and affection, earnestly desired his forgiveness and his prayers.* I have been larger upon this part of the Doctor's character than was perhaps necessary to illustrate and vindicate it; but probably some yet living may entertain prejudices against him and against his writings in consequence thereof. I was therefore willing to set it in its true light, and to exhibit a noble pattern of a Christian behaviour, under such reproaches and slanders as many good and useful men are yet suffering by, and the best, perhaps, most. I shall only add, that he practised the advice which he gave to others in such circumstances, and did not "suffer himself to be interrupted in his generous, worthy course, by the little attacks of envy and calumny which he met with in it. He was still attentive to the general good, and steadily resolute in his endeavours to promote it; and he left it to Providence to guard or to rescue his character from the base assaults of malice and falsehood, which he had observed and It may not be amiss to take notice of an aspersion which was thrown on the Doctor a little before his death; as if he had acted unfaithfully in the guardianship of Miss Ekins, daughter of Thomas Ekins, Esq. of Chester-on-the-Water, in Northamptonshire, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace, and the Doctor's intimate friend: especially as I have heard that it had spread itself as far as New England, where the falsehood of such a charge could not so easily be detected. It will be a sufficient answer to such a calumny to say, that the young lady, at the Doctor's decease, was so sensible of his integrity, that, at her request, being then eighteen years of age, the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke appointed the Doctor's widow guardian in his stead; that on her attainment of her age of twenty-one years, the whole account of her estate was carefully examined by her, and met with her entire approbation. This lady is since married to the Rev. Dr. James Stonehouse, a gentleman of a handsome paternal estate, formerly a Physician of great eminence at Northampton, and now Lecturer of All Saints, in Bristol and it is at their united request I add, that they are sensible of their obligations to the Doctor and his Lady, for the fidelity, prudence, and friendship discovered by them in the discharge of their trust, and that they retain the highest veneration for the Doctor's memory -Those who were best acquainted with the whole affair, were so far from thinking that his conduct stood in need of any defence, that they considered both his undertaking the trust, amidst his various other cares, and the manner in which he discharged it, especially in the education of his ward, as a striking instance of his probity, friendship, and benevolence. experienced, will often, without a person's labour, confute themselves, and heap upon the authors greater shame, or, if they are inaccessible to that, greater infamy, than his humanity would allow him to wish them." SECT. VIII. HIS PIETY TOWARDS GOD, AND HIS DEVOTION, AS THE SUPPORT OF THAT, AND EVERY OTHER VIRTUE. It may truly be said of Dr. Doddridge, as it was of Socrates, that his life was a life of prayer.+ We have already seen the care he took to maintain a devout spirit, and live near to God in early life. He held on this religious course, and grew stronger and stronger even to the last. He made conscience of presenting serious addresses to God every morning and evening, whatever his business and avocations were, and often employed some moments in the middle of the day in the same manner. That his devotions might be more regular, copious, and advantageous, and his mind be kept in a devout frame through the day, he laid down a plan for this purpose, which I have reason to believe he often reviewed in a morning, as it always lay upon his desk;‡ and from thence it appears what Rise and Progress, &c. ch. 28, sect. 9. As this may be useful to serious persons, especially ministers, who ought to be men of eminent devotion and holiness, I will here insert it in his own concise manner.-" Every morning, rising and dressing, meditate. On Lord's Day, the concerns of the church in general. Monday, rules for my own conduct. Tuesday, the case of my friends. Wednesday, mercies received. Thursday, the concerns of the congregation. Friday, evangelical views. Saturday, my relations-each day remember special hints; then pray, renew my covenant with God, read the Scriptures, sing a psalm; larger devotion, reverential, prepared for, thoughts guarded in it, reflected upon afterwards. Business of the day; seasonable, with good intentions and dispatch. Recreations, moderate, well designed. S pains he took to keep up the life and ardour of religion in his soul. He was careful that his first thoughts in the morning and last in the evening, should, in a special manner, be consecrated to God. According to his exhortations to others, he se lected some one verse of Scripture every morning, to treasure up in his mind, resolving to think of that at any time when he was at a loss for matter of pious re flection in any intervals of leisure. He found this as a spring from whence many profitable and delightful thoughts arose, which he might not before see in that connexion and force. It furnished him with matter for devout ejaculation, and prevented his thoughts from being at the mercy of those various trifles which otherwise intruded upon him. He thought it of great importance, and found it of much advantage, to renew Providences merciful; thankful for reason, senses, health, ease, food, raiment, sleep, friends, liberty, safety, acceptance, success. Afflictive events; God's hand, design; submit in all things, great and small; surrender all comforts to him. Temptations, foreseen, observed, resisted; presence of God, Christ, angels, and men; re membered for caution. Grace, dependence upon it, earnestly sought, to awaken holy affections, through Christ, by the Spirit, frequent ejaculations. Thoughts during intervals, a general command practised; subjects of them, morning-scripture; the last, the next sermon. Discourse, innocent, useful, provided for. Evangelical views; bless God for Christ and the Spirit; daily exercise faith in Christ as Teacher, Atonement, Intercessor, Governor, Example, Strength, Guardian, Forerunner. Avoid excess, impru dence, formality in prayers and praises, especially at meals. Repeat as above in the evening, and add self-examination.