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CHAPTER VII.

PROMINENT TRAITS OF DR. DODDRIDGE.

For the sketch now to be presented we are chiefly indebted to the Rev. Mr. Orton, who, having been his pupil, his assistant, and most valued personal friend, was eminently qualified to present a faithful portraiture of the man he so justly venerated, and so ardently loved.

1. DR. DODDRIDGE WAS REMARKABLE FOR AN INDUSTRIOUS AND UNTIRING APPLICATION TO THE DUTIES OF LIFE, AND FOR GREAT DISPATCH IN THE DISCHARGE OF THEM.

This must have been seen in what has been already said of him as a student, a pastor, and an instructor; but additional illustrations may be acceptable and useful.

In his mature years he formed definite plans for the use of time, assigning to each hour the largest amount of work he was capable of performing. He was accustomed often to call himself to a rigid account for the industry and the faithfulness with which such plans had been accomplished. He often wrote down severe self-accusations, while others, in their estimate of his labors, would have commended and admired his diligence.

When entering upon the year 1737, he wrote, “I am come to the beginning of another year, which I am ready to believe will be the last. The Lord grant that whether it be so or not, it may be the best I ever

spent; a year of constant communion with God, of steady devotedness of soul to him. I have resolved to renew the following rules of life, and to endeavor to dispatch the following articles of business with the divine assistance. 1. To rise at six o'clock, winter and summer, unless urgent occasion prevent. 2. To begin the day on my knees, wherever I am and whatever I have to do. 3. To read some portion of Scripture, and if possible, to write some of my Family Expositor every morning. 4. To read something in a book of practical devotion. 5. To dispatch at least one letter every day, and to be more careful in answering my correspondents. 6. To talk at least to one pupil a day, when with them, about the affairs of his soul, more or less publicly or privately. 7. To visit as often as I can, especially from three in the afternoon, beyond which I would seldom be at home without great necessity. 8. To keep a more exact account of my expenses, and to lay out as much as I can in charity. 9. To eat more moderately, especially at supper, than I have for some time of late done, and to be less solicitous about the kind of my food. 10. To promote religious discourse more. 11. To read some Latin and Greek, if possible, every day. 12. To read the Scriptures in an evening, at least what I had written on in the morning. 13. To examine myself. 14. To keep memorandums. 15. To lie down in a good frame, and endeavor to rise with God. 16. To endeavor, as much as I can, to live by rule. 17. To expect death every day."

In writing to Dr. Samuel Clarke, Nov. 24, 1739, he makes this statement: "I bless God I have for a

considerable time been perfectly well, and do not find myself fatigued by my labors; though, indeed, excepting an hour or two after dinner and supper, they have, while I am awake, hardly any intermission; and I am obliged to make my nights short, with all which precautions I am hardly able to answer the demands of service that lie upon me."

We are told by his biographer, that he reckoned the smallest parcels of time precious, and was eager to save every moment, even while he was waiting for dinner, company, or the assembling of his pupils, that he might make some advance in the work he was about; that he was so solicitous to improve every moment that one of his pupils generally read to him while he was shaving and dressing, during which short intervals he was improving himself and them by remarking upon their manner of reading, and upon the excellences or defects of sentiment and language in the book read; that when he was on a journey, or occasional visits to his friends, where he spent the night, he took his papers with him, and employed all the time he could secure, especially his morning hours, in prosecuting some good work for his people, his students, or the world. While preparing his "Family Expositor," he wrote something for it every day: nor amid the constant labors of authorship for many years did he neglect the service of his students. "So far," says he, "as I can recollect, I never omitted a single lecture on account of any of the books that I have published. The truth is, I do a little now and then; something every day, and that carries me on. I have written some of my pieces in shorthand, and

got them transcribed by my pupils, and thus I do by many letters. This is a help to me, and some considerable advantage to those whom I employ. I scarcely fail being in the lecture-room three hours every morning." He often preached several evenings in the week in the different villages about Northamp ton. His annual vacation, of two months, was usually passed, partly in close study, in pastoral visits, and in preaching among neighboring congregations at the request of their respective pastors, some of them being of different denominations and opinions from himself; partly in calling upon his friends in London and other parts of the kingdom for purposes of health, yet frequently preaching almost every day.

To these occupations must be added his correspondence, which was almost sufficient of itself to engross the time of a man of ordinary industry and ability; hence, to save time, he often employed the pen of some pupil, to whom he dictated his letters, while he himself at the same time went on with other work. Sometimes a student read to him, while he was himself answering his correspondents. Correspondence was held not only with parents and guardians of his students, but with ministers, who often consulted him on questions of great moment, and applied for counsel; with learned men, desiring his opinion concerning critical difficulties, or works they were preparing for the press; with distinguished clergymen and laymen of the established church, often on questions of great delicacy and importance; with foreign gentlemen and theologians, with whom he was obliged to correspond in Latin and French. Many

hundred letters were received and answered in the course of a year. But he dispatched business with great facility. The contents of a book he rapidly possessed himself of, and so also his own thoughts were rapidly and clearly expressed even on the most abstruse points of inquiry.

It is surprising that his originally feeble constitution was adequate to such incessant application, and to so many engrossing forms of business. Recreation he did not seek, for useful mental toil was to him the highest pleasure. Doing nothing was to him fatiguing. He acted on the principle, and inculcated the same upon his students, that the best sort of relaxation was a change from one work to another. When an anxious friend advised him to preach less frequently, and to labor less assiduously, he replied, "Be in no pain. about me. I hope that we have the presence of God. among us, and that he is bearing testimony to the word of his grace. I take all the care of my health which is consistent with doing the proper duties of life; and when I find myself refreshed rather than fatigued with these attempts of service, I cannot think myself fairly discharged from continuing them." To another friend he offered a similar justification of his laborious manner of living: "I am indeed subject to a little cough, but I never preached with more freedom or pleasure. I am generally employed, with very short intervals, from morning to night, and have seldom more than six hours in bed; yet such is the goodness of God to me, that I seldom know what it is to be weary. I hope my labors are not in vain. This animates me in my labors."

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