care, whether as father or preceptor! There would then be some prospect of better men and better times. Many thanks for your kind intentions with regard to my Egyptian History. I have been forced to lay that work by for some time, on account of the preparations I have been making for my Hebrew lectures; but I hope to bring it on the anvil again, and finish it very soon. Yesterday was fortnight, the University conferred the degree of L. L. D. on Mr. West, in consideration of the great service he has done the Christian religion by his book on the Resurrection of our Saviour. It is said, that the same honour was offered to Mr. Lyttelton for his piece on St. Paul's Conversion, but that he declined it in a handsome manner, by saying that he chose not to be under any particular attachments; that, if he should happen to write any thing of the like kind for the future, it might not appear to proceed from any other motive but a pure desire of doing good. The Dean, Mr. Merrick, and the rest of your friends are well, and desire you to accept their best respects. We have now a good house here, which I hope you and Mrs. Doddridge will make your home when you come to Oxford. I thank God, the air at Christ-Church agrees with my wife perfectly, and she has not been better in health than since she came to Oxford. She desires that her best respects to yourself and good lady may attend those of, Dear Sir, your most affectionate and obedient humble Servant, T. HUNT. FROM THE REV. SAMUEL BATES. DEAR AND REV. SIR, Warminster, April 16, 1748. I READILY embrace this first opportunity of telling you how much I think myself obliged to you for the favourable sentiments which you have expressed concerning me and my letters, and the materials you have furnished me with, for rejoicing in the Lord. It really has been and is with me, joy to find the comfortable evidences you have given of piety and candour, in such men as Messrs. Lyttelton and West; especially, as such instances are seldom found, for "not many rich," &c. were called in the apostle's days, or have been since may the God of all grace continue them to be what they are, and increase their number! It is, also, a joy to see that primitive Christianity begins to be a little better understood, and that a spirit of moderation prevails among some divines of the Establishment, but I believe it has not prevailed far enough to bring about such a union as has been talked of; and when I consider the little good and much bad use we have made of our liberty, I am rather inclined to think that we shall have an humbling time from enemies without, or from the coldness and secession of friends from within. But it is my desire and endeavour to be always in readiness for every coming providence, of what kind soever it may be. I believe many among the laity have a good opinion of our cause, but the grand thing that discourages them from joining us is, as they say, because we cannot agree among ourselves! I believe and hope some of our conforming divines are sincere in their professions of charity; though I know not how to reconcile them with their damning all that do not believe the Athanasian Creed. They may say they are forced to it, but let them do as our fathers did, in 1662. They may rid themselves of that force, and keep their conscience clear, as others have done before them. I never, in all my time, heard more professions of moderation, than a little before Sacheverell's appearance on the stage; but as soon as the design was answered, and a change in the ministry effected, the mask was pulled of, and moderation disappeared; and so I fear it would be again, if the civil magistrate let loose the reins. All are professedly for moderation, when it is not in their power to be otherwise. A jesuit, within twelve miles of me, told a friend of mine, that their party were now against persecution, and I fear too many protestants talk in the same strain, with as little sincerity; I would not be uncharitable, nor yet too credulous. My Master bids me beware of men, and take heed that none deceive me; for there will be wolves in sheep's clothing. It was the protestants' excess of credulity, made way for their massacre in France and Ireland; it finished their ruin in the one, and it was in a fair way to do the same in the other. Our fathers trusted to the fine words of Charles the Second, and those about him: the consequences of which we know. I will venture to say what has long been my deliberate opinion; some men finding they cannot ruin our cause by persecution, endeavour to do it by flattery, and fawning upon us and our people, and I fear with too much success. Our rising generation, not having lived long enough to know mankind, are apt to think all true which some say; especially, when accompanied with flattery, which is very agreeable to corrupt nature, and I have, therefore, seen a necessity of preaching against it. Forgive my tediousness, and accept for your whole self the hearty service and best wishes of Yours, &c. &c. SAMUEL BATES. TO MISS DODDRIDGE.* MY DEAR CHILD, Northampton, May 7, 1748. I CANNOT let the anniversary of your birthday pass without one line of most affectionate congratulation. I have been blessing God for his goodness to you, my lovely girl, and to me, and your mamma, in you. I have been earnestly recommending you to the Divine blessing, and praying that the years of your life may be multiplied long beyond the boundaries of mine, and that they may all be crowned with loving kindness and tender mercy. And now, my dear, let me tell you, if a hasty word can tell you, how much I love you-how much I delight in you-how earnestly I long to see you-how much pleasure I take even in every expense which may contribute to your improvement and satisfaction. Indeed, I believe there have * The Reader will be pleased to learn, that the delightful sketch which paternal affection has here given was not overcharged; and that the virtues, which bloomed so early, became lasting and mature. Although frequent indisposition had deprived my grandmother, Humphreys, of much of that personal beauty which she was said to have enjoyed in early life, yet there was a gentle dignity in her carriage, a meek intelligence in her eye, and a feminine delicacy in her manner, which have left a strong impression on the minds of those who remember her. Of her affectionate tenderness, her piety, and her benevolence to the poor, the recollections of my boyhood, after a lapse of thirty years, are still vivid. Her religious sentiments were of what is termed the orthodox character; but of the Christian liberality with which they were attempered, the following anecdote, for which I am indebted to the late estimable and accomplished Miss Wesley, affords a pleasing proof. Some illiberal reflections being cast on the late Dr. Lindsey, Mrs. Humphreys vindicated his sincerity, and right of private judgment: a gentleman present remarked, with more asperity than truth, that he wondered Dr. Doddridge had not rendered his family orthodox!-she replied, with perfect serenity, "Sir, the orthodoxy my father taught his children was CHARITY." Some of the valuable traits in her character are so appropriately described in the following lines of the beautiful little poem written by Mrs. Barbauld, on the death of her grandmother, the Mrs. Jennings so fre your been few instances in which a child has been dearer to her parents, or has deserved to be dearer. You have, from very infancy, been all duty and tenderness, and we ought to thank God, and to thank you, for the comfort we have had in you. Above all does it delight us to think there is room to hope that you are a child of God; that you love him as a father, and have sought and found that salvation in Christ which is more than ten thousand worlds. It is this, my dear love, it is this, that comforts my heart in the midst of that solicitude, which so much affection as it feels would inspire, when I think of the tenderness of your constitution, and of the possibility there is at least, that you may be taken away from us in early life;-a thought which would otherwise distress me extremely; but I have given you to God: I hope you have given yourself to him, and that you will quickly do it at his table; where I should also be extremely delighted to meet with dear Miss Ekins, if, as I hope she be, by Divine grace prepared for it. Think of it, however, and pray that you may be advancing in fit quently mentioned in the two first volumes of this Correspondence, that I am tempted to extract them. ""Tis past: dear venerable shade, farewell! Thy blameless life thy peaceful death shall tell. Prone to enjoy and ready to impart. An Israelite indeed! and free from guile, |