerned with a gentleman of Dr. Reynolds’ politeness; and you will then, sir, have convincing evidence that as I should be heartily glad of any opportunity of serving you, so I shall willingly and gratefully receive any personal compliment you may please to confer upon me, though I cannot ask the dismission of my case, since, however kindly you might intend it, I cannot think it would be of any advantage to that interest in which I have the honor and happiness of being engaged.

“I heartily thank you for all the civilities with which you have befen pleased to treat me in this affair, and am, with due respect, reverend sir,

“Your most obedient humble servant,

“PHILIP DODDRIDaS.”

To Mrs. Doddridge.

“London, Jan. 31, llSi. “I am just come from Westminster Hall, where our cause was gained ‘without any opposition worth naming. The judges ordered a prohibition to be issued, which secures me from all further trouble. For form’s sake, their counsel movdthat our suggestion might be turned into a declaration, to which they may, if they please, put in an answer, and so bring the cause to a further trial. This I fear they will not do. If they should, we shall certainly recover costs. But if they go on to give us trouble in other cases, we must try our strength in parliament. The attorney-general offered his service, being solicited by Lord Halifax, according to my desire, to undertake the affair. Things could not indeed have been carried in an easier manner.

“Give my most kind, affectionate, and grateful services to my friends at Northampton, and tell them that it is fit I should sometimes go to London, that I may know how happy I am with them.”

From the Rev. Samuel “Ward.

“Bishop Siratpoed, March 16, 1734.

I hope you will readily excuse the freedom of a stranger, in presuming to congratulate you on your late happy deliverance. from the fury of an ungovernable mob, and in having been so successful as to find out some of the ringleaders in the riot.

“Since indeed you have met with such rude treatment, I must say that I am glad -that the world is a;cquainted with it, and doubt not. that it will be of singular service in the present juncture. I met with the story yesterday in one of the papers; and hope, by this time, your late visitors have taken it into their heads to grow milder. I observe in that relation there is-a mention made of your being under a prosecution in the-Spiritual court, for keeping an academy without a license. It is no agreeable place to be in, I can assure you upon my own experience; and yet not so terrible as some are ready to imagine that is, if those who are obliged to have dealings there take heed to their steps. I have been twice in their clutches for keeping a school without a license; but, upon application to counsel, was put into a successful method of escape.

“Whether you have yet appeared among them, or what progress you have made, I know not; but I heartily wish you may have, nor da I much question your meeting with a good deliverance out of their hands.”

The METHOD OF EDUCATION pursued by Dr. Doddridge is very minutely and clearly detailed by the Rev. Job Orton, the substance of whose account of the matter will here be given.

He chose to introduce into his own family as many of his students as his house could accommodate, that they might enjoy the benefit of a more constant super- vision and control. In the exercise of government he observed a due medium between the rigor of school discipline and unlimited indulgence. Every student was obliged to rise at six in the summer, and at seven in the winter, soon after which they assembled for prayers. These were conducted either by the doctor himself, who was usually present,, or by one of the students in turn. Then they retired to their studyrooms, and remained till the hour for family worship. The doctor began that service with a short prayer invoking the divine blessing. Some of the students then read a chapter of the Old Testament from Hebrew into English, of which he next gave & critical expoffltion, deducing thence some practical inferences.

After the singimg of the psalm, he closed the exercises with prayer. The same method ws pursued at the evening worship, with the variation that a chapter of the New Testament was read by the students from Greek into English, which was expounded by Doctor Doddridge, after which one. of the senior students closed the exercises with prayer. They who boarded at other houses were required to be. present at these seasons of morning and evening worship, and also to conduct family worship in the houses where they lived. Absence subjected to a fine, and if frequent, to public censure before the students. By this method- of conducting the religious services of the househ6ld, the students had the opportunity, during their academic course, of hearing an exposition of most of the Old Testament, and all of the New Testament, more than once. They w«re advised also to take notes of what was said at such times, and to preserve them for fiature use. The Family Expositor bears full evidence of the value jof the expositions with which they were favored.

Soon after breakfast the several classes in- order attended upon Dr. Doddridge, and a lecture of an hour in length was delivered to them. The afternoon he devoted to private study ind pastoral visits. After the year 1734 the number of his students was so increased, that he employed an assistant, to whose care the junior students were intrusted, and the direction of the academy when Dr. Doddridge was absent from home.

It derves mention that one of the first things to which his students’ were required to attend, was to learn Rich’s shorthand, which he wrote himself, and in which he was accustomed to write his own leottires and sermons. The acquiring of this art furnished the students with a ready means of making extracts from the books they read and consulted, and sared much time in writing their own preparations.

During the first year of the course the attainments made at school in Latin and Greek were pursued and advanced, while such knowledge of the. Hebrew was added, if not previously acquired, as should enable them to read the Old Testament in that language. For this purpose, besides the course of lectures in the morning on other subjects, classical lectures were delivered every evening, generally by the assistant teacher. Students deficient in Greek were instructed by some senior student. The French language was also taught to those who desired to learn it. Systems of logic, rhetoric, geography, and metaphysics were read during the first year, reference being made to other authors whom the students were expected to consult. Lectures on geometry and algebra were read, and instruction given in trigonometry, conic sections, and celestial mechanics. A system of natural philosophy was read, illustrated by experiments, for which the academy was furnished with ample apparatus, partly the gift of scientific friends, and paj;tly the .purchase of Small contributions made by each student when he entered on this department of study. History, natural and civil, a full system of Jewish antiquities, and the anatomy of the human frame, were also among the branches which they pursued.

