and I should be very sorry to have you suspect it. Since that time I have preached but once, and I do not design to make a common practice of it, at least till I have finished my course; and then, if my education cannot be carried on any further, or if I can be fixed in a private family, I shall choose not to be constantly engaged. But that I leave to the disposal of Providence.

If the young ladies at Mr. Downe's should inquire after my text, they may find it 1 Cor. xvi. 22. It was a plain, practical discourse, and had little to recommend it besides, the honesty of the intention; yet, as the subject was important and moving, and the people are candid and attentive hearers, it was received better than I expected. My other text was 2 Cor. vi. 18.

Our course of study this half year is as follows:On Monday we read divinity; on Tuesday ecclesiastical history; on Wednesday and Thursday divinity again; and on Friday we have a theological disputation. Saturday is vacant as usual. You see, sir, divinity takes up the greatest part of our time. We read a system of Mr. Jennings's, and have large references as in pneumatology, &c. Mr. Jennings encourages the greatest freedom of inquiry, and always inculcates it as a law, that the scriptures are the only genuine standard of faith. We have already gone through many important doctrines since Whitsuntide, such as the pre-existence and divinity of Christ; the Trinity; the nature of Angels; the Adamatic covenant; the imputation of the sin of our first parents; the satisfaction made by Christ; and the abolition of

the Mosaic law. In this course Mr. Jennings does not follow the doctrines or phrases of any particular party; but is sometimes a Calvinist, sometimes an Arminian, and sometimes a Baxterian, as truth and evidence determine him*. Once a week we make a thesis. I have already composed two, one on the inspiration of the New Testament, the other on the absurdity charged upon the Mosaic history of the creation and fall.

For ecclesiastical history we read Dupin's Compendium. But then, we take in the assistance of Le Clerk, Spanheim, and Biblioth. Patrum. We have already gone through the twelve first centuries.

I think, sir, I have nothing further to inform you of; but that, since I came to Hinckley, I have taken a guinea of Mr. Jennings for my expenses. The price of washing is increased; otherwise we are at no greater charge than at Kibworth. I lately made a journey to Mount Sorrel, which cost me four shillings. But I did not at all repent it, for I met there with twenty-three of the neighbouring ministers, and among the rest Mr. P. the Nottinghamshire heretic. I had the good company of my tutor and his lady. As we came home we were all in great danger of being run over by a waggon, and it was a wonderful providence that we escaped.

* This enlightened and truly catholic view of the Christian faith pervades the early Sermons of Dr. Doddridge with peculiar force. It was on this ground that Dr. Kippis eulogised them in his Biographical Sketch of their Author; who, it may be observed, was himself so conscious of their value, that he directed their publication in his Will. From a variety of causes, however, they were not printed until so recently as the year 1826, being then published in their original form, four volumes, 8vo.

I must ask your pardon for troubling you with such a long letter. However, I will not make it longer by excuses, but return you hearty thanks for the continuance of your favours, and beg your prayers for assistance and success in all my studies. I am, with the sincerest respect,

Rev. Sir,

Your most obliged and most humble Servant,

P. DODDRIDGE.

DEAR SIR,

TO MR. HUGHES.

Friday Night, Sept. 22, 1722. I AM SO thoroughly convinced of the sincerity of your friendship, that even this long silence does not induce me to question it; and yet it is really a long time since I received your last. However, I conclude that you were either in a little doubt how to direct to me, or that you have been long intending me the favour, or that some accidents have intervened and prevented it; and therefore I am setting myself down to chat with you for a few moments, for I am afraid my business will not allow me many, as it is very urgent, and of a kind that must not be delayed.

If I thought you had the least suspicion of the sincerity and tenderness of my friendship, my first business should be to assure you, that it is so far

from being diminished, that this long absence and silence have rendered me more impatiently desirous of your correspondence and company. I have frequently told you, sir, and I must beg leave to repeat it, that your temper and the turn of your thoughts are so agreeable to me, that it is in vain I seek out for another to supply your place. I may find wit and pleasantry in one, generosity and tenderness in another, and perhaps sincerity and consistency in a third, but where must I expect to see them united as I have long known them in Mr. Hughes? We are settled at Hinckley, which is a populous place, and our number of pupils is considerably increased: but how gladly would I exchange this new company for a few days or hours with you. Pardon these expressions of a fondness which I cannot conceal, and look into yourself and you will see merit enough to excuse it.

My heart is so full of an honest friendship, that I could run on a long time in such a strain as this; but I fancy you will be impatient to know how I like Hinckley. I suppose you know it is a pretty large town. There are many dissenters in it, who all treat me with a great deal of respect. Some of them have natural good sense, but there is little politeness among them, and so one cannot expect the more elegant entertainment of conversation. The town is extensive, but straggling and ill built. The country about it is rather more pleasant than the neighbourhood of Kibworth; but I think our house is not near so good as that we left. I am fixed in a very pretty little chamber; but I do not like it so

well as my old garret, because it is more exposed to the noise of the house, and I have no opportunity of reading aloud, nor room to walk about in it. We are now in a great hurry of building, and I have no very delightful prospect; for, if I look out at the window, I see nothing but lime and bricks, sand and timber, the materials of our new meeting-place. And then, for music, I have the noise of axes, the din of hammers, and the creaking of saws. I am so much entertained with these soothing sounds that I could not but mention them; and hope that, amidst all this harmony, you will pardon a little nonsense. A fortnight ago Mr. Some* Mr. Some* gave us his first sermon from Psalm exix. 125, and I can hardly tell you how much it entertained me. The style was grave and plain, the thoughts great and proper, and digested in the most exact, yet intelligible order. It plainly appeared to have been heartily laboured: but I am far from thinking that any disparagement. It is not every great genius that, like you, can compose an eloquent oration in less time than another can tran

scribe it.

You see, sir, I have one side of my paper left, and I will assure you, I do not want inclination to fill it up, but the afternoon is pretty far advanced; and as I have a long lecture to study and two letters to write, I should have spent too much time already, if I had not been writing to you as it is, I hardly know how to break off.

1727.

A son of the Rev. David Some, who died at an early age in