FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 15^ \/. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/worksofreverendl01watt THE WORKS OF THE REVEREND AND LEARNED ISAAC WATTS, D.D. CONTAINING, BESIDES HIS SERMONS, AND ESSAYS ON MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS, SEVERAL ADDITIONAL PIECES, g>electe& from W iftanuacripte BY THE REV. DR. JENNINGS, AND THE REV. DR. DODDRIDGE, IN 1753 TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED, MEMOIRS OE THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. COMPILED BY THE REV. GEORGE BURDER. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. I. Honticm: PRINTED BY AND FOR J. BARFIELD, WARDOUR-STREET, PRINTER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES. 1810. v. » r a % ~ " DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTISPIECE. 3fH t])t Centre, beneath the Portrait of Dr. Watts, is the Bible, that holy book, the elucidation of which was the grand object of his life and labours — The Torch annexed, signifies the light thrown upon it by his learned and diligent researches. (J^lt t\)t fitft is a Lyre, the emblem of his poetical talents, which were so admirably employed in the service of devotion — A Globe, bedecked with Stars, resting on a Volume of his Philosophical Works, denotes his attention to Astronomy and other polite sciences ; while the Flame issuing from it, directs our thoughts to the end of time, and that eternal world towards which his pious writings are always conducting us. 0X1 tt)t iStjJ^t, the Caduceus and Sceptre, are emblems of his extraordinary talents and superior powers ; while the Temple of Fame denotes that high degree of reputation which his learning, piety, diligence, and usefulness, have so deservedly acquired. The Glory at tf)0 STop Of tl)0 JPftnt is in honour of the Redeemer, Jesus Salvator Hominum, to whom all the writings of our Author were sincerely devoted. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO BARFIELD'S EDITION OF DR. WATTS'S WORKS THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, Two Copies HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF WALES HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SUSSEX HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS OF BRUNSWICK, Two Copies Her Grace the Duchess of Argyll The Right Hon. the Earl of Aylesford Sir Thomas Acland, Bart. Exeter John Abbot, Esq. Kensington Robert Adair, Esq. Soho-square Mr. John Allen, Nicholas-lane Colonel Anderson, Baker-street William Ashlin, Esq. Cranford Fine Copy Rev. Mr. Atkinson, Margate 7 Copies J. Atkinson, Esq. Fenchurch-street Fine Copy The Right Hon. the Earl of Buckinghamshire Sir Frederick Baker, Bart. Fine Copy Thomas Bainbridge, Esq. Bedford-row Miss Baker, Charles-street, Berkeley-square John Bannister, Esq. Devizes, Wilts. Mrs. Battye, Kensington-Gore Mrs. Bell, Devonshire-place Mr. John Bird, Hatton-garden Thomas Blake, Esq. Bath Fine Copy Edward Bliss, Esq. Baker-street 2 Rev. Robert Bolton, Fording-bridge William Bradby, Esq. Newgate-street Samuel Brown, Esq. Camberwell Fine Copy Lieutenant Jobn Brown, R.N. Liverpool William Busbby, Esq. Great Cumberland-place Robert Button, Esq. Nayland, Suffolk William Byson, Esq. Liverpool The Right Hon. the Countess of Clare Henry Caslon, Esq. Chiswell-street Fine Copy S. Chatfield, Esq. Cooper's-row, Crutched-friars John Chippendale, Esq. Bunhill-row Mrs. Cholwick, Welbeck-street Charles Clifton, Esq. Brecon Fine Copy Francis William Cobb, Esq. Margate William Collings, Esq. Strand 2 Copies James Cooper, Esq. Sheffield Mr. William Cornwell, Camdcn-town Mrs. Corbett, Upper Thornhaugh-street The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Dartmouth Fine Copy The Right Hon. Lady Caroline Darner Robert Dalton, Esq. Camberwell John Dalton, Esq. Earle-street, Black friars Dr. Denman, Mount-street, Grosvenor-square Robert Dolphin, Esq. Camberwell Fine Copy Henry Dyett, Esq. Doughty-street The Most Noble the Marchioness of Exeter John Eccles, Esq. Liverpool William Eddowes, Esq. Albion-street, Blackfriars Mr. Thomas Edwards, Hatton-garden Mrs. Hugh Elliot, Lower Berkeley-street R. Ellis, Esq. Billiter-lanc Henry Ewer, Esq. Strand The Right Hon. Earl Ferrers The Right Hon. Viscount Fitzwilliam F. Copy The Hon. Mrs. Fortescue, Devonshire-place Mrs. Fitzgerald, Charles-street, St. James's James Ford, Esq. Lambeth-marsh The Right Hon. Lady Glenbervie Mr. Henry Godwin, Bath Richard Grant, Esq. Russell-place, Fitzroy-square Mr. William Gratty, Liverpool The Right Hon. the Earl of Hardwieke The Right Hon. Lady Fiances Harpur John Hammett, Esq. New Norfolk-street M.P. W. Harding, Esq. Lower Eaton-street, Pimlico John Hawkes, Esq. Duke-street, Portland-place Mr. Charles Hedge, Compton- street, Soho Higginson, Esq. Finsbury-square C. L. Hoggart, Esq. Old Broad-street F. Copy Henry Philip Hope, Esq. Seymour-place Mr. Thomas Hoppcy, Surrey-road Edward Howard, Esq. Golden-square T. Hudson, Esq. Winkuorth-buildings, Hoxton John lluffam, Esq. Pecklmm Mrs. Hughes, New Palace-yard Miss E. Hunter, Bath Fine Copy Joseph Hunt, Esq. Piccadilly Rev. J. Hyatt, Tottenham-court Chapel 7 Copies Rev. William Jay, Bath 10 Copies Rev. Charles Jervis, Clewer, near Windsor Robert Johnston, Esq. Greek-street J. Jortin, Esq. Charlotte-street, Bedford-square Lady Knightley, Manchester-square S. L. Kent, Esq. London-wall John Key, Esq. Abchurch-lane J -H. Key, Esq. Hampstend William Key, Esq. Finsbury-square Mr. G. Kirkman, Broad-street, Bloomsbury 2 Fine Copies G. Knill, Esq. Hans-place, Sloane street The Right Hon. the Dow. Countess of Liverpool Sir Egerton Leigh, Bart. Mrs. James Lawrell, Hill-street, Berkeley-square John Leete, Esq. Bridge-street Fine Copy Rev. J. Lewis, Islington John Living, Esq. Lemon-street Fine Copy John Lowder, Esq. Bath Fine Copy George Lumley, Esq. Spring-gardens The Right Hon. the Earl of Morton The Right Hon. Lady R. Manners Fine Copy The Right Hon. Lady Monson General Morse, Wimpole-street H. C. Mair, Esq. Cadogan-place, Sloane-street Mrs. E. F. Maitland, Hanover- square Miss Maitland, Peckham John Marks, Esq. Great Portland-street J. Marshall, Esq. Richmond-street Fine Copy T. Maude, Esq. Great George-st. Westminster Samuel Maxey, Esq. St. Alban's Mrs. Middleton, Upper Cadogan-place Mrs. Montague, Charterhouse-square John Morgan, Esq. Bedford-square Mrs. Morrison, Manchester-square Richard Moseley, Esq. Piccadilly Thomas Murrow, Esq. Liverpool James Neale, Esq. St. Paul's-church-yard C. Newby, Esq. Bloomsbury- place Charles Noel Noel, Esq. Cavendish- square M.P. J. Offley, Esq. Montague-street, Russiell sqnarr T. Owen, Esq. Chancery. lane The Rt. Hon. the Dow. Countess of Portsmouth The Right Hon. Lady Elizabeth Perceval John Page, Esq. Borough Fine Copy Martin Pearkes, Esq. Upper Harley-street Mr. Francis Penn, Pimlico Evan Phillips, Esq. Broad-street-buildings Mr. George Phillips, Oxford street Thomas Piatt, Esq. Stamford-street, Surrey-road G. M. Prendergast, Esq. Park-lane, M.P. Joshua Puget, Esq. Blandford-street The Right Hon. Lord Rivers J. Ramsey, Esq. Earle-street, Blackfriars Mrs. Reader, Brunswick-square Henry Uttrick Reay, Esq. York-place J. C. Reeves, Esq. Russell-square Fine Copy Mrs. Richardson, Berners-street D. J. Roper, Esq. Stamford-street, Surrey-road F. Roper, Esq. Hern-hill, Dulwich Fine Copy M. Ross, Esq. Red-lion-square Mrs. Ross, Great Coram-street, Russell-square Benjamin Rutt, Esq. Leadenhall-street The Rt.Rev. the Lord Bishop of Salisbury F.Copy J. Schweitzer, Esq. Middlesex-place, New-road. Rev. John Sheppard, Dean -street, Borough Mrs. Shum, Bedford-square Mrs. SimpsOn, Charlotte-street, Portland-place John Smart, Esq. Russell-place, Fitzroy- square Thomas Smith, Esq. Houndsditch Mrs. Spence, Hanover-square Thomas Spencer, Esq. Prescot, Sheffield Matthew Spragge, Esq. Crescent, Kingsland Rev. John Stonard, Laleham Thomas Stowers, Esq. Charterhouse-square J. F. Street, Esq. Woodford William Street, Esq. Bucklersbury F. C. Street, Esq. Gower-street, Bedford-square Rev. Mr. Strong, Montague place, Russell-squ. Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, Windsor David Thomas, Esq. Spring-gardens Edward Thomas, Esq. Soho-square Lemuel Thomas, Esq. Staining-lane Miss Eliza Thomas, Baltersea-square Miss Louisa Thomas, Battersea-square Mr. William Thurlborn, Hoi born Henry Townley, Esq. Doctors'- Commons Mrs. Townle}*, Ramsgate R. Turnbuli, Esq. Savage-gardens, Tower-hill Mrs. J. Turner, Woburn-place, Ilussell-square J. Upstone, Esq. Charles-st. Middlesex-hospital The Hon. Mrs. Vaughan, Montague-pl. Russell-sq. The Right Hon. the Earl of Waldegrave The Right Hon. Lord Willoughby De Broke D. P. Watts, Esq. Portland-place Thomas Walker, Esq. Piccadilly Mrs. Warden, King- street, Portman-square Rev. C. Warburton, Newhaven, Sussex Rev. Valentine Ward, Sheffield 10 Copies John Way, Esq. Wigmore-street James Webber, Esq. Balham-hill, Surrey Henry Wells, Esq. Nottingham Mr. Francis Westley, St. John's squaie Mrs. Col. Wheatley, York-place John Wheelwright, Esq. St. James's-street Mrs. Williams, Red-lion-square Fine Copy B. Wilson, Esq. Burton-on-Trent Fine Copy Mr. William Wilton, Cockspur-street Thomas Woodroffe, Esq. Stamford, Lincolnshire R. B. Wyatt, Esq. Newington-green CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. SERMONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, DIVINE AND MORAL. SERMONS I. II. III. TPAOB HE Inward Witness to Christianity. 1 John v. 10. - - 1, 11,21 Hymns ----------- 35 SERMON IV. Flesh and Spirit ; or, the Principles of Sin and Holiness. Rom. viii. 1. - - - - 36 Hymn ----------- 50 SERMONS V. VI. The Soul drawing near to God in Prayer; Sins and Sorrows spread before God. Job xxiii. 3, 4. 