But theology, in its widest range, embracing ethics, and what was then styled pneumatology, was the grand object of investigation. Dr. Doddridge prepared a concise but elaborate course of instruction in this department. It was simply a compendium, arranged into propositions or problems; inita scholia, which contained the points of controversy; and these were followed by copious references to the best authors, and large extracts in illustration of each subject diseu3Bed in the propositions and scholia. It was the duty of the student, in the intervals of the two or three lectures read from his compendium each week, to read and abridge the references which it furnished. The compendium itself was subsequently transcribed by the students, but after the author’s deasth it was published.-

Besides the expositions of Scripture at the season of family worship, critical lectures on the New Testament were delivered weekly, which the students were allowed to transcribe. Portions of these lectures were transferred to the pages of the Family Expositor. The study of polite literature was encouraged, but especial prominence was given to the critical and experimental study of the sacred Scriptures, as the grand source of improvement, and of human happiness.

In the last yeat of the course, lectures were delivered on preaching, and the pastoral care, which have been published, and deserve a wider use than they have gained in our own country. No one can read Dr. Doddridge’s lecture on ‘The Evil of Neglecting Souls,’ without the conviction that few men have

ever taught with mote elevated and impressive views of the greatness,, solemnity, and importance of the pastor’s work- It may be added, that lectures were also given on civil law, on the mythology of the ancients, and on English history, particularly the history of non-conformity, and the principles on which a separation from the church of England was based. Public exercises occupied one day of each week, consisting of translations and orations read by the junior students, and examined — of theses on subjects of pneumatology and ethics, which were alternately opposed and defended — of orations, by more advanced students, on the natural and moral perfections of God and the several branches of moral virtue; and on the part of the senior students, of analyses of Scripture, schemes of sermons, and ’ full sermons, which were submitted to the exaniination and correction of Dr. Doddridge. In this latter part of official duty, he was eminently exact and thorough, yet kind and courteous, regarding his remarks on the compositions of his students as more valuable to them than any general rules that could be given. His remarks included the suggestion X)f subordinate thoughts’, references to appropriate passages of Scripture that might have been with advantage introduced, the retrenchment of superfluous words or irrelevant matter, and the supply of what was wanting in the composition of the discourse.

He sought, during the entire range of study, to ’ furnish every week as great a variety of lectures as might entertain and yet hot distract the minds of the students. He aggigned’ to them as large an amount of reading as they could well perform between the lebtures, allowing sufficient time, however, for relaxation, and the perusal of practical religious works. It was an important counsel, on which he greatly insisted, to read in some of these each day, but on the Lord’s day especially. He often asserted. that the neglect of such writers argued a great defect of understanding, as well as of earnest piety.

Often, did he take pains to examine the books which they read, exclusive of those referred to in the lectures; and called their attention to such as seemed to him best adapted to their age, capacities, and intended profession, for not all, of his students had in view the sacred ministry.. This advice was the more available, as the doctor’s library, to which they’ had access, embraced several thousand volumes, derived from his private purchases, the .donations of liberal friends, and the small contributions of each student for the purpose of enlarging the collection. Dr. Doddridge, under the impression that a larger library might prove injurious rather than beneficial, unless a wise choice were made of the books read by the students, sometimes gave -them lectures on the books contained in the library, taking the various shelves in order, stating the character of each book, and of its author, so far as known, informing them at what period of the course, and with what special views particular books might be read to the best advantage; and also designating the books that would contribute most to furnish them for the demands that would be made upon them in public life. Some of his students have referred to these lectures as eminently iustruc-HIS ACADBMIOAL CHAEGB. 281

tiye and entertaining at the time, and greatly useful when they had entered on the work of the ministry.

His manner of lecturing on all subjects was well adapted to engage attention, to promote diligent investigation, and to secure an intelligent cpmprehension of the subjects to which they were severally devoted. Upon assembling the class, he examined them upon the contents of the previous lecture; he sought to ascertain whether they understood his reasoning; whether they had Jearned what the authors referred to had said upon the subject; whether he had himself furnished a just view of the sentiments, arguments, or objections of these authors, or had omitted any that were important. He called upon them for a statement of the demonstrations, scriptures, or facts, embraced in the lectures and references. He encouraged his students to propose any objections which might arise in their own minds, or which the authors read had suggested, and which the lecture, in their judgment, had failed to solve. He desired them, also, to point out any misapplication of texts of Scripture, or any wrong deductions, if they had discovered such, and to propose others which might serve either to confirm of contradict what the lecture had advanced. If at any time frivolous or impertinenl; objections were, under these circumstances, brought forward, he gave them a patient hearing, and a mild reply.

He was anxious to have his lectures and the illustrations employed thoroughly understood, and hence to hold perfectly the attention of the students, he .often proposed questions upon what he had been reading. He assumed no magisterial airs, but addressed them with the kindness and familiarity of a father. He disclaimed the desire to have them adopt his sentiments implicitly; but on the other hand, enjoined on them to judge for themselves, only endeavoring clearly to set forth the truth on all subjects, as he apprehended it, together -with the objections that might be urged against it. He candidly brought to view the difficulties connected with the questions he discussed, and referred his students to writers on both sides impartially. He insisted upon their founding their theological sentiments upon the word of God, and not upon the teaching of any man, or any body of men. Hence the Bible was constantly made the standard of appeal, and was carefully and reverently consulted. He was exceedingly opposed to all bigotry and uncharitableness, and sought carefully to check such dispositions by showing how much might be said in defence of opinions deemed erroneous, and by rrring to the great learning and fair character of many who had advocated such opinions. He particularly discouraged a haughty and supercilious mode of writing or speaking, displaying itself in ridicule and satire against the infirmities of plain; serious Christians, or the labors of earnest ministers, who condescended to adapt themselves to persons of mean capacity, for the purpose of securing their conversion. He made it his constant aim to impart to his students just and sublime views of the sacred office for which they were preparing, and to lead them to make all their reading and study contribute to furnish and qualify them for it. He sought to imbue them with the deep conviction that the salvation of one soul was of infinitely greater importance than the ability or opportunity to charm a thousand splendid assemblies with discourses of the greatest elegance. He frequently insisted on the necessity of preaching much concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit; and of subjecting their own hearts to the energy of gospel truths, so that their discourses might be unaffected and impressive.