-Have I attended to proper business, improved sermons or other writings, watched over pupils? Ask the prosperity of the academy, congre gation, our country; reformation advanced; thy kingdom come. My relations, minister, tutor, domestic, writer, friend, visitant, correspondent. List of friends to be particularly prayed for. Persons in the congregation, according to their circumstances, unconverted, awakened, alienated, excommunicated, the various afflicted. Remember the notes of last Lord's Day. Memorandum, there must be an enlargement of soul previous to any remarkable success; and great diligence in prayer, and strict watchfulness over my own soul, previous to any great and habitual enlargement; and deep humiliation must precede both. When the ground is thus prepared, great and good fruit may arise from small seeds. I find it never well in family worship, when it is not so in secret; never well abroad, when it is not so at home; nor on common days, when not so on the Lord's. The better I pray, the better I study," &c. * Rise and Progress, ch. 19, sect. 18. his covenant with God, and make a fresh and solemn dedication of himself, his capacities, time and strength, to his service every morning; and especially to spend every Lord's day morning in devotional exercises, as the best preparative for the public services of the day. He esteemed devout meditation an important part of a Christian's duty, an excellent means of fitting the heart for prayer, and an exercise which afforded great pleasure. "Oh," saith he, "how much delightful enjoyment of God have I lost by neglecting occasional meditation!" He reckoned a serious diligent care in the performance of secret prayer, an evidence and support of real religion; and strongly recommended it to others, as a most powerful incentive to every duty, and the best relief under the fatigues and afflictions of life. Thus he addressed one of his brethren; "That minister hath great reason to suspect the integrity of his own heart, who can pray with some copious. ness, affection, and pleasure with others, and in secret can only find in his heart to run over a few hasty, inattentive, and customary words, in such a manner as he would be ashamed to do if any one of his fellowcreatures was present. Guard against this, and espe cially in the evening; when the fatigue arising from the labours of the day may expose you to particular danger. As prayer is the food and breath of all practical religion, so secret prayer in particular is of vast importance: insomuch, that I verily believe, that if a man were to keep a particular and accurate journal of his own heart but for one month, he would find as real and exact a correspondence between the temper of his soul at the seasons of secret devotion, and in other parts of his life, as we find between the changes of the baro. meter and the weather.' He often lamented the tendency which the variety of his cares, though most important in themselves, had to make him less serious, copious, and fervent in secret prayer, than he should have been. Thus he expressed himself to his friends; *Charge in Traets, vol. ii. p. 7. 66 “I am often mindful of you in my prayers; though alas! I have so many hurries of business and interruptions, and sometimes find so much indisposition in my own heart for the exercises of devotion, and my thoughts so much dissipated by the cumber of many things, that truly my prayers are to be little accounted of. But the less capable I am of praying as I could wish, for my friends and myself, the more need I have of their remembrance. My great desire, even when I am at the worst, is, that I may glorify God and promote the great purposes of religion. For that I am honestly labouring though amidst many infirmities; and I hope not entirely in vain." My weight of business does, in some measure, rob me of the greatest treasure I have in the world; I mean the hours I would wish to spend in secret devotion; without which there is no sweetness, no calm and serenity of mind, and, therefore, very little capacity for managing business. For so it is, though it may seem a riddle, that when I pray and meditate most, I work most." In all his addresses to God, he was large in praise and thanksgiving; esteeming it a proper expression of gratitude to God, a necessary and delightful duty on other accounts, and the means of promoting habitual cheerfulness of mind. He carefully watched the frame of his own heart, and recorded the most important particulars relating to it, that they might guide, warn, or encourage him for the future. It has been already observed, that he began to keep a diary of his life when he was fourteen years of age; in this he noted the business he had dispatched; the temper and workings of his mind in the various labours and occurrences of the day, and particularly in his acts of devotion at home and abroad; what he had learned in reading, conversation, or by his own reflections; any remarkable providences relating to himself, his friends, or others, or to the church of God. But in his latter years, when nothing occurred that deserved to be recorded, he contented himself with some particular marks, by which he could afterwards observe, what was the frame of his spirit, how he had |