extremely agreeable, and met with a great deal of comfort and encouragement' among his friends there. To one he writes at this period: 'I reside in a very agreeable family, where I have very comfortable accommodations about me, and have almost as much time for study as I had when I was at the academy. The congregation consists of about two hundred and fifty people.'

Here he devoted himself with untiring patience and diligence to sacred and profane literature, and to the discharge of his professional duties.

From the following passage in one of his letters to a female correspondent, who had 'condoled with him on being buried alive,' it appears that he passed those days both pleasantly and profitably, while engaged in his favorite employments, amidst the quiet scenes of a rural town. Speaking of his resolution to stick pretty close to those delightful studies, which a favorable Providence has made the business of his life, he says: One day passes away after another, and I only know that it passes pleasantly with me; but, as for the world about me, I have very little concern with it. I live like a tortoise, shut up in its shell, almost always in the same town, in the same house and

in the same chamber; and yet I live like a prince -not indeed in the pomp of greatness, but in the pride of liberty; master of my books, master of my time, and, I hope I may add, master of myself too.

'I can willingly give up the charms of your ensnaring town (London), its popularity, company and luxury, for the secret pleasures of rational employment and self-approbation; for a silent retreat from applause or reproach, from envy or contempt, and the destructive baits of avarice and ambition. So that, upon the whole, madam, I would not have you lament it as my misfortune, but rather congratulate me upon it as my happiness, that I am thus confined to an obscure village, seeing it gives me so many favorable advantages for the most serious and important purposes of devotion and philosophy, and, I hope I may add, of usefulness too.'

During his settlement at Kibworth, we have another exquisite picture of country life and rural scenes, drawn by his own hand. Writing to one in the bright season of summer, he says: 'You know I love a country life, and here we have it in perfection. I am roused in the morning with the chirping of sparrows, the cooing of pigeons, the lowing of kine, the bleating of sheep, and, to complete the concert, the grunt

ing of swine and neighing of horses. We have a mighty pleasant garden and orchard, and a fine arbor under some tall, shady limes, that form a kind of lofty dome, of which, as a native of the great city, you may, perhaps, catch a glimmering idea, if I name the cupola of St. Paul's. And then, on the other side of the house, there is a large space which we call a wilderness, and which, I fancy, would please you extremely. The ground is dainty greensward; a brook runs sparkling through the middle, and there are two large fish-ponds at one end; both the ponds and the brook are surrounded with willows, and there are several shady walks under the trees, besides little knots of young willows interspersed at convenient distances. This is the nursery of our lambs and calves, with whom I have the honor to be intimately acquainted. Here I generally spend the evening, and pay my respects to the setting sun, when the variety and the beauty of the prospect inspire a pleasure that I know not how to express.* I am sometimes so transported with these inanimate beauties, that I fancy I am like Adam in Paradise; and it is my only misfortune

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.'—SHAKESPEARE.

that I want an Eve, and have none but the birds of the air and the beasts of the field for my companions.' *

From this pleasing picture, let us turn to the study of Doddridge at Kibworth, and see what authors were engaging his attention in the early days of his ministry. On this point he has given us abundant information in his Correspondence. He was now employing a considerable portion of his time in studying the works of Richard Baxter, of whose spirit he drank deeply, and whose solemn earnestness he 'most successfully imitated.' A friend presented him, at this time, with a copy of Baxter's Practical Works, and in acknowledging the receipt of so valuable a present, he writes to the donor: I shall be heartily glad if ever it lies in my power, by any little service, to express the estimation in which I hold your favor. At this time I can think of no other way of doing so than to study those excellent books with all imaginable care; and by what I already know of them, I have abundant reason to conclude that I shall fully find my account in doing so.

'I would hope, sir, that it will be some satisfaction to you to think that you have not only given me many of the most rational and *Letter, dated July 15, 1723.

charming entertainments, but that by the blessing of God upon my future ministry, some sinners may, perhaps, owe their conversion; some honest Christians their comfort and edification, to my acquaintance with Mr. Baxter's incomparable writings, for which I am thus obliged to your generosity.' * A few weeks after receiving this copy of Baxter's works, he writes to his generous friend and patron, the Rev. Dr. Clarke: I have lately received Mr. Baxter's works, which I am now reading with abundance of pleasure.' And again, in the fall of the same year, he says, in another letter to the same friend: 'At present my thoughts are principally taken up with divinity and the study of the Scriptures. I am going on with Mr. Baxter's works, which I can not sufficiently admire. I have been looking over his Reasons for the Christian Religion, and I find a great many curious and

* Letter, dated April 13, 1724,

Dr. Chalmers, who was an admirer of Doddridge's writings, seems to have been struck with the similarity between Baxter and Doddridge, with respect to the impressiveness and solemnity of their language. In a letter to his brother he says:

'I look upon Baxter and Doddridge as two most impressive writers, and from whom you are most likely to carry away the impression, that a preparation for eternity should be the main business and anxiety of time.'

† Letter dated May 5, 1724.