We may better judge of his solemn earnestness in attaining these ends, by reading an extract from one of his able discourses to ministers:

“I hope, sirs, we have the testimony of our own consciences before God, that we da not, on these solemn occasions, content ourselves with cold essays on mere moral subjects, however acute, philosophical, or polite; nor make it our main business in our sermons to seek the ornament and the elegance of words, the refinements of criticism, or the nice arrangement of various complex and abstruse argumentations. When we speak, in the name and presence of (3-od, to immortal creatures oh the borders of eternity, I hope we entertain our hearers with plain, serious, and lively discourses on the most important doctrines of Christianity, in their due connection and relation to each other, in such a manner as we, on mature consideration, do verily believe may have the most effectual tendency to bring them to God through Christ, and to produce and promote in their hearts, through the divine blessing, the great work of regeneration and holiness. I hope and trust that God is our witness,

Doddridse. 13 and that the people of our charge are witnesses, that not one of those who diligently attend on our ministry, though but for a few succeeding Sabbaths,, can fail to learn the way of salvation as exhibited in the gospel; and that we speak of it as those that are in earnest, and do, from our very souls, desire to answer the great ends of our ministry, in the prosperity oi the Redeemer’s kingdom, arid the eternal happiness of those invaluable souls whom he has committed to our care. Otherwise we may incur great and fatal guilt, though public worship be constantly and decently carried on, and though a reasonable proportion of time be employed in it, with numerous and attentive auditories, to whom we may be as the lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, while, in the ears of God, for want of that fervent charity whi(Si should dictate and animate all, we are but as sounding brass, or as -a tinkling cymbal.”

It was a great care of Dr. Doddridge to make his students experimental preachers; and ’ for this purpose he led them into an acquaintance with the various exercises of the human soul under the influence of religious truths, by recommending to their daily perusal the best practical writers, and the faithful observation of the workings of Jheir own hearts. He encouraged them to think and write and speak much on subjects connected with experimental religion. At times he took some of his students with him when he went to’ visit persons who were deeply exercised in religious matters, or to visit the sick and the dying, tht they might observe his method of conversation and prayer under circumstances like these, and have their own hearts affected by such solemn scenes. To Improve their religious experience, he also introduced them to some serious but plain members of his church, so that the knowledge thus gained of their hidden worth and large acquaintance with religion, and- the hearing of their observations respecting the character and labors of deceased ministers, might improve the hearts of his students, and produce in thran a deeper respect for the members of the community at large. He often cautioned them not to despise the common people, nor to think, that the habit of condescension to them was unworthy of the dignity of a scholar. He admonished them not to refuse the charge of a congregation, to which they might be useful, because it contained few or none of the wealthy and highly educated and polite; but to labor to improve the understandings of their hearers, and to associate with plain people, assuring them, as the result of his own observation and happy experience, that plain, serious Christians are often the most steadfast and affectionate friends of the pastor, and his greatest joy. He urged them to study closely the temper and capacities of their hearers, so as to render themselves agreeable to them in their public ministrations and private intercourse, as far as conscience and honor would allow. ’

At the same time he did not neglect to prepare them, as well as he could, for appearing to advantage in polite and literary circles. He not only led them through a course of refined and elegant literature, but endeavored to give refinement, affability, and polish to their manners and address, by maintaining in his own family the most exact decorum, and taking due notice of all idepartures from it. He bestowed great care also upon their way of speaking, their pronuneiatioa, tones, gestures, and general demeanor.

Some excellent observations fh)m Ms pen upon the place that literature and science ^ould hold among the pursuits of the pastor, and the degree of elegance that may properly be endeavored and displayed in pulpit compositions, should not be here omitted. He remarks:

“I have had some little taste of the pleasures of literature myseli and have some reason to hope that I shall not be suspected of any prejudice against it; nor am I at all inclined to pass those contemptuous censures on the various branches of it, in which ignorance arid sloth are often, with strange stupidity, or with yet stramg«r assurance, seeking, and it may be finding a refuge. But I must freely gay, that I fear many things which employ a very large portion of our retired time, are studied rather as polite amusements to our own minds than as things which seem to have -any apparent subserviency to the glory of Grod, and the edification of our flock.

“Let me here in particular address myself to my younger brethren with a frankness which may be to them more excusable, while I urge them to a Christian self-denial upon this head, where perhaps it may be, of all others, the most difficult. I do not apprehend persons of your approved character to be in danger of any other kind, of luxury and intemperance; but there is, if you will permit me so to call it, a sort of refined intellectual luxury, with regard to which I am jealous over you, lest you should be seduced into it.

“I would not, my young friends, be so seyere and cruel as to desire you should be confined from that high and elegant entertainment which a person of genius and taste will find in the masterly writings of the ancient orators, historians, and poets; or in those polite and elegant pieces which our own and other modern languages may afford; from which the wise, man and the Christian will learn many things of solid use, as well as matters of most delightful amusement. Jfeither would I pretend to forbid some mathematical and philosophical researches into which you are initiated in your academical course, and with which you will do well to retain and improve your acquaintance in the progress of life; both to strengthen your rational faculties by that StrQnuous exercise, and to improve your knowledge of the works of God, which will appear great, wonderful, and delightful, in proportion to the degree of sagacity and diligence with which they may be searched out. But it is one tiling to taste of those poignant and luscious fruits, and another to feed and live upon them; one thing to make the most noble and substantial parts of them our mdertainment and refreshment, and quite another to make their circumstantial curiosities lie chief business of our study, and the favorite subjects of our most attentive inquiry. That true greatness and elevation of mind which- the gospel is so admirably adapted to produce, would teach us a sublime science; and if for the sake of these little things we neglect to pray for those whom God hath committed to our care, to inquire into their religious state, to pursue them with suitable applications and addresses, the time will come when we shall assuredly own that we dearly purchased the most refined pleasures they could possibly give us; not to’ say how much’ greater and nobler pleasure we even now resign, while our duty is neglected.

