I heartily recommend you, and the rest of the good family, to the divine protection and blessing, and am, with the utmost respect and sincerity,

Dear Sir,

Your most affectionate Cousin and humble Servant,

PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

P. S. Pray send me word whether you are almost married! You must not for shame let me get the start of you, which, if you stay a few years longer, I. may probably do.

DEAR SIR,

TO MR. BELSHAM.

Burton, March, 14, 1724. It is with a great deal of pleasure that I embrace the offer you make me of your correspondence, a fact which I ought certainly to have told you at least a quarter of a year ago. I was waiting for an opportunity of sending my acknowledgments by the penny post, but happened to miss the only convenient one that occurred since that time; and as I know not when to expect another, I am ashamed to wait for it any longer, and rather choose to put you to this charge, than to give you any further occasion to think that I am so insensible as to neglect you.

Though I live here, in the centre of our old friends, I have but little news to send you that will be worth

your knowing. I suppose you have heard that Mrs. Mary Freeman has been so long married that she has had two children. Your old acquaintance, discouraged by his ill success, has given up his attack upon Miss Kitty, but still waits for a more prosperous moment. Mr. C. courts Mrs. Anne Freeman, and I believe, is very likely to succeed. Your honest friend, Harry Cooper, is frequently inquiring after you, and very particularly desires his service to you every time he sees me. He keeps a mercer's shop here in Burton, but having met with some disappointment in the great affair of love, he seems sadly at a loss for a housekeeper. Miss Betty Watts has been married about a year and a half to Mr. Smith of Harborough, who for several months has acted so wildly, as very much to embarrass his affairs, and is now raving mad in Leicester jail. Mrs. Jennings still continues at Hinckley, but, not having seen her since Michaelmas, I cannot tell whether she designs to remove or not. There is a very infectious fever in some of the neighbouring towns. It reigns principally in Great Bowden; and I have been told that ten have been buried there in a week, and sometimes three in a night.

you;

This, sir, is all the news which I have to send and in return, I beg that you would give me some account of the method of your studies, and of the present state of ecclesiastical affairs among the Dissenters in London; as likewise, whether you design yourself for the ministry, and if you do, whether you have begun to preach. I hope you will some time

or another favour us with your company at Kibworth and Burton. You may depend on a most hearty welcome; and if to your other favours you will add your assistance in the pulpit, it will be received with the most thankful acknowledgments of many more than I can now mention, and particularly by

Your most obedient Servant,

PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

FROM THE REV. SAMUEL CLARK.

DEAR SIR,

St. Albans, March, 23, 1724.

I RECEIVED your letters by Mr. Massey and Mr. Some, and intended to dispatch an answer by the latter at his return, had he called upon me as he promised; but I must now wait some more convenient opportunity. As to the affair of the late Mr. Foxon's people, I am very well satisfied that the principles on which you acted in refusing the invitation were good, and hope the event will be such as will be for your comfort and the edification of the church. Some persons that I have talked with in London about it seemed to have the same view of the case as Mr. Some and yourself; but others, particularly Mr. Wright, placed it in a different light. He says he knows the state of that congregation very well, and that though there may be three or four old men in it that are something narrow in their mode of thinking,

you

and who must have been managed with prudence, yet there are also a company of young men growing up in that place who are persons of good sense and moderation, and whom you would have found a great deal of satisfaction in serving; and that, as to Mr. Francis, he had neither that interest, nor those abilities of which you need have been apprehensive as to the consequences of a rivalship. And that he did not doubt but that you might have been very useful there, and an instrument of spreading a more candid disposition of mind in the city, among people of that sort; and he wishes, therefore, that had accepted the invitation. Mr. Massey tells me that they have no thoughts of choosing Mr. Francis co-pastor, nor will they enforce any thing like a subscription upon the pastor who is to be chosen, and he does not doưbt but that, were they to hear you, they would unanimously acquiesce in giving you an invitation. Nor was there any other person they had in view when they sent to you. Since then, indeed, they have had thoughts of Mr. Wright of St. Edmondsbury, whom I am acquainted with, and know to be a person of sense and temper; but, as he is very well fixed there, I question if he consents to a removal. Should that not succeed, and they should renew their request by Mr. Massey, that you would come and give them a sermon, it seems to me proper not to refuse it. You will there have an opportunity, if you should be chosen, of doing much more service than where you are, and also of improving yourself in your studies. Since you may live as retired as you think fit, and

reserve to yourself every morning at least. You will be obliged, ordinarily, to preach but once a week, and have both a more easy access to books and learned conversation than where you are, not to mention also the advantage of hearing frequently the best preachers of all sorts. Prudence and wisdom, indeed, as to your conduct will be necessary in London; but this will not be wanting to those who, in a deep sense of their own insufficiency, humbly cast themselves God for his guidance.

upon

As to the young lady you speak of, from the account I received of her from Mr. Jennings, I should think you very happy in the enjoyment of one so worthy. As to what measures are proper to be taken, in order to realize your hopes, you are best able to judge. There is no affair in the world requires more that you keep the utmost guard upon yourself, that your affections lead you into no steps contrary to the rules of prudence, or inconsistent with the character of a Christian and a minister, and therefore, a divine assistance is in a particular man ner to be implored; this I heartily wish you, and answerable success; but, before you engage yourself, be sure that you act an open and honourable part with relation to the parents.

The remarkable success with which Providence has crowned my having acted in that manner, notwithstanding the opposition I at first met with, may be an encouragement to others. As I have, since my marriage, been very little at London, I have not