51,62 Hymns 61,71 SERMONS VII. VIII. A Hopeful Youth falling short of Heaven. Mark x. 21. 72,83 Hymns 82, 94 SERMONS IX. X. The Hidden Life of a Christian. Col. iii. S. Hymn 95, 108 - 121 SERMON XI. FACE Nearness to God the Felicity of Creatures. Psalm lxv. 4. -------- 122 Hymn -- - ^ ------- l^n SERMON XH. The Scale of Blessedness ; or, Blessed Saints, Blessed Saviour, and Blessed Trinitv. Psalm lxv. 4. --------- l.yj Hymn ---»-_____. 14; SERMONS XIII. XIV. Appearance before God here and hereafter. Psalm xhi. 2. -------- 144, 153 Hymns - - 161 SERMONS XV. XVI. XVH. A rational Defence of the Gospel; or, Cou- rage in professing Christianity. RomA. 16. 162, 174, 18.; Hymns -- 173, 192 SERMONS XVIII. XIX. Faith the Way to Salvation, and none ex- cluded from Hope. Rom. i. 16. - 193, 202 Hymns - - - - - - - - - 201,211 VI CONTENTS. SERMONS XX. XXL XXII. PAGE Christian Morality, viz. Truth, Sincerity, &c. Phil. iv. 8. - - - - 212, 223, 232 Hymns 231,242 SERMON XXIII. Christian Morality, viz. Gravity, Decency, &c. Phil. iv. 8. 243 Hymns - - 252 SERMONS XXIV. XXV. Christian Morality, viz. Justice, Equity, and Truth. Phil iv. 8. - - - - 253, 263 Hymns 202,272 SERMONS XXVI. XXVII. Christian Morality, viz. Justice, Purity, Temperance, Chastity, and Modesty. Phil. iv. 8. 273, 285 Hymns 284, 291 SERMON XXVIII. Christian Morality, viz. a lovely Carriage, &c. Phil. iv. 8. 292 Hymn 304 SERMON XXIX. Christian Morality, viz. Things of good Report, &c. Phil. iv. 8. 305 Hymn - - ---------315 SERMON XXX. Christian Morality, viz. Courage and Ho- nour, or Virtue and Praise. Phil. iv. 8. 316 Hymn 324 SERMONS XXXI. XXXII. PACK Holy Fortitude ; or, Remedies against Fear. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 325, 33Q Hymns 335, 348 SERMON XXXIII. The Universal Rule of Equity. Matt, vii. 12. 349 Hymn 360 SERMONS XXXIV. XXXV. XXXYT. The Atonement of Christ. Rom. iii. 25. 361,371, 384 Hymns - - 370, 383, 394 SERMONS XXXVII. XXXVIII. The Christian's Treasure. 1 Cor. iii. 21. 395, 406 Hymns --------- 405, 416 SERMON XXXIX. The right Improvement of Life. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 417 Hymn -- 428 SERMON XL. The Privilege of the Living above the Dead. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 4'29 Hymn - - --------- 442 SERMON XLI. The Death of Mankind, both Sinners and Saints, improved. 1 Cor. iii. 22. - - 443 Hymn - - --------- 455 SERMON XLH. The Death of Kindred improved. 1 Cor. iii. 22. ----------- 456 Hymn 463 CONTENTS. va SERMON XLIII. PAT, E Death a Blessing to the Saints. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 4(j4 Hymn - - --------- 477 SERMON XLIV. The Doctrine of the Trinity, and the Use of it. Eph. ii. 10. - - 478 Hymn - - - -------- 497 SERMON XLV. The Knowledge of God by the Light of Nature, together with the Uses of it, and its Defects. Acts xiv. 15, 16, 17. - - 498 SERMON XLVI. God's Election of a People for Himself among Men, and giving them to his Son in the Covenant of Redemption. Eph. i. 3,4,5. 509 SERMON XLVII. The Excellency and Advantages of the Chris- tian Dispensation, with the Invitations and Promises of the Gospel. Heb. viii. 6. 520 SERMON XLVIII. The Exaltation of Christ to his Kingdom, and his sending down the Holy Spirit. Acts ii. 33. - - - 530 SERMON XLIX. PAOl The perpetual Obligation of the Moral Law, the Evil of Sin, and its Desert of Punishment. 1 John iii. 4. - - - - 540 SERMON L. The Lord's Dav, or Christian's Sabbath. Gen. 550 SERMON LI. Christian Baptism. Matt, xxviii. 19- - - 559 SERMON LII. Christian Diligence, with the Blessings that attend it, in Opposition to Sloth, Secu- rity, Backsliding, &c. Prov. xiii. 4. - 5(58 SERMON LIH. Christian Fellowship, with its Duties and Advantages. Rom. xv. 6, 7- - - - - 575 SERMON LIV. To encourage the Reformation of Manners. JExorf.xvii.il. 585 SERMON LV. On the Death of George I. Isaiah v. 12. 601 EVANGELICAL Vlll CONTENTS. EVANGELICAL DISCOURSES ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS. DISCOURSE I. II. PAGE The Divine Commission of St. Paul exa- mined and established. Acts xxv. 18, 19- 620, 626 DISCOURSE III. IV. The Difference between the Law and the Gospel. Gal. iii. 21, 22. - - - 634, 642 DISCOURSE V. VI. The early Appointment of the Atonement of Christ manifested. Rev. xiii. 8. - 650, 656 DISCOURSE VII. VIII. God in Christ is the Saviour of the Ends of the Earth ; or, Faith represented in its lowest Degrees. Isaiah xlv. 22. - 664, 673 DISCOURSE IX. X. PACt Faith built on Knowledge. 2 Tim. i. 12. 680, 692 DISCOURSE XI. XII. The ordinary and extraordinary Witness of the Spirit. JRow.viii.l6. - - - 703,711 AN ESSAY On the Powers aud Contests of Flesh and Spirit ran MEMOIRS OF THE REV. ISAAC WATTS, D.D. VV E are strongly inclined to make ourselves acquainted with the history and cha- racter of our instructors. If we derive much pleasure from the writings of an author, we are naturally inquisitive respecting him, especially if he be a writer on theological subjects. We wish to know what are his qualifications for the sacred office of a teacher of religion; and we scarcely admit his claim to that character, until we can form a favourable opinion of his piety and talents. Hence the peculiar value of eccle- siastical biography, which becomes the more interesting, when the subject of it has acquired great celebrity in the church of Christ ; when his writings are read by thou- sands of thousands ; when his works, after having stood the test of a century, not only maintain their place in the public esteem, but become more and more valuable in the opinion of wise and good men. Such is the rank which the following Works of Dr. Watts hold in the literary and religious world. It may therefore be reasonably expected, that a new and standard edition of his writings should be accompanied with a full and impartial account of their author. This we are now enabled to effect, in a manner superior to that which was in the power of those worthy men, Dr. D. Jennings and Dr. P. Doddridge, who superintended the first edition of his works. The Life of Dr. Watts, prefixed to that publication, was by no means calculated to satisfy the mind of an inquisitive reader; nor was it worthy of the great and good man whose memoirs it contains.* Since that period, several writers have favoured the public with larger accounts of his life, particularly Dr. Gibbons, whose memoirs were derived from an intimate acquaintance with the Doctor himself; from his brother, Mr. Enoch Watts ; from original letters ; and from other authentic sources of information. Dr. Johnson also, in his Lives of the Poets, has with a masterly pen drawn the character of our author — a character which, perhaps, does him the greater honour, as the writer was far from being partial to that religious body which produced, and has been so much honoured by, Dr. Watts. From these memoirs, and some others of less consideration, the editor has compiled the following pages, which he trusts will present to the reader a fair and full delineation of one of the most excellent and useful characters that ever adorned the christian church. * As aii apology for the first editors of his works, it may be observed, that they state it to have been the wish of Dr. Watts, that no history of his life should be published ; that he absolutely declined providing any materials foi that purpose ; and that he desired his character might stand in the world merely as it would appear in his works Whatever influence this humble wish of the author might have had on the minds of his particular friends, it caiuiot now be considered as a prohibition. The life of a great and good man is public property ; and the light of his cha- racter must not be concealed any more than that of his works. VOL. I. b MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. Southampton had the honour of giving- birth to Dr. Isaac Watts. He was born there July 17, 1674. His father was a very worthy and respectable man, who presided over a boarding school of considerable reputation. He was a dissenter, and had suffered imprisonment for his nonconformity; during which, it is said, that the mother of Dr. Watts has been known to sit on a stone, near the prison door, suckling her son Isaac* The inclination of Isaac Watts to literary pursuits discovered itself at a period un- usually early. Before he could speak with perfect plainness, he would say, when money was given to him — " A book, a book — buy a book." His early desire of learning was gratified by his intelligent father, so that he began to learn Latin when only four \ ears * The grandfather and grandmother of Dr. Watts were also persons of excellent character. The former, Mr. Thomas Watts, was a gentleman of various and remarkable acquirements. He was well acquainted with mathe- matics, painting, music, and poetry. He was also a man of great personal courage. The editor has been assured by a descendant of the Doctor's sister, now living, that being in the East Indies, and in danger of being seized by a tiger, he took refuge in a river, into which the furious animal followed him, swimming. Mr. Watts approached the tiger, and by forcing his head under water, preserved his own life, and destroyed that of his enemy. This gentleman became the commander of a ship of war, which being on fire, he was drowned in his endeavours to escape from the conflagration. The relict of Mr. Thomas Watts survived many years. To her memory Dr. Watts devotes a poem in his Horse Lyricae — " On the death of an aged and honoured relative, July 13, l6'93." The father of Dr. Watts, who had a numerous family, lived to a good old age, and enjoyed one of the highest •.'ratifications on earth — that of witnessing the growing fame and extending usefulness of his son Isaac, the eldest