“Nor am I without my fears that a great deal of studious time is lost in an over-artful composition of s’ermons, and in giving them such polish and ornament as does not conduce to their usefulness, nor any way balance the labor employed in the work. If we do not diligently watch our own hearts, this will be an incense offered to our own vanity, which will render our sacrifice less acceptable to God, however we and our’ hearers may be delighted with the perfume. Greater plainness and simplicity of speech might often be more useful to the bulk of our auditory and perhaps more acceptable too; and on the whole, it might be at least equally beautiful; for all that are not children in understanding know that there is a natural and manly kind of eloquence, arising from, a deep sense of the subject, and an ardent love to the souls of our hearers, “which is of all others the most’ to be desired and esteemed. And though such discourses may be attended with some little inaccuracies, surely where a habit of speaking is formed by proper application, and the materials of a sermon are well digested in the mind, it will rise above contempt. And if, where more exact preparation is made, a care to preserve those niceties of composition deaden the

manner of the delivery, and take off either its solemnity, its vigor, or its tenderness, I cannot but apprehend it to be- as injurious to the character of the orator as to that of the Christian. The most celebrated speakers in judicial courts and in senates have,, in all nations and ages, pursued the method I now recommend; and the most acceptable preachers have successfully attempted it. On the whole, permit me to say it would be a fatal thing to barter away the souls of our people for the highest reputation of speaking well; yet I fear there are many who in this view do it for naught;- and have not in any sense increased their wealth by the price. Psa. 44: 12.”

, The senior students, before they began to preach their own sermons, were encouraged by Dr. Doddridge, to visit, on the Lord’s day evenings, the neighboring villages and hold meetings for religious worship in some licensed houses. Two of them usually went together; a plain sermon on some practical subject was read, and one of them prayed before, and the other after it, accompanied with singing. By this laudable practice the studeftts gained assurance in conducting a public exercise, and rendered themselves highly useful before they were prepared to preach. They also learned the habit of conversing with serious people on the subject of religion, as some of these generally remained for this purpose after the dismission of the assembly.

It was a great advantage to the students that the doctor allowed them, as often’ as other business would permit, to have access to him privately in his study, for the purpose of asking advice, or of obtaining an explanation of difficulties wHch they had met with in their reading, or in the lectures. He -was ready to communicate his views of the meaning of any passages of Scripture which they were unable to explain, and he turned to their advantage every such private interview. Even at meals he often inquired of each one in order what they had been reading, or what texts they had, according to his general direction, chosen that day for pious meditation,, and from such texts he drew practical reflections deserving of a place in their remembrance.

Thus it is seen what great pains he took to prepare all his students for usefulness, whether they had the ministry, or some other station in view. Those who were intended for trade, he often counselled not to be so fond of books as to neglect a proper application to their future business; and he often suggested important maxims, by a regard to which they might conduct their business with honor and success, and at the same time improve their moral and religious character.

His chief care, afld.what he regarded as essential to- their highest usefulness, was that they might be, and appear to be, good men.. Hence the strictest vigilance was exercised over their behavior out of tihehours of study and of lecture. Inquiries were made of them, and of others, what houses they frequented, what company they kept, what character they sustained. Upon discovering any irregularly of conduct, or yielding to temptation, a private admonition was seriously and affectionately administered, some-HIS ACADEMICAL CHAKGE. 291

tiBies accompanied by prayey -witli and for them. If private admonition failed to reclaim Ijie offender, a public, one before the school at family worship was added; and if this did not secure reform, the sentence of expulsion was pronouneed.

The tenderness and conscientiousness of Dr. Doddridge upon such occasions will appear from a record in his diary: “A very melancholy scene opened this day. We had some time spent in fasting and prayer,, on account of an unhappy youth, whose folly and wickedness have obliged me to dismiss him. I pronounced the solemn sentence of expulsion upon him before the whole academy.. I thank Grod I was carried through this sad work with spirit; yet greatly afflicted to see all I had endeavored to do for his good thrown away upon him. I had- an opportunity of seeing in him. the treachery of the human heart, the, necessity of keeping near to. God, and the tendency of bad practices to corrupt the principles of a man: God has exercised me in this -instance with great’ trouble and disappointment; but ‘the disciple is not above his Master.’ Lord, may I approve my. sincerity and zeaL in thy sight, though it should be in every instance unsuccessful. Let me but hear, theOiSaying, ‘Well done, good and, faithful servant,’ and none can hinder my joy.” But we are told that, it pleased God so tg succeed Ms pious care, that there were very few instances in which he was obliged to have recourse to so. painful an expedient to secure the honor of his family and the safety of his other pupUs.

It is pleasing, on the other hand, to find in his di-rary the record which he makes, when one of, quite a 13*

298 PHlLIP DODDRIDGE.

different class of students is the subject of remark. Thus at the beginning of 1747, he writes, “Nor must I reckon among the smallest of my mercie the opportutiities I have had of seeing how eminently He has blessed the labors of good Mr. Fawcett, and with what abundant anointing of the Holy Spirit God has been pleased to honor him; in consequence of which I can truly say, I should think all my labors as a tutor well repaid to have been instrumental in raising up but one such person to the service of the sanctuary.”

