which fuch a ftation requires, and may fucceed my attempts for the edification of his church and the glory of our common Lord. Till heaven is enriched by your removal thither, I hope, Sir, to find in you a councellor and a friend, if God fhould continue my life; and I cannot but admire the goodness of Providence in honouring me with the friendship of fuch a perfon. I can truly fay, your name was in the number of those which were dearest to me, long before I ever faw you. Yet fince I have known you, I cannot but find something of a more tender pleasure in the thought of your fuccessful various fervices in the advancement of the best of causes, that of real, vital, practical christianity. What happened under my obfervation a few days ago, gave me joy with regard to you, which is yet fo warm in my mind that I hope, Sir, you will pardon my relating the occa sion of it. On Wednesday last, I was preaching in a barn, to a pretty large affembly of people, at a village a few miles off. mon from Heb. vi. 12. we fung

plain country

After a fer

one of your

Hymns, (which, if I remember right, was the cxl. of the 2d Book) and in that part of the worship I had the fatisfaction to observe tears in the eyes of several of the auditory, and after the fervice was over, fome of them told me, that they were not able to fing, fo deeply were their minds affected

2

affected with it; and the clerk, in particular, told me he could hardly utter the words of it. Thefe were most of them poor people who work for their living. On the mention of your name, I found they had read feveral of your books with great delight, and that your Hymns and Pfalms were almost their daily entertainment. And when one of the company faid, "What if Dr. Watts should come down to Northampton?" another replied with a remarkarble warmth, "The very fight of him would be like an ordinance to me." I mention the thing juft as it was, and am perfuaded it is but a familiar natural fpecimen of what often occurs amongst a multitude of chriftians, who never faw your face. Nor do I, by any means, intend it as a compliment to a genius capable of entertaining by the fame compofitions, the greatest and the meanest of mankind, but to remind you, dear Sir, (with all the deference and humility due to a fuperior character) how much you owe to him who has honoured you as the inftrument of fuch extenfive fervice. Had Providence caft my lot near you, I should joyfully have embraced the moft frequent opportunities of improving my understanding and warming my heart by converfing with you, which would furely have been greatly for my advantage as a tutor, a minister, and a chriftian. As it is, I will omit none which

may

may fall in my way; and when I regret it that I can enjoy no more of you here, will comfort myfelf with the thoughts of that bleffed ftate where I hope for ever to dwell with you, and to join with you in fweeter and fublimer fongs than you have taught the church below. It is my defire and my expectation, that these and your other writings may be transmitted to the remoteft generations, and that thousands yet unborn may have eternal reason to be thankful for them. And it is, I hope, a defire animated by a higher principle than that fincere affection, gratitude, and refpect with which I am, dear and honoured Sir, your most obliged humble fervant,

P. DODDRIDGE.

P. S. My most humble fervice attends Lady Abney, and her moft agreeable family, with Mr. Price, Mr. Neal, Mr. Jennings, Mr. Auther, &c.

LETTER IV.

REV. SIR,

Olney, Feb. 23, 1732-3.

As you have already been informed of fome

circumstances relating to the diffenting interest here at Olney, and were fo good as to appear ready to espouse the cause of your friends here, we think it proper to addrefs ourselves to you, with this ac

count

count of the prefent ftate of things amongst them, which we defire you would please to communicate to the board, with our most humble fervice to the gentlemen there.

1

We fuppofe it is not unknown to many of them that most of the diffenters in this town, have for fome time been extremely fond of lay preachers in the Antimonian strain, and have entertained very strong prejudices against all the regular minifters in thefe parts: nevertheless, there are a few amongst them, who are perfons of great candour and good fenfe, as well as eminent piety; thefe have invited us over to preach a lecture here once a month, and we have each of us taken our turns according to the advice of Dr. Watts and fome other friends in town. We have found a very numerous auditory, and apprehend, by the moft moderate calculation, it must amount to near five hundred people. A great many of these are church men, who exprefs very high fatisfaction in what they hear; and, indeed, confidering the character of the clergyman of the town on the one hand, and that of many of his people on the other, it feems probable that feveral of them would come over to the diffenters if a regular minifter were fixed here, and fome of them have not fcrupled exprefsly to declare it. The diffenters feem all fatisfied, many of them very much pleased; and we hope a farther acquaintance

with

with our brethren and their labours, may remove remaining prejudices, and bring many to a better temper on all thefe accounts we think it a defirable thing that the lecture fhould still be fupported, but the number of our particular friends here is so very small, that it would be too burthenfome, were it to lie on them alone to uphold it. We therefore fubmit it to the confideration of the board, whether it may not deserve some encouragement from them. We can truly fay, we know not any lecture to which an exhibition is granted, where the auditory is fo numerous and the profpects of usefulness feem more encouraging. Nor are we without our hopes that the continuance of this lecture, may be a means of fixing a regular minifter here at length, which would be a great fatisfaction to us, as we hope it might greatly conduce to the advancement of the truth as it is in Jefus, and the glory of God in the falvation of fouls. One thing more we take leave to add, that though our preaching here has been evidently in the calvinistical ftrain, and we judged it prudent at our first appearance here to déclare our fentiments very freely and expressly in that respect, yet we do not find it has given any difguft to thofe of our hearers who ftatedly attend at church.

We cannot, dear Sir, conclude this addrefs to you, without affuring you that it is matter of

abundant