of his nine children. The following verses, written by the old gentleman at the advanced age of eighty-five, afford a pleasing testimony of his piety and talents, though inferior, in poetical merit, to the productions of his son. Worn with the toils of fourscore years and five, A weary pilgrim, Lord, to thee I come ; To beg supporting grace, till I arrive At beav'n, thy promis'd rest, my wish'd-for home. Here's nothing to invite my longer stay Among the darksome melancholy cells ; When shall I leave this tenement of clay ? Fain would I be where my Redeemer dwells. Oh ! had I but some generous seraph's wing, There's nothing should prevail to keep me here; But with the morning lark I'd mount and sing, Till I had left earth's gloomy atmosphere : My soul directly rising upward still, Till I should reach the glorious courts above, Where endless pleasure my desires shall fill, And solac'd be with my dear Jesus' love. With sweet refreshment, on such things as these, My serious thoughts have often been employ'd ; Hut how much more will happiness increase, When more than can be thought will be enjoy 'd ? These lines are copied from the " Posthumous Works of Dr. Watts," as they are called, in which they are twice inserted ; in page '28 as the composition of the father; in page l6"7 as the work of the son. A sad instance of the carelessness of the editor, ;> gay young man, to whose care a box of manuscripts, left by Mr. Watts, Sen. had been committed by one of the family. A selection from these, with some imperfect sketches of the Doctor's hymns, and sonic letters between him and Mr. Bradbury (which ought never to have been published), formed a wretched work, unjustly styled, " The Posthumous Works of Dr. Watts." The book is little known, and will soon sink into complete oblivion. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xi old. His education was first entrusted to the superintendence of a worthy clergyman, the Rev. John Pinhorne, master of the grammar school at Southampton ; of whose able attention to his improvement, the Doctor bears honourable testimony in a Latin ode, inscribed to that valuable man. It is unnecessary to say, that young Watts made a con- siderable proficiency in the learned languages ; his works are the best monuments of his classical acquirements. The marks of superior genius were soon discovered by his worthy parents. Mrs. Watts, it seems, sometimes employed the pupils, after school hours, in composing a few lines of poetry, for which she would reward each of them with a farthing. On one of these occasions, Isaac being requested to do the same, produced the following couplet : " I write not for a farthing, but to try How I your farthing writers can outvie." About the same time, his piety, as well as his talents, became conspicuous. In an acrostic on his own name, we have the following lines, predictive, as it were, of his future character in the church — the sweet singer of the British Israel. W ash me in thy blood, O Christ, A nd grace divine impart ; T hen search and try the corners of my heart, T hat I in all things may be fit to do S ervice to thee, and sing thy praises too. The promising talents of Isaac Watts soon recommended him to the attention of the neighbouring gentlemen. It was to the honour of Dr. Speed, a physician of South- ampton, that he proposed to support him by subscription at one of the English univer- sities ; but his attachment to the cause of nonconformity, though at that time oppressed, would not suffer him to accept the generous offer. " I am determined," said he, " to take my lot with the dissenters." Having well studied the principles of nonconformity, on which, probably, the sufferings of his father had afforded some useful lessons, and being satisfied that those principles were most congenial with a kingdom " not of this world," he readily declined the flat- tering prospects of elevation and emolument, which his abilities and the proposed patronage offered to his view ; and in these principles, candid as he was to pious christians of every denomination, he continued stedfast to the end of his days. In consequence of this resolution, having already made considerable advances in classical learning, he was placed under the care of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, then pastor of a dis- senting congregation at Haberdashers' Hall, London, and tutor of a seminary for the education of students in divinity.* Here his conduct was in all respects so excellent, * From the first general incorporation of the dissenting interest, occasioned by the rigid persecutions of the hierar- chy, after the restoration of Charles II. the body of nonconformists have always deemed it an important object to provide a succession of ministers competently qualified with divine and human knowledge. Deprived of the splendid advantages of Oxford and Cambridge, they have endeavoured, and with no inconsiderable success, to supply the necessities of their churches by seminaries of a more private and humble kind. In every dissenting academy, founded on evangelical principles, satisfactory evidence is required, that the candidates for admission have experienced the power of religion upon their hearts, that they have suitable capacities for the reception of knowledge, and that they are possessed of talents adapted to the service of the church. During their academical residence, vigilant b 2 xii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. that his tutor declared, he never gave him any occasion of reproof, but his behaviour was so exemplary, that he was often proposed as a pattern to his fellow-students. While he was a student in this academy, he became a member of the church, in his nineteenth year, under the pastoral care of his tutor.* The diligence and success with which Mr. Watts pursued his studies, may be judged of by the dissertations which he left in manuscript, some of which may be seen in Dr. Gib- bons's work.f " These," says Dr. Johnson, " shew a degree of knowledge, both philo- sophical and theological, such as very few attain by a much longer course of study." Happily for those who wish to imitate this successful student, the methods by which he rose to eminence may be learned from his writings, especially from that admirable work, " The Improvement of the Mind." From hence it appears, that his method of study was to impress upon his memory the contents of whatever books he read, by abridging them ; and sometimes, by interleaving them, to amplify one system with supplements from another, of which Dr. Gibbons has given some curious and instructive instances. He abridged Theophilus Gale's learned treatise, " The Court of the Gentiles," and it is much to be regretted that his abridgment should be buried in oblivion. He epitomized a treatise of Lewis de la Forge upon the human mind, and extracted a number of " Logical Questions from Burgendicius and Heereboord," two celebrated foreign writers. The Westminster Greek Grammar he interleaved, and improved by extracts and corrections from the grammars of Dr. Busby and Mr. Leeds. His labours in this way amounted to several considerable volumes in attention is paid to maintaining inviolate the honours of practical godliness ; and that residence would, in any instance, he terminated hy an act of immoral or scandalous conduct. In the whole course of study, supreme homage is paid to the Word of OiOD ; and languages and sciences are pursued with a constant reference to the increase of divine wisdom and general usefulness. When these advantages are duly considered, dissenters have good reason to be reconciled to their exclusion from the noble endowments, the magnificent libraries, and the splendid honours of those universities. Dr, Knox has made the following candid remarks on this subject : " I believe it to have been a very happy circumstance for Mr. Seeker (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), that he was educated in a dissenting academy, and under so good a tutor. I attribute much of his future eminence to this circumstance, as well as to the connection he fortunately formed there, that purity, that dignity, that decency of character, which enabled him to fill the great offices of the church with singular weight and efficacy. Educated in the dissenting persuasion, and under dissenting tutors, he had paid less attention to polite letters, and more to divi- nity, than is usually bestowed by students in the universities. Young men in Oxford and Cambridge frequently arrive at an age for orders, and become successful candidates for them, who have studied scarcely any other divinity than such as is to be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Tooke's Pantheon. Few regularly bred divines, as they are termed, apply themselves to divinity at so early an age ; and, indeed, through the defect of a knowledge, and of a taste for it in youth, many, after obtaining orders, still continue to study, if they study at all, the theology of Athens and Rome. But the dissenters study divinity at an early age ; and if they had united the study of the belles lettres with it in due proportion, I believe their divines would have made a still more honourable appearance than they have done, though they are, and ever have been, highly respectable." The importance of this remark is now generally acknowledged by the conductors of the most respectable dissenting seminaries, and improvements have been adopted in their plans of education, to render them as complete as circumstances will permit. * Among the fellow-students of Dr. Watts was Mr. Hughes, the poet, and Mr. Horte, who afterwards conformed, and became Archbishop of Tuam. Mr. Say, the successor of Mr.jEdward Calainy, was also of