A letter or two may here be properly introduced to illustrate the polite, benignant, and judicious manner in which he was accTistomed’ to make parents acquainted with the conduct of their sons, especially when he could not entirely commend it.

To Mrs. Wilkinson.

“September 3,~1731. “As for my dear pupil, your son, I have an increasing satisfaction- in him; He has now, madam, as you well know, been with me more than half a year, and in all that time I have never heard a word uttered by lairp. which I could blame. Genius, diligence, discretion, modesty, and good-humor discover themselves in the whole course of his studies and conversation. I would not flatter you on this occasion, or on any other; but I think that this is a satisfaction which I owe you; arid I assure you that he is so dear to me that tears of pleasure are rising in my eyes while I am writing this account of him. I have often been inviting him to the table of our Lord; arid though, from the great tenderness of his spirit, he has labored under some discouragement, I hope I shall shortly meet him there, and doubt not that he will be a welcome guest.

“My sincere friendship for so agreeable a correspondent as his good mother, engages me doubly to rejoice in these promising appearances in one for whom she is so deeply concerned; and if you will do us the favor of coming and spending a few weeks with us, my wife, who sends her very humble services, will wait upon you with a great deal of pleasure. We. will use you with as much freedom as if you were one of our own family; and you may assure yourself of a hearty welcome.”

To Greorge Pembrdkd, Esq.

“NOETHAMPtON, Nov. 15, 1732.

“I intend so quickly to do myself the honor and pleasure of waiting upon you at St. Albans, that it appears unnecessary to write yoji largely at present; and yet I would not neglect this opportunity of Offering you my ‘thanks for your kind invitation, and all your other favors. ’

“I hope your son will return home with some .improvement. I can faithfully say that I have endeavored to fulfil iny duty towardis him; and you knoir, sir, the inconstancy of a young mind, and how hard it is to mould it into a due course of laborious application, especially when there is a quickness of genius, and a readiness of apprehension, which, as it is in liiany instances a glory and a happiness, is in some a temptation to frivolous amusement. I think myself bound to’ speak plainly with you in regard to ybto sbn’s character in this point, and so much ‘the rather, afe rt:is principally from your influence upon him that I promise myself the reformation of some things which I cannot praise, though I can bear with them.

“In the mean time, sir, I content myself with telling you that there is nothing grossly amiss j and as I hsCve not a pupil under my care who treats me with more filial regard, so I can truly say, that there is not one for whom I have a more paternal tenderness. As I desire to preserve my share in his friendship and affection, in order to serve him with the greater advantage, I, desire that you would conceal from him any thing in this letter whiph might give him suspicion; and that you would not look the less kindly upon him from any thing you have now read. I know how much he fears your frown, .and would by no means be instrumental in giving him one moment’s uneasiness, further than is absolutely necessary for hie own future hongr and, advantage.”

The. student thus referred to, after being some yearp at the academy, entered at the temple, was admitted to the bar, and settled at St. Albans, where he sustained a, high professional reputation.

In the year 1734 an important matter came under the consideration of Dr. Doddridge, the consequences of which will extend to the end of time. A Mr. Coward, a wealthy London merchant, retired from business and settled at “Walthamstow, a beautiful village a few, miles from that city, in the stately seclusion of Bpping Forest, where, through the attractions of a popular minister, the Dissenters «oon became numerous. This old English gentleman was so peculiar, in his manners, that he closed the doors of his house at

six o’clock in the evening in winter, and at seven in the summer, after which no person, however urgent, could obtain admission. This gentleman devoted his whole time and property to the advancement of the cause of Christ; and- determined that at his decease a large portion of his property should be given for the establishment of a college foe the education of young ministers, selecting Doddridge if he survived, as the first teacher of theology; requiring him, however, at once to, relinquish his charge at Northampton, and undertake the much smaller one at Walthamstow. The difficulty of Doddridge was increased by. the fact that if he declined the offer, it would be given to a teacher of error. It occasioned, the friends of truth much anxiety; the final -result was .somewhat of a change in the original plan, and the college after his death was established from a fund left by Mr. CowiaEd, for that and other purposes, of not less than one hundred thousand dollars. After- various changes, and more ftan one near escape of its falling, into the hands of Unitarians, Coward college was merged with the old Homerton and Highbury colleges in what is now called The New college, St. John’s “Wood, London.

While, as before remarked, the academy of Dr, Doddridge embraced other students besides those designed for the Christian ministry, it would seem that all were educated under the highest religious culture. He was not satisfied with an externally regular life on their part, but he sought in all of them real and humble piety. “It is my heart’s desire, and prayer to God,” says he, “that no jone may go out from me without an understanding enlightened from above, a heatt sanctified by divine grace, quickened and warmed -with love to Jesus, and tenderly concerned for the salvation of perishing souls. What are all our studies and pursuits to this?” For this purpose he endeavored to bring them early to Christ and into communion with the church, as he did in the case of young Wilkinson. He employed great care in instructing candidates for an intelligent and pious observance of the Lord’s supper, and in watching over them subsequently. Ordinary lectures and studies were omitted on every Saturday preceding the communion, and the greater part of it was devoted to religious exercises. All the students were gathered in the lecture-room; a discourse was delivered with direct bearing upon their circumstances, fitted ejither to prepare them for the ministry, or for the better discharge of their duties as Christians. On these occasions, the doctor was unusually solemn and impressive, having due regard to the powerful future influence which so many educated young men were likely to exert upon the interests of the church and of the world. The latter part of that day was occupied by the students by themselves in devotional’ duties. The Lord’s day was habitually observed by all with great strititness and care. After the public and domestic exercises, the laborious and excellent pastor invited each student separately into his study, for the purpose of conversation with him in regard to his religious state, progress, and obligations.

