serve good Mr. Scott in any future instance. I grieve for the decline of our interest, under such excellent men too as those fixed in some of the places you mention. God is gracious to us here in strengthening us all around. You shall know more of the state of my academy when I see you. May your church, your family, and your soul, be like a watered garden.”

About this period the Rev. Dr. Taylor of Norwich, a gentleman distinguished for great talents and learning, published "A Key to the Romans," a work designed to illustrate the doctrines of the apostle Paul, but which was unhappily more than slightly tinged with Unitarian errors. This fact will explain a passage in the foregoing letter, written to a minister who resided in the same city.

We may add here, that Dr. Taylor was at one period a tutor of a small dissenting college at Warrington, and once expressed his surprise that many of his students became Deists; so little did he seem aware of the natural tendency of his own views. It is said that he once observed that if what are termed the doctrines of grace were in the epistle to the Romans, it was remarkable he could not see them there; on which the excellent John Newton remarked to him, "I am not surprised at this. I once went to light my candle with the extinguisher on it. It is not enough that you bring the candle, you must remove the extinguisher." Some of the errors of Dr. Taylor were very strenuously and successfully opposed by the elder President Edwards, as may be seen in his works.

To the Rev. John Wesley.

“NORTHAMPTON, July 29, 1746.

"I am truly glad that the long letter I last sent you was agreeable to you. I bless God that my prej udices against the writers of the Establishment were so early removed. And I rejoice greatly when I see that prejudices against their brethren of any denomination are likewise subsided in those whom, upon other accounts, I most highly esteem as the excellent of the earth, and that we are coming nearer to the harmony in which I hope we shall ever be one in Christ Jesus.

"I have always esteemed it to be the truest act of friendship, to use our mutual endeavors to render the characters of each other as blameless and as valuable as possible; and I have never felt a more affectionate sense of my obligations, than when those worthy persons who have honored me with their affection and correspondence, have freely told me what they thought amiss in my temper and conduct. This therefore, dear sir, is an office you might reasonably expect from me if I had for some time enjoyed an intimate knowledge of you. But it has always been a maxim with me not to believe any flying story to the prejudice of those whom I had apparent reason, from what I knew of them, to esteem; and consequently as I should never make this a foundation, you must be contented to wait longer before you receive that office of paternal love which you ask.

"Your caution has suggested a thought to me, whether it be modest to call ourselves humble. If

the expression means a real readiness to serve in love. in any thing low, as in washing the feet of another, I hope I can say, 'I am your humble servant;' but if it mean one who is in all respects as humble as he could wish, God forbid I should arrogate so proud a title. In what can I say I have already attained? only, in that I love my divine Master, and would not have a thought in my heart that He should disapprove. I feel a sweetness in being assuredly in his gracious hand, which all the world cannot possibly afford; and which I really think would make me happier in a dark dungeon, than ten thousand worlds could render me without it; and therefore I love. every creature on the earth that bears his image; and I do not except those who, through ignorance, rashness, or prejudice, have greatly injured me."

"The first thing I have to say to you is, that I thank you most cordially for your late most friendly visit, which delighted, exhilarated, and improved me more than any which I have received for some time. But do not think I can be content with having thanked you once for your visit. No, I must thank you again; and when I have done all, the gratitude of my heart will still remain unexpressed; for, believe me, my friend, nothing can exhibit the sweet joy I felt within me while you were with me, and which I feel on every remembrance of the entertainment which your society gave me. But would you believe it, sir, even when you left me I was also in joy: not because you were gone, for I should delight to dwell

with you for ever; and I hope one day I shall dwell with you, without the fear of a separation. Was it because you gave me hopes of seeing you soon again? No, though I earnestly wish it had been so; and yet you did not leave me without giving me some encouragement of the kind. But what made me continue in so joyful a mood after you had left me? Well, I will leave a friend to judge of the affections of a friend by his own. There could be no other cause than the delight inspired by your conversation, whereby you raised new sentiments in my soul, and infused into it an unknown sweetness; and that in so powerful a manner as to make it impossible that the impression should immediately wear off, and I trust that it never will. I have on other occasions frequently found myself in a situation much less agreeable, when my friends have left me, or on my leaving them; for a sudden damp hath sometimes seized my mind when we parted: but when Dr. Doddridge left me, I was almost surprised as much as I was pleased, to find a continuance of that satisfaction which I expected would vanish with his departure. O my dear friend, there is surely something divine in the presence and conversation of a good man, which leaves behind it a sweet and lasting energy. And I humbly hope that the divinity, in one sense, was with us, and in us, while we conversed together, and will still continue to enliven us while we are absent from each other; but let not that absence continue long, for you have left other friends here besides me, who will be glad to see you, and to improve by your Christian conversation whenever you can come.

"Tell Mr. Jennings I heartily thank him for his visit, and the more for its being in company with his tutor. May God prosper him when he enters upon his ministry, and make him an instrument towards rooting out bigotry in a divided people; for there are those on both sides in that town who, I have reason to believe, have not yet attained to a full measure of the Christian spirit. Will he labor, under God, to introduce it? Will he show a meek disposition by an attractive behavior? If I am not mistaken in him, he will. He seems to promise so much. Nor can I think that any who have had their education under you, will do otherwise. May the same good spirit which I find in my friend, animate the breast of all who are under his care, and may they diffuse Christian sentiments, and promote a Christian practice, wherever they go. May schism and division, and the alienation of hearts, vanish from henceforth. universal amity prevail, and truth for ever triumph over error, in men of all persuasions. What Christian heart can refuse joining with me in these sentiments and prayers?"

May

Dr. Doddridge seems to have possessed in a wonderful degree the happy art of administering reproof in a gentle but effectual manner to persons in high life, a service of true friendship requiring equal tact and resolution. He attained his object usually by noticing some good quality in them, while he referred to their irregularities. A fine example is furnished in the next letter.