their number. t Dr. Gibbons has printed from a MS. volume, containing twenty-two Latin theses, two on tlie following subjects: " An Deus sit verax 3" and " An mens huiuaua sit inunaterialis 1" both which he has translated into English. He has also given dissertations on the following subjects : " Whether the doctrine of justification by faith alone tends to licentiousness V and " Whether self-denial, in things in themselves iudinerent, be not in some cases necessary J" MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xiii MS. and it is probable that he pursued the other methods recommended in his treatise, such as making indexes and tables of contents to books that wanted them ; writing anno- tations in the margin and blank leaves, either to confirm, illustrate, or confute his author, as he thought necessary. It is peculiarly worthy of remark, with what zeal and modesty, piety and candour, he sought for truth, particularly in the study of the scriptures ; constantly imploring the teaching of the Holy Spirit as his guide ; always proposing his own opinions with diffi- dence, and defending them with moderation. It is equally to his- honour that all his studies, and even his amusements, were directed to one end — the grand aim of his life and ministry. Even his lighter compositions discover a vein of seriousness ; and he seldom translates or imitates a heathen poet, but he either makes him a christian in the end, or shews his deficiency in not being one. The classics have doubtless their use, as well as beauties ; but it is much to be feared, that their indiscriminate perusal leads many of our youth into the paths of vice, strewed with the flowers of Parnassus ; and it is truly dis- graceful to divines (professionally such), when they copy the licentious and profane sen- timents of the gentile poets. Surely if Virgil and Horace had been christians, they would never have celebrated the pagan idols, as some of their modern imitators have done ; at least, we have no example of this kind in the early converts to Christianity. They would rather have spurned the whole rabble of fictitious deities, in the spirit of Watts himself: u Thy name, Almighty Sire, and thine Jesus, where his full glories shine Shall consecrate my lays." * During the time of his studies, Mr. Watts cultivated an acquaintance with the Muses ; or, as he modestly expresses it, was " a maker of verses," from fifteen years of age. His Latin epistle to his brother Enoch " going a voyage" is dated in his seventeenth year (1691), and his verses to Mr. (afterwards archbishop) Horte, his Latin epistle to his bro- ther Richard, the physician, with several other pieces, both Latin and English, published in his Lyric Odes, were written, we believe, before he was twenty. The only circumstance our author seems to have regretted in his early studies is, that they were midnight studies, and against this he cautions future students very patheti- cally, as indeed many others have done, who have felt their pernicious consequences to the close of life.y When Mr. Watts had finished his studies, at the age of twenty, he returned and spent two years under his father's roof, where, instead of entering immediately on his public work, he endeavoured to improve himself farther in the branches of knowledge imme- diately connected with his profession; and now a circumstance occurred which laid the foundation of his future popularity as a christian poet. He attended the same mi- nistry as his father, who was perhaps at this very time a deacon of the church. The poetical compositions here sung were of a very humble class, and our young poet could not help expressing his disgust at them, regretting that his favourite part of worship * See his poem to Mr. Pinhorne, and Dr. Gibbons's translation. t " Midnight studies are prejudicial to nature, and painful experience calls me to repent of the faults of my younger years, and there are many before me have had the same call to repentance." Sermon xx. xlv MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. i - — - — , _ _ — _ . 1 ■ - -i ■" — ■— — ■ - - ■ .... — . — — - — — — . — . m .should be so miserably performed.* His father, knowing his poetical turn, desired him to try if he could do better. He did so. One hymn after another was produced and approved ; and he was encouraged to proceed, till, even before he left his father, he had composed a considerable number of his hymns, though he did not publish them for seve- ral years after. From his father's house he was invited by Sir John Hartopp, Bart, to reside in his family at Stoke Newington, as tutor to his son, where he spent five years very agreeably in superintending Mr. Hartopp's studies, while at the same time he did not neglect his own. He now felt the want of good elementary books for a liberal education, and here probably laid the plans, and collected part of the materials, of several of his subsequent publications, particularly his Logic, Geography, and Astronomy. Mr. Watts's long silence, after completing his studies with such eclat, and in the prime of his health, can only be accounted for from his extreme diffidence. On the day, how- ever, which completed his twenty-fourth year (1698), he preached his first sermon ; and his ministry meeting with great acceptance, the same year he was chosen assistant to Dr. Chauncy, pastor of the independent congregation in Mark-lane, London. His minis- terial labours, however, were soon interrupted by a painful illness, of five months conti- nuance ; in which he learned that patience in suffering was a part of christian duty no less important than activity in labour. His health being gradually restored, he returned to his public duty ; and upon Dr. Chauncy 's resignation, in January, 1702, Mr. Watts was called to succeed liiin, in the same church of which the famous Dr. John Owen had formerly been pastor. This call, with great diffidence and modesty, and after much deliberation, he accepted on March 8th, the very day on which King William died — a day very discouraging and alarming to the dissenting interest. Mr. Watts, who had not entered upon the service of God without duly counting the cost, was not to be discouraged by difficulties, nor deterred by opposition. His public declaration of acquiescence in the choice of the church (of which some abstracts are here subjoined) will gratify every reader of spiritual discernment. " Brethren, " You know the constant aversion I have had to any proposals of a pastoral office for these three years. You know also, that since you have given me a unanimous call thereto, I have proposed several methods for your settlement without me, but your choice and your affections seemed to be still unmoved. I have objected my own indis- position of body, and I have pointed to three divines, members of this church, whose gifts might render them more proper for instruction, and their age for government. These things I have urged till I have provoked you to sorrow and tears, and till 1 ui\m ll have been almost ashamed. But your perseverance in your choice, your constant pro- fession of edification by my ministry, the great probability you shew me of building up this famous and decayed church of Christ, and your prevailing fears of its dissolution if I refuse, have given me ground to believe, that the voice of this church is the voice of Christ; and to answer this call, I have not consulted with flesh and blood: 1 have laid aside the thoughts of myself to serve the interest of our Lord. I give up my own ease ' Gibbons, p. 254 MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xv ^^^^ ,— ^— ^— — — — — sbsb SSSSS SSSSSSS BBBE ""^ "^ — for your spiritual profit and your increase. 1 submit my inclinations to my duty, and in hopes of being- made an instrument to build up this ancient church, I return this solemn answer to your call, that, with a great sense of my own inability, in mind and body, to discharge the duties of so sacred an office, I do, in the strength of Christ, venture upon it,, and in his name I accept your call, promising, in the presence of God and his saints, my utmost diligence in all the duties of a pastor, so fan as God shall enlighten and strengthen me ; and I lea> e this promise in the hands of Christ our Mediator, to see it performed by me unto you, through the assistance of his grace and Spirit." Ten days after this he was ordained in the method customary among dissenters, by " the laying on of the hands of the presbytery," or the elders, that is, the pastors, of neighbouring churches. The ministers engaged on this occasion were, the Rev. M. Clark, T. Collins, T. Ridgely, B. Rowe, and T. Rowe, his tutor. His ministerial work was again soon suspended by a painful and alarming illness, from which his recovery was very slow and gradual. It was therefore judged necessary to provide him an assistant in the person of Mr. Samuel Price, in July 1703, who, ten years after, was ordained co-pastor with him ; and the most cordial friendship subsisted between these amiable men for the remainder of their lives. In June 1704 this congregation removed, on account of the decayed state of the build- ing, from Mark Lane to Pinner's Hall, where Mr. Watts, when able, preached every Sunday morning, till the people built a new meeting-house in Berry Street, which was opened in 1708, and became the future scene of his ministerial labours. We must now introduce our young divine to the reader as an author of the first emi- * nence in a certain line, and of great respectability in almost every walk of literature : Dr. Jennings, who preached his funeral sermon, questions whether any author before Dr. Watts ever appeared with reputation on such a variety of subjects as he has done, both