He conducted his intercourse’ with them in so paternal and benign a manner, that he secured their

entire confidence and afiection, so that they hesitated not to open their hearts to him with great freedom. He assured them that his own happiness was dependent, in no small degree, upon their proficiency in their studies, exemplariness of conduct, and eminence in piety. There was in fact a close and delightful sympathy established between them and him. This state of things was pleasantly exhibited, on the occasion of his receiving, in 1736, the degree of Doctor in Divinity from the two colleges in Aberdeen, in Scotland. His students came to him in a body to offer him their congratulations upon the honor thus conferred; when, having politely ackhotvledged this manifestation of their respect, he stated to them that the only honor of which he was truly ambitious was that which they could themselves confer by their advancement in piety and learning, and their future usefulness in the world, circumstances which were dearer to his heart than any personal distinption with which he could be gratified.

From a letter of Dr, Jennings, dated March 11, 1735, it would seem that this degree had before that time been proffered to Doddridge, and that he had hesitated, for some cause, about accepting it, for Dr. Jennings thus writes:” As for your other affair, it has given no pain, but a great deal of pleasure. Sure ly a person of your remarkable civility to everybody, will not think of putting such an unheard of afiront upon a university, as to refuse’ the honor they bestow upon you. Dr. Guyse says you have only to thank them by letter, and make a small present of books to their library, especially your own works. And now

I most sincerely wish you joy, or, in the expressive phrase of the old psalm, I wish you good luck with your honor.” -To this quotation it is pleasant to be able to add an extract of a letter written,- on a simi’ lar occasion, by Doddridge himself to his early and constant friend.

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke, D. D.

“NoETHAMPTON, March 22, 1744.

“Ebveeend and dear Docl’OR — Permit me to congratulate not so much you as myself on my being able to address you by a title which has often given me so much confusion in your, presence. I have this evening been informed by a letter from Mr. Principal Campbell of Glasgow, that the university there, at the motion of Lord Kilkerran, on the united testimony of Dr. “Watts, Dr. Guyse, and your humble servant, had, a few days before, unanimously conferred upon you the degree of Doctor in Divinity, and that your diploma is lodged in his cabinet till he has your direction how it may be sent to St. Albans.

“I assure you, sir, my own degree did not give me half so much pleasure; and I can truly say, without any compliment, that the title seems to have acquired an additional dignity by its being communicated to you.

“The matter arose from a long course of observation, which many years have furnished out, and more immediately from the masterly manner in which you maintained the cause of true religion and virtue, for such I thought it, against the artful sophistry of Dr. Akenside; on which I immediately moved the affair to his lordship, and it had been, accomplished much sooner, had not the forms at Glasgow been so peculiar. But the strictness of their scrutiny in all such cases, makes the degrees they confer proportionably honorable. I enclose a copy of the letters I transmitted from your good friends Dr. Watts and Dr. Guyse, and only add that I beg you will be pleased to accept of the fees, which I have discharged as a trifling acknowledgment of my great respect. A line to Lord Kilkerran and Mr. Campbell will, I suppose, be sent of course., A present of books to the university library is, it seems, usual on this occasion.

“I this day received into my academy a young gentleman of remarkable sobriety and sweetness of temper, and one Who, though born to a good inheritance, prefers the ministry to much more gainful employments, on those principles which encourage me to hope he will be eminently useful in it. Indeed, the temper and conduct of those youths already -^ith me, in concurrence with what I know of several who are comring, give me abundant pleasure, which is increased by observing a great change for the better in some of the young men of the congregation, whose sense and rank among us make them most considerable, and who some years, and -indeed only some few months ago, seemed likely to prove a grief rather than joy to me. This, in concurrence with the delightful accounts I have frOm Kettering, Harborough, Appingham, and other neighboring places, as well as others more remote, where young gentlemen who were once my pupils are settled with united, large, and growing congregations, revives my heart with a joy which I cannot but coinmunicate to such a friend, and which I esteem a token for good. But I tire you and trespass on my own time and business. I desire to hear of your recovery with solicitude.”

To the EeT. Benjamin Fawcett.

“Northampton, Sept 13, 1750.

“Perhaps I should not have written to -you so soon, if it had not been that I am just now in a crisis which needs your prayers; and to whom should I go when I want prayer but to y’ou, and some of my Mends with you? for in that you are mighty men. You have a tender heart towards your friend on earth, and a great influence with the great Friend above; and it is in an affair relating to- His cause, that I am now to desire your interposition.

“I have then to tell you, that the hand of God has been upon me for good in my late journey in a very extraordinary manner. Never did I observe such a coincidence of events to make my way pleasant and prosperous ;. never did I perceive all my counsels more under a divine direction; so that events occurred, I know not how, which I should have been glad to have contrived, and must then have adjusted with great pains and application, that they might have been in the state in which I found them.

•’Among other things, some of my friends, unknown to me, had raised a subscription for maintain’ ihg a third tutor in my academy, who, while I am employed in theological studies, and Mr. Clarke in philosophical, might teach the languages, not only to my academical pupils, but also to some lads who are forming their first acquaintance with them, or who, though they may have made some progress, are not

HIS ACADEMICAL CflARGE. 301

yet of an age, standing, or attainments, fit to be ranked with any of our classes. TMs marvellously secured, as you see, two important objects at once, that of improving our academical course of education, fed of providing for the scheme of the youths, ■w;hich lay so near my heart. And it has had such an effect already, that whereas at midsummer we had four vacancies on Mr. Coward’s list that we could not fill up, candidates are now offering faster than we can provide for them, both as pupils and as scholars, (you will easily understand the distinction;) so that whereas we have hitherto been calling for vessels, I am now beginning to fear for the oil. In plain terms, your errand to ]the throne of grace is this, that a suitable person may be found to set over this important office, and that the hearts of Christians may be opened to establish such a fund for the scholars as may be sufficient for their subsistence.