as a prose writer and a poet. It has been observed of literary men, and particularly of divines, that from the even tenour of their lives they afford little interest to the reader. This may be true of minor writers, whose works frequently die with them ; but cannot apply to such characters as Watts, many of whose writings have produced far greater benefits to mankind than the noisy exploits of heroes and statesmen, and will probably remain coeval with our lan- guage. His labours have been the means of instructing thousands of the rising genera- tions in the first principles of morals and religion ; and while he has taught our children to read, he has instructed our philosophers in the art of reasoning. His sermons and treatises have taught theology to our divines, and his psalms and hymns have led the devotion of millions in their public worship, and animated the praises of thousands on their dying beds. The year 1706 introduced to the world his first work, the Hor^e Lyrics ;* and, ex- cepting the years of his indisposition, we shall find few that were not distinguished by some valuable production. The preface to the Lyric Poems contains a defence of sacred poetry, which one would be tempted to think Dr. Johnson had never read, though he incorporated the poems in his poetical collection ; or it is difficult to account for his saying of devotional poetry, ? gee Vol. IV. xvi MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. " the paucity of its topics enforces perpetual repetition ; and the sanctity of the matter rejects the ornaments of figurative diction." * On the contrary, our author has shewn that the sacred poet possesses advantages almost infinite, in the variety as well as the dignity of his topics ; and that they reject no embellishments, though they require them to be used with judgment. So a fine person, though always commanding respect, will appear to most advantage in a dress of becoming dignity and splendour. The best answer to the objection of our critic (as well as to his predecessor Boileau, who urged the same objection) is to be found in the odes themselves, where the various topics of divinity are treated with unprecedented ability. Nothing uninspired can be more sublime than the third hymn, on God's dominion and decrees, particularly from the seventh verse. " Chained to his throne a volume lies With all the fates of men," &c. The following piece on the " Divine Judgments," in Pindaric measure, is in the true spirit of that poet, and the concluding lines breathe the most exalted piety : " Be thou my God, and the whole world is mine : While thou art Sov'reign I'm secure ; I shall be rich till thou art poor; For all I fear, and all I wish, heaven, earth, and hell, are thine !" It is not our design, however, to write a commentary ; if any part of the volume be thought to need apology, it may be the Hymns on Divine Love, on the model of the Song of Solomon. To those who admit this book into their sacred canon, that may be deemed sufficient authority ; and others may be referred to some of the compositions of David, Isaiah, and Hosea. The fact is, " to the pure all things are pure ;" while a defiled imagination will find food for its licentious appetite in the songs of heaven. Nothing is more offensive to the ears of the world, than the language of a saint upon the verge of glory. It being observed to Dr. Finley (a late president of New Jersey College, in America) in his last illness, that he always used the expression " Dear Lord" in his prayers, he replied, " Oh! he is very dear — very precious indeed !"f That such ex- pressions should ever excite a carnal idea, can only arise from an extreme carnality in our affections. Old-Testament saints are described as those who love the Lord, and to the New-Testament believers he is precious. We are not, however, pleading for the fre- quent and indiscriminate use of such expressions, which, though they appear decorous from the lips of genuine piety, are exceedingly disgustful from the mouths of light and wanton professors. J " As a poet, (says Dr. Johnson), had he been only a poet, he would probably have stood high among the authors with whom he is now associated. For his judgment was exact, and he noted beauties and faults with very nice discernment; his imagination, as the Dacian Battle proves, was vigorous and active, and the stores of knowledge were * Dr. Johnson's Prefaces to the Poets, Vol. IV. t Evangelical Magazine, Nov. 1805. X In his preface to the Lyric Poems, p. 23, the Doctor makes the following declaration — " Among the songs that are dedicated to divine love, I think 1 may be hold to assert, that I never composed one line of them with uny other design than what they are applied to here ; and I have endeavoured to secure them all from being per- verted and debased to wanton passions, by several lines in them that can never be applied to a meaner love." MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xvH large by which his fancy was to be supplied. His cur was well tuned, and his diction >\as elegant and copious." In a following paragraph, however, some abatements are made in this poetical cha racter. Though " his imagination was vigorous and active," it is asked, " who dors ooi wish for a greater measure of vigour in his writings?" Though " his ear was well tuned, yet " his rhymes are not always sufficiently correspondent." These little inconsistencies shew the difficulty of acting the professional critic, when a man is obliged to find fault with others to shew his own sagacity. It must be owned, however, he was not always exact in his rhymes, and he offers an apology for it in his hymns, namely, the frequent recurrence of scriptural and theological terms, which admit few words to rhyme with them. Our author also constantly prefers sense to sound ; and we may add, that, in his time, it was allowed to make those accommodations in the pronunciation of certain letters which would hardly be now tolerated; such, for instance, as the two sounds of y in sky and free* to each of which he admits the word liberty as a sufficient chime. But we must proceed to his Hymns, of which the occasion has been already intimated. A curious letter from his brother Enoch is preserved, in which he urges him to the pub- lication of his Hymns, and the whole is so interesting and lively that we shall subjoin it to this memoir. But notwithstanding this and other solicitations, the first edition of his Hymns was not published till 1707, when the copy-right was sold to Mr. Lawrence, the bookseller, for 101. only, as was Milton's Paradise Lost about half a century before for 151. — Query. Could these copy-rights be now re-assumed by an individual, with the then supposed perpetuity of copy-right, at what price would they be estimated ? A few thou- sands would not pay for either. Sometime in 1712 we find our poet at Tunbridge Wells, and in a cheerful moment writing a fewr verses on Lady Sunderland, whose person and accomplishments were then the admiration of the fashionable world : The only instance in which we find him in- dulging his muse in any thing like gallantry, or mere compliment ; and this was on a peculiar occasion. Some anonymous verses having been attributed to Mr. Watts, which he thought bordered on profaneness, he wrote these to shew that a poet might flatter very sufficiently without borrowing any of the attributes of Divinity. In September, Mr. Watts was seized with a most alarming fever, which shook his con- stitution, and left a weakness upon his nerves which he never wholly recovered. His sweet and profitable reflections during this long illness, are preserved in his Miscellaneous Thoughts, No. XLVH,f wherein he describes the hurry of his spirits in a nervous fever — the inward peace of mind he enjoyed — and his prospects of returning health. * See Art of Reading, Vol. IV. Chap. xx. t Yet, gracious God, amidst these storms of nature, Thine eyes behold a sweet and sacred calm Reign through the realms of conscience. All within Lies peaceful, all compos'd. 'Tis wondrous grace Keeps oft" thy terrors from this humble bosom. Though stain'd with sins and fullies yet serene In penitential peace, and cheerful hope, Sprinkled and guarded with atoning blood. Thy vital smiles, amidst this desolation, Like heav'nly sunbeams hid behind the clouds, Break out in happy moments with bright radiance VOL. I. C Nviii MEMOIRS OF THE REV\ DR. WATTS. Painful and distressing as was this affliction, it was attended with a most consoling circumstance — his introduction to the acquaintance of Sir Thomas Abney, Knt. and Alderman, and then Lord Mayor of London, in whose family, at Newington, he spent the remainder of his days ; and where he enjoyed every comfort which generous opulence and christian friendship could afford ; with every convenience for retirement, study, and composition. Before this illness, our author had been encouraged by the rapid sale of his Hymns, and the general approbation they had met with, to attempt a version of the Psalms, upon a new plan. By this time they had been nearly half composed, and the long cessation of his public labours now gave him the opportunity, as his health gradually recovered, to complete his design by the year 1719, when they were first published, and four thousand sold within the year. " If an author's own opinion may be taken," says the Doctor in one of his prefaces, " he esteems it to be the greatest work that ever he has published, or ever hopes to do for the use of the churches." Dr. Rippon adds, " they had not long appeared at the bar of the public, before the general voice (with one or two illustrious exceptions) pronounced a flattering verdict on them — a verdict the wisdom and justice of which have now been sanctioned by the imprimatur, I had almost said, of half a world."