“As to the first of these, my eyes were upon Mr. Rose, private tutor to Mr. Murray, nephew to the earl of Dunmore; a most ingenious, learned, active, prudent, faithful man, and one for whose fidelity and friendship I could have ventured my life.. He is a lover of God and goodness, though I cannot say all I could wish. But Lord Dunmore will not consent to his undertaking the additional charge, though it would have saved twenty pounds per annum for tie benefit of the scholars. I am now therefore at a loss; I have sent every way to inq[uire, but get no answer; and whereas, the plan was to have been early executed, the putting it off as a thing only projected may, as you will perceive, be attended with hazardous consequences. On this account, I would most earnestly entreat that God would appear, and make no long tarrying.

‘”As to the other, I am now sending out circular letters to engage all the ministers in the country in. this scheme, and by their assistance the people of their several congregations. This will occasion an association among us, which is a thing I have long wished; and I inclose in my circular the plan of their associations in Norfolk and Suffolk, in consequence of which six very promising youths are now being educated. But here now is a work for prayer, to entreat that God would touch their hearts with a right sense of things, that they may see of how great importance the scheme is, and what a crisis we are now come to with regard to it. I trust in God that he will appear, but then we must seek it in a way of humble prayer. I am getting all the assistance for this purpose I can, and I bless God my mouth is often opened and my heart enlarged, when I am endeavoring to plead his cause, anji I see souls hanging on my lips and drinking in the truth as it is in Jesus.

“Indeed, my friend, I have lately been ndt only praying for you, but solemnly blessing God upon your account; that there ig such a minister, that I have such a friend, that I have been the honored instrument of training up such a pupil, and that I have such a joyful hope, though separated from him now, of dwelling with him for ever, and of seeing him with the angels of God.

•” I have a thousand things to write, but have no time. I received eleven letters yesterday, and am so covered with cares that they almost bear me down; but if they may but be cares for God, they are welcome.

“I beseech you to plresent my kind salutations to all my Kidderminster friends/and particularly to Mr. Williams, Grace and peace be ever with you.”

To the public performances of his students, their discourses and prayers, the doctor listened with great candor and kindness, forbearing to censure slight imperfections of matter or manner, which he thought increasing experience would correct and supply, while he took great delight in commending whatever was excellent and appropriate. When he noticed defects and errors, it was done privately and with great gentleness. It gave him unbounded pleasure to witness the signs of future usefulness and “success in those who were about to leave the aca,demy to enter upon the scenes of pastoral labor.

Writing to the Rev. Dr. Wood, Sept. 10, 1741, he says, “My academy grows rather than declines since the date of my last; and I hope several pupils added within these few weeks will be in the number of the most pious and able ministers our age is producing, should God spare their lives and prosper their labors in preparatory studies; but I am just going to lose my valuable assistant Mr. Orton, whom I had the honor and pleasure to train up, and who is one of the most excellent persons of his age and standing that I ever knew, or ever expect to know.”

Again, on another occasion, with great modesty

and humility, he thus writes: “This day Mr.

preached one of the best sermons I ever heard, concerning the happiness of the children of God. I had preached one on the subject some time before,, but when I considered how much superior his was to mine, it shamed and humbled me; yet I. bless God it did ndt grieve me. If any stirrings of envy moved, they were immediately suppressed; and- as soon as I came home, I solemnly returned my acknowledgments to God. for having raised up such a minister to his church, and honored me with his education. I recommended him to the divine blessing with the tenderest affection, leaving myself in the hand of God, acqui-” escing in the thought “of being eclipsed, of being neglected, if he shall so appoint; at the same time adoring Him,, that with capacities inferior to a multitude of others, I have been providentially led into services superior to those of many in comparison with whom my knowledge and learning is but that of a child;”

To his students, when they were sick, he gave most soothing and valuable attention; and when any were removed by death from his control, he poured out his heart in private sorrow and in affecting letters of condolence to their mourning friends. He endeavored also to. improve such sad events as means of exciting the surviving members of his school to aim at high attainments in scholarship, piety, and usefulness.

The incongruous elements composing the membership of the academy often gave special difficulty to the mild and affectionate president, in managing the cases of such as were not willing to conform to the strict regulations by which it was distinguished. Had it been composed only of theological students, the care of it would have been, comparatively easy; but

in its number lie often had some young gentlemen of large fortunes, intended for no particular profession, and having no serious aims, as the others had. It was difficult therefore to frame, much less to enforce, general laws that -would not bear hard upon one class or the other. It was his desire to admit none but divinity students; but it was overruled by some of his influential friends and advisers. Nevertheless all the students were alike subjected ‘to the religious order and discipline of the family.

The deportment which he maintained towards his theological students, upon their first entrance into the ministry, and also in securing to them eligible settlements and subsequently in promoting their comfort and usefulness, by correspondence and other manifestations of personal interest in their welfare, is much to the credit of his paternal love and eminent benevolence. He was always glad to see them at Northampton, invited them to his house as their home, and treated them as his own beloved children, inquiring after their welfare, and manifesting unaffected solicitude to promote it by counsel, instruction, or by any other method within, the compass of his ability.

For twenty-tw;o years he sustained, and with deservedly high reputation, the post of an academical and theological instructor.; and during that time two hundred young men enjoyed the advantages of the school, of whom one hundred and twenty became ministers of the gospel, while a number died in the course of their preparatory studies for that office. Students were attracted to him, not from England only, but also from Scotland and Holland.

In reviewing the account which has now been given of the admirable course pursued by Dr. Doddridge towards his students, we are prepared for the anaoumcement which Mr. Orton makes, that “they in general loved him as a father, and that his paternal advices and entreaties weighed more with them than the commands of rigid authority or the arguments of a cooler mind, when the affection of the heart was not felt, or not tenderly expressed.”