* One of the above exceptions was the Rev. Thomas Bradbury ; an independent mi- nister of eminence ; who, though he at first encouraged that design, afterwards animad- verted very severely on its execution ; but he was a gentleman singular in his taste ; and among other eccentricities would never suffer his clerk to sing a triple time tune, which he humourously used to call " a long leg and a short one." Mr. Bradbury, greatly pre- ferring a translation to an imitation of the Psalms, was satisfied with singing the bald version of Dr. Patrick to his dying day. Our author's plan and method of interpretation are fully stated in his preface to the first editions of his Paraphrase, and in his Essay on the " Improvement of Psalmody," which is " An Inquiry how the Psalms of David ought to be translated into Christian Songs, and how lawful and necessary it is to compose other Hymns according to the rlearer Revelations of the Gospel, for the Use of the Christian Church." Various opinions have been formed of the Doctor's Psalms and Hymns. Those mi- nisters who think that the words of the inspired penman, or rather a literal translation of them, alone ought to be sung in public worship, of course decline the use of Dr. Watts. The established churches of England and Scotland still adhere to this plan of a close version, and we believe most of the protestant churches on the continent. But those who are offended with the freedom assumed by our author should recollect that he pre- Cleaving the gloom, the fair celestial light, Softens and gilds the horrors of the storm And richest cordials to the heart conveys. O glorious solace of immense distress, A conscience and a God 1 A friend at home, And better friend on high ! This is my rock Of firm support, my shield of sure defence Against infernal arrows. Rise, my soul, Put on thy courage. Here's the living spring Of joys divinely sweet and ever new, A peaceful conscience, and a smiling heav*n. • Sermon before the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge, preached Nov. 17, 1802, p. 41. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. nix sented to the world, not a version, but an imitation of the Psalms; a kind of paraphrase, in which, of course, the author's private judgment of the intention of the sacred write! would be given, except in those psahns, the application of which to the Messiah is ju. li- fted by the New Testament writers. The general opinion, however, of both the Psalms and Hymns, best appears from their adoption by millions of christians in this and other countries, whose devotions have been animated by that strain of evangelical piety which distinguishes them, and which has given a superiority, in that part of worship, to congregations where they have been employ ed, above others, where the dull and flat stanzas of Sternhold and Hopkins are yet continued. If, however, good men are still of opinion that a literal translation is most appropriate to the worship of God, they would do well to encourage the best poets to try their skill in versifying a corrected translation of David's sacred odes. Of the comparative merits of the Hymns and Psalms, considered as poetic composi- tions, different estimates have been formed. If the former excel in vigour of imagination and originality, it must be remembered that the latter were a paraphrase, and, as sucli, necessarily restricted by the text. A little more variety was, however, admitted in the measures, and some elevation was certainly derived from the sublimity of the inspired text.* It could not have been later than this period that the Doctor composed his Divine and Moral Songs for Children, which have been the delight of infant minds from that day to the present, and probably will be for ages to come. They have received honour- able mention from the pen of Dr. Johnson, and high encomiums from Dr. Gibbons and innumerable others. A pious Welsh divine says, " I have seen the sweet delight and joy with which they have been read by many of the young. On the hearts of five children in my own connexions they have, by the blessing of God, made deep impressions ; and one of these the other day died comfortably, repeating them within a few minutes before his departure." A thousand such testimonies might be produced ; but the following in- stance of the conversion of a mother by their means is still more striking : — A poor wretched girl, religiously educated, but now abandoned to misery and want with an ille-1 gitimate child, was struck with horror at hearing this infant daughter repeat, so soon as she could well speak, some of the profane language she had taught her by example. She trembled at the thought that she was not only going to hell herself, but leading her child thither. She instantly resolved, that the first sixpence she could procure should pur- chase Watts's Divine Songs, of which she had some recollection, to teach her infant daugh- ter. She did so, and on opening the book, her eye caught the following striking stanza : " Just as the tree cut down, that falls To north or southward, there it lies : So man departs to heaven or hell, Fix'd in the state wherein he dies." She read on — the event was her conversion, and she lived and died an honourable pro- fessor of religion. * To Dr. Watts's successful exertions in sacred poetry, we probably owe the praiseworthy efforts of his successors in the same useful department, who, though they have not equalled him, have nevertheless contributed much to the edification of the christian world : \Ve refer especially to the productions of Doddridge, Wesley, Miss Steele, Newton, and perhaps Cowper himself. c2 xx MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. It is impossible to calculate the number which has been dispersed of these humble compositions ; but we have authority for saying-, that by two societies alone (the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor, and the Religious Tract Society) more than 100,000 have been circulated — that not less than thirty editions are kept in print in England only, and that the annual circulation in this country considerably exceeds 50,000, besides the multitudes printed in Wales, Scotland, and America. During the first years of his ministry, Mr. Watts delivered a series of discourses to a number of young persons, who associated for prayer in the vestry of his meeting-house. These were afterwards, and probably during his long confinement, corrected and arranged in a little volume called A Guide to Prayer,* in which the subject is scientifically con- sidered, and we are taught to pray by rule without a form, as a middle way to avoid the incoherence and incorrectness which had been complained of in extemporary prayer, without the mind being fettered with the strictness of a liturgy. Readers w ill think dif- ferently of this work, according to their respective systems ; but all must own that the author's method was judicious, and that his directions are full of piety and wisdom. In 1720 Mr. Watts published his Art of Reading,! at present one of the least valu- able of his works, as some of the rules are become obsolete, and every thing valuable has been copied into some or other of the numerous spelling-books which have succeeded during almost another century. The plan of this little book was laid, as himself informs us, in his long illness. While confined from public work, and kindly nursed in the family of Sir Thomas, he compiled it for the use of his daughters, the three Miss Abneys; and when, a few years afterwards, this amiable family instituted a charity school at Cheshunt, the work was finished and published for their use. The next year (1721) our divine engaged in more important labours, and published the first volume of his Sermon s,§ the occasion of which himself explains. His repeated afflictions had very much circumscribed his public labours. For a long time he was unable to preach at all, and when he did it was with such weakness and pain, that after preaching he was often obliged to retire to bed, and have the room closed in darkness and silence ; and as he wras incapacitated for public labour, so he was for the more pri- vate duties of his pastoral office, such as visiting his flock at their habitations, and con- versing with them. This filled him with anxiety and regret, and induced him to present his people with a volume of discourses from the press, that they might read in their fami- lies the same truths, which they had heard with so much pleasure from his lips. In reviewing these discourses it may be justly remark ed, that they possess uncommon excellence, and in some respects, notwithstanding the many volumes of sermons since published, have never been exceeded, or even equalled. The beautiful perspicuity and simplicity of their style renders them familiar to the meanest capacities. Their origi- nality of thought, and the happy illustrations that abound in them, discover the genius of tli«- writer ; but the fervour of his exhortations, his close addresses to the conscience, and the rich veins of evangelical truth and christian experience in every discourse, shew the christian divine in full proportion. Tin; only thing that can be justly objected to is, that they contain redundancies of expression, and some slight inaccuracies, not exactly con- formable to the critical taste of the present age. It is to be remembered, however, that they were written or revised in the chamber of sickness ; many of them perhaps with an * See Vol. III. \ See Vol. IV. § See Vol. I. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxi aching- head, and a trembling hand. If they do not, in general, smell of the lamp of study so much as some productions of the present age, they partake more of the holy unction of the gospel. As to the delivery of these discourses in the pulpit, Mr. Watts, in part, read them; not confining himself wholly to his notes, but amplifying, or altering, as he found inclination or occasion, and that with the utmost ease and freedom.* In a few instances he confessed himself a little daunted when he saw men of the first literary eminence before him ; but he recovered himself, he says, when he recollected the words of the Lord to Jeremiah, " Fear not their faces, lest I confound thee before them." He used very little action ; but in the art of pronunciation, Dr. Johnson (from the infor- mation of his friend Hawkesworth) preferred his delivery to that of the celebrated Dr. Foster. It is probable, at least, that it was better adapted to the gravity of the pulpit, and it is certain that his discourses were far more evangelical. In prayer he was remark- ably distinct, perspicuous, and solemn. It is particularly remarked, that Mr. Watts, both in prayer and preaching, frequently paused to give his hearers the better opportunity of understanding and recollection. This indeed does not accord with the rules of Greek and Roman orators, who addressed rather the passions than the understanding, and whose object was to bear down all opposition, like a mighty torrent. The gospel, how- ever, being designed to produce more important and permanent effects, disowns and renounces this species of eloquence, and founds all the duties of our religion on a know- ledge of its leading principles. It does, indeed, address the passions, but it is through the understanding ; and bears down opposition, not by the force of oratory, but of evidence. In 1722 our author published his excellent " Discourses upon Death and Heaven," which had been preached on the death of good Sir John Hartopp and his Lady.'f If in these sermons we meet with some conjectures on the employment of heaven, not expressly sanctioned by the scriptures, let them be treated as the conjectures of a christian philo- sopher and a saint, who had himself stood long upon the verge of eternity, and looked farther, perhaps, within the veil, than any of us can pretend to do. The celebrated pro- fessor Frank was so pleased with these discourses, that he procured a translation into the German language, and his successor, Dr. Rambach, wrote a recommendation of them in very strong and emphatic language. But the principal work of this year was the " Christian Doctrine of the Trinity,"|| which, without departing from the received opinions on that subject, affords perhaps the best scriptural view, and the ablest defence of that doctrine ever written. It is true, that our divine does not enter into the peculiar systems of the Nicene or Anti-Nicene * It cannot be supposed that the Doctor was much in the habit of reading his sermons, for he gives the following advice to ministers in his " Humble Attempt," Sect. III. " Get the substance of your sermon which you have prepared for the pulpit, so wrought into your head and heart by review and meditation, that you may have it at command, and speak to your hearers with freedom ; not as if you were reading or repeating your lesson to them, but as a man sent to teach and persuade them to faith and holiness. Deliver your discourses to the people like a man that is talking to them in good earnest about their most important concerns, and their everlasting welfare ; like a mes- senger sent from heaven who would fain save sinners from hell, and allure souls to God and happiness. Do not indulge that lazy way of reading over your prepared paper, as a schoolboy does an oration out of Livy or Cicero, who has no concern in the things he speaks : But let all the warmest zeal for God, and compassion for perishing men animate your voice and countenance, and let the people see and feel, as well as hear, that you are speaking to them about things of infinite moment, and in which your own eternal interest lies as well as theirs." i See Vol. II. || See Vol. VI. kxH MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. fathers ; but he produces the evidence of the inspired writers arranged in a series of propositions, which demonstrate the great leading features of this doctrine with an evi- dence little short of mathematical, to those who admit the supreme authority of revela- tion. In one chapter indeed he refers to " the pre-existence of Christ's human soul," as an idea that he thought would much elucidate the many obscure texts ; but does by no means insist on it, as in some of his subsequent publications ; and, this excepted, there is, perhaps, no passage that can justly offend the most orthodox reader. In the next year (1723) appeared a second volume of Sermons,* on the Christian Morals, which we have no hesitation in preferring to all which have yet appeared upon these topics. The very subject is indeed considered by a certain class of professors as legal, though largely treated in most of our Lord's discourses, and more or less in all the apostolical epistles. Nothing, however, can be more truly evangelical thau these dis- courses. All his morals are founded on the gospel, his motives derived from it, and the doctrine and example of our Redeemer furnish its standard and its measure.-)* This was a year of peculiar affliction to our author, in the death of his beloved friend and patron, Sir Thomas Abney, a man of a generous public spirit, and of the most exemplary piety. It was happy, however, for the family to possess among them such a son of consolation ; a man who well knew how to pour the balm of the gospel into hearts bleeding with affliction ; and it was happy for him that Lady Abney and her daughters possessed minds so congenial with that of the worthy Knight. In short, our amiable author had been long incorporated in the family; and they were all so united in the bonds of christian friendship, that death alone could separate them. The year 1724 produced his admirable discourse on Logic, || which, while it exhibited the true method of reasoning, rejected that wretched system of quibbling and dispute which had hitherto disgraced the schools. It is true, as Dr. Johnson remarks, the great Locke had written upon the subject, and prepared many of the materials ; but it was left for Watts to simplify his system, and to reduce it to general use. It was soon introduced into the University of Oxford ; and in the year 1741 Bishop Seeker assures the author, it was " by no means the only piece of his read there with high esteem." ^ After perusing this work with much attention, the late Lord Barrington calls it a book by which not only the youth of England, but all who are not too lazy or too wise to learn, may be taught to think and write better than they do; and adds, " I intend, as some have done Erasmus, or a piece of Cicero — to read it over once a year. § The next year produced the " Elements of Geography and Astronomy,'' which now, through the rapid advances of science, may be numbered among his least important publications; as may also his " Dissertations on the Trinity,"^ of which the second part was this year printed. When the first were published is not so certain, but we shall defer our remarks on these pieces till we come to consider the Doctor's last senti- ments on this subject. In 1720 appeared his " Defence against the Temptation to Self-Murder ;" and in 1728 • See Vol. I. \ Lady Hartford mentions a pleasing instance of the utility of the Doctor's sermons, in the case of a man who had been a bad husband and a drunkard twenty years, but was by reading them converted to a course of life just the reverse of his former conduct. || S,e Vol. V. I . ibbons, 353J -to:,. \ Sec Vol. VI. U See Vol. VI. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxiii a useful " Discourse on Charity Schools." * In this last year our author received, unso- licited, and without his knowledge, diplomas from the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Dr. Johnson justifies this bestowment of literary honours, and wishes they were always conferred with the same judgment. The only circumstance which needed apology was the delay ; that, while so many persons of inferior talents had been thus honoured, a man whose praise had long been in the churches of England and Scotland, of Holland and America, had been so long neglected. In 1729 the Doctor published a short " Caveat against Infidelity,! and a guard against Apostacy ;" and the next year a judicious discourse on the " Composition and Use of Catechisms ; || but the catechisms themselves, or part of them, must have been previously published, because a second edition of them accompanied these discourses. Dr.Rippon^ is " pretty certain" that these little formularies were composed at the request of Sir Gilbert Elliott ; and it is no small commendation of them, that though perhaps a few words may have been changed to advantage, they have never been equalled, for simpli- city and suitableness to the young minds for whom they were composed. For this rea- son, the first catechism especially has obtained more extensive circulation than any other, except those adopted by the national churches of England and Scotland. Of these compositions and his " Children's Hymns," Dr. Johnson says, " He con- descended to lay aside the scholar, the philosopher, and the wit, to write little poems of devotion, and systems of instruction, adapted to their wants and capacities, from the dawn of reason through its gradations of advance in the morning of life. Every man, acquainted with the common principles of human action, will look with veneration on the writer, who is at one time combating Locke, and at another time making a cate- chism for children in their fourth year. A voluntary descent from the dignity of science is perhaps the hardest lesson that humility can teach." " A short View of Scripture History," § which, as being written in the form of question and answer, is a kind of sequel to the above, must have followed within a year or two, and is allowed to be, according to Lord Barrington's account of it, " a book very in- structive and entertaining to people of all ages and conditions ;" at least it is certainly so to the young and uninformed. His lordship promises to keep a copy of it in his own study, as well as to leave it in his " nursery, hall, and parlour." ^[ The year 1731 produced two valuable works, the first " An humble Attempt toward the Revival of Practical Religion."