It was a remark of Cecil concerning Raleigh, “I know that he can toil ta-ribly.” And says Mr. Stoughton, “On looking at the list of subjects in which Doddridge instructed his young men, we are perfectly astonished at the diligence which the variety of his knowledge evidently involved. Indeed, at every turn of his life we see that the man must have ’ toiled terribly.’ Yet, with all his toil, it was impossible that he should make himself such a master of universal science as to be thoroughly competent to teach the whole, or have strength enough to go regularly round a circle of tuition so wide and varied; and therefore we cannot help congratulating the rising ministry that, the altered circumstances and spirit of the age have enabled us to introduce the great economic principle of a distribution of labor into our college system, and to allot to several vigorous and sanctified- minds distinct departments of instruction, suited to their different intellectual tastes and literary attainments.”

The same writer proceeds to say, “Looking at the, doctor’s herculean efforts throughouif one of his academical sessions — the occupations of pastor, author, and tutor being combined — we cannot doubt that welcome indeed must have been the summer recess, allowing him some change of scene and some sips of recreation. As we read his life and letters, and fully charge our mind with the image of this model of earnest diligence, we are really so oppressed, that we feel relief, sympathetic with his own, in thinking of his vacations. We are glad to go with him on one of his trips. Forthwith we sally out in imagination along the bad roads of the last century, by some ’ flying ’ coach which managed to compass the distance of sixty-six miles between Northampton and London in a couple of days, till we arrive at Mr. Coward’s house at WalthamBtow,who entertains us with hearty cheer. Getting into a postchaise with him and Mr. Ashworth, we count with him ’ thirty-five gates made fast with latches between the last fiiarket-town and Stratford-on-Av6n,’ where the doctor makes a pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s grave. Next we go with him down to the hospitable mansion of the Welmans, ’ the glory of the Taunton dissenters,’ who receive him with ’ princely elegance,’ at-’ a table “fit for an archbishop.’ Then we slowly travel on to Plymouth, and see our friend ’ in a little boat dancing on the swelling sea,’ or ’ feeding a tame bear with biscuits;’ and then, on his way home, we peep into his room at Lymington, where he sits, on Saturday night, in a sflk night-gown which Mr. Pearson has lent Mm, writing letters to his beloved Mercy; or, opening one of them from Ongen in Essex, we find that he has turned angler: ‘I went a fishing yesterday, and with extraordinary success; for I pulled a minnow out of the water, thpugh it made shift to get away.’”

Doddridce. 14 As a sort of resume of what has been said concerning Dr. Doddridge’s academy, we close the chapter with the racy sketch which is given of it in the North British Review:

“Not only was it the resort of aspirants to the dissenting ministry, but wealthy dissenters were glad to secure its advantages for sons whom they were training to business or to learned professions. And latterly, attracted by the reputation of its head, pupils came from Scotland and from Holland; and, in one case at least, we find a clergyman of the church of England selecting it as the best seminary for a son whom he designed for the established ministry. Among those educated there, we find the names of the Earl of Dunmore, Ferguson of Kilkerran, Professor Gilbert Robertson, and another Edinburgh professor, James Robertson, fisimous in the annals of his Hebrew-loving family.

“With an average attendance of forty young men, mostly residing under his own roof, this academy would have furnished abundant occupation to any ordinary teacher; and although usually relieved of elementary drudgery by his assistant, the main burden of instruction fell on Doddridge himself. He taught algebra, geometry, natural philosophy, geography,, logic, and metaphysics. He prelected on the Greek and Latin classics, and at morning worship the Bible was read in Hebrew. Such of his people as desired it were initiated in French; and besides an extensive course of Jewish antiquities and church history, they were carried through a history of philosophy on the basis of Buddaeus. To all of which taust be added the main staple of the curriculnm, a series of two hundred and fifty theological lectures, arranged, like Stapfer’s, on the demonatrative principle, and each proposition following its predecessor with a sort of mathematical precision.

“Enormous as was the labor of preparing so many systems, and arranging anew materials so multifarious, it was still a labor of love. A clear and easy apprehension enabled him to amass knowledge with a rapidity which few have ever rivalled, and a constitutional orderliness of mind rendered him perpetual master of all his acquisitions; and, like most mMwrvaires in the world of knowledge, his avidity of acquirement was accompanied by an equal delight in imparting his treasures. When the essential ingredients of his course were completed, he relieved his memory of its redundant stores by giving lectures on rhetoric and belles-lettres, on the microscope, and on the anatomy of the human frame; and there is one feature of his method which we would especially commemorate, as we fear that it still remains an original without a copy:

“Sometimes he conducted the students into the library, and gave a lecture on its contents. Going over it case by case, and row by row, he pointed out the most important authors, and indicated their characteristic excellences, and fixed the mental association by striking or amusing anecdotes. Would not such bibliographical lectures be a boon to all our students? To them a large library is often a labyrinth vdthout’a clue-^a mighty maze — a dusty chaos. And might not the learned keepers of our great collections

give lectures which -would be at once entertaining and edtfying on liose rarities, printed and manuscript, of vrhich they are the favored guardians, but of which their shelves are in the fair way to become, not the dormitory alone, but the sepulchre?

“Nor was it to the mere intellectual culture of his pupils that Dr. Doddridge directed his labors. His academy was a church within a church; and not content with the ministrations which its members shared in common, with his stated congregation, this indefatigable man took the pains to prepare and preach many occasional sermons to the students. These, and his formal addresses, as well as his personal interviews, had such an effect, that out of the two hundred young men who came under his inatructidns, seventy made their first public profession of Christianity during their sojourn at Northampton.”