** The first part is addressed to ministers, and this part was originally intended to have been delivered at the ordination of Mr. Oakes, at Cheshunt ; but the Doctor being at that time confined to a bed of sickness, enlarged and amplified it to its present size, in which it certainly merits the attention of every minister or candidate for the sacred office. The second part was delivered in several discourses to the congregation in Berry-street, from that striking question of our Lord, " What do ye more than others ?" From which he considers the peculiar obligations of some chris- tians to eminent piety, arising from their peculiar advantages, and this he applies par- ticularly to the case of protestant dissenters, for whose use the address was primarily intended. * See Vol. II. + See Vol. IV. || See Vol. III. 1 Sermon before the Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge, Nov. 17, 1802, p. 11. § See Vol. III. f Gibbons, p. 40fJ. ** See Vol. III. xxiv MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. Another production of this year was, his " Essay on the Strength and Weakness of Human Reason." A copy of this work, presented to Dr. Gibson, then Bishop of Lon- don, was the occasion of commencing a correspondence between them, which we shall have farther occasion to notice. In the year 1732 died Miss Elizabeth Abney, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas, for whom the Doctor preached a funeral sermon, afterwards printed in his " World to Come. The next year produced his " Philosophical Essays on various Subjects ;"* to which is added a System of Ontology, which has been much admired. In the " Essay on Space," he has been charged with confounding the idea of space and empty space; but treating space as an abstract idea, must it not be considered empty ? otherwise we con- found it with universal being. The most admirable thing, however, in this volume, is the striking lesson of humility he draws from these speculations, by shewing the contracted limits of the human mind, and the uncertainties attending all the deductions of our debased reason, unaided by revelation. The year following (1734) produced his third volume of Sermons, f and a small volume of Miscellaneous Thoughts, in prose and verse, which he called " Reliquia1 Juveniles. || Many of these pieces are highly beautiful ; some few are on literary subjects, but the far greater j>art contain the effusions of piety from the lips of a man of genius. They ought to form part of the library of every young person of taste and seriousness. Soon after this followed another excellent, though anonymous, little work, called "The Redeemer and Sanctiher;"J since, in 1730, Bishop Gibson acknowledges the receipt of this book as a present from the author, and says he had read it " with great satisfaction and delight." He adds, " the seeing so shameful a departure from true Christianity on the two points which are the subject of your book, has long been a sen- sible concern and grief to me, and especially when I see it countenanced and propagated by many who call themselves christians, but are in reality little more than deists ; for (says he) if the great work of our redemption, and the blessed fruits of it are to be laid aside, I cannot see that the name of christian signifies much." The good Bishop parti- cularly laments this defection among some of the dissenters, who had been, he confesses, hitherto, " without exception, zealous for them."§ This work was written partly in the form of dialogue, and the debate conducted with a good deal of spirit and ingenuity. To shew how much our author was now esteemed in the literary as well as the religious world, we need only refer to the Gentleman's Magazine. Mr. (Jave, the original printer and proprietor, and perhaps the editor of that respectable publication, in order to excite emulation, and procure for his miscellany productions of real genius, proposed to give certain rewards to his poetical correspondents, and wrote to Dr. Watts, requesting him to decide upon their respective merits. His natural modesty revolted at the idea of becoming a literary judge; but, on being pressed, he gave his opinion with so much can- dour and judicious discrimination, that all parties expressed their gratitude, and cheer- fully acquiesced in his decisions. Anno 1730 was a year of pain and suffering, as we find from one of the pieces in his •' Remnants of Time," published since his decease, and which form a proper Appendix to his Miscellaneous Thoughts. » Sec Vol. V. t See Vol. I. || Sco Vol. IV. ; Sec Vol. III. S Gibbons, 3G0. 1 MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. x.w " Lord, I am pain'd, but I resign To thy superior will : Tis Grace, 'tis Wisdom all divine Appoints the pains I feel." After six other stanzas, equally sweet and pathetic, he concludes with this encouraging idea : " Is not some smiling hour at hand With peace upon its wings ? Give it, O God, thy swift command, With all the joys it brings!"* Early in the next year the Doctor lost his father, in a good old age, himself being in his sixty-third year, and surrounded with infirmities : His admirable letter to his father, in dying circumstances, will be appended to these Memoirs. Whether this affliction prepared him for the work we know not ; but the next spring (1737) produced his beautiful " Essay on Humility, as exemplified in the character of St. Paul;"f a piece in which his own character, though undesignedly, is displayed in its true colours, and to the best advantage. Bishop Gibson, however, in perusing this ad- mirable Essay, properly enough remarks, there was no occasion to apologize " for descending to the lowest scenes of life ; for (adds the prelate, very justly) it is a fault, both in preaching and in writing upon practical subjects, when we keep too much to general reasoning, and do not bring down our doctrines to common life.|| The year 1738 produced a small " Essay on the Holiness of Times and Places," and the year following an Essay " On Civil Power in Things sacred ;" J in both which, as might naturally be anticipated, he took the medium between scepticism and superstition, licen- tiousness and tyranny ; and in the latter work the doctrine of Toleration is discussed with great moderation and ability. One of his American correspondents, however, Dr. Col- man, of Boston, made some judicious remarks upon the latter publication, which are worthy to be transcribed. " The Essay on Civil Power in Things sacred," says Dr. C. " I take to be your own (though published anonymously) by the preface and two first sections. I think what is said, sect. iii. to be absolutely necessary to the being of a christian state, and that the laws of a land should enjoin, strictly and peremptorily, the worship and swearing by the one and only Lord God ; and that they that deny him, and would swear by any idol god, should not be acknowledged as subjects of the state. I cannot think there may be heathens, serving other gods, and yet useful members of a state : They must be dreadful snares and pests to the places where they dwell, and fatal to them, as God warned his Israel of old. I fear also (adds Dr. C.) the appointment and support of preachers of natural religion, and the laws of the land, with a command to people to attend them, and on the Lord's-day in particular, would soon turn out the requisite sanctification of it in private and public. The honour of the Lord's-day, and means of grace, forbids the intrusion of other authorised civil and moral public teachers." But the most important publication of this year was his " World to Come,"§ already mentioned as containing his funeral sermon for Mrs. S. Abney. The first of these * See Vol. IV. f See Vol. II. || Gibbons, p. 36l. t See Vol. II. & VI. § See Vol. II. VOL. I. d xxvi MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. sermons, " On the End of Time," is most invaluable. On this work the above Dr. Colman observes, " I think you never wrote, nor did I ever read, discourses more adapted to young and old, high and low. In such a flame one would wish to expire : I am ready to say on it, It is finished — yet may you live to add more !" Dr. Watts's able and affecting defence of the scripture doctrine of eternal punishment, particularly attracted the notice of Bishop Seeker, who characterizes it as written " in a strong and awful, yet compassionate and good-natured manner."* In this year, if not sooner, appeared the " Essay on the Strength and Weakness of Human Reason," in which he candidly weighs the question of its sufficiency for our sal- vation. This essay is written in the form of conferences between a christian clergyman and a candid enquiring deist; a third speaker being introduced as moderator. The names of the interlocutors, Pithander, Logisto, and Sophronius, sound barbarous to English ears, and foreign to real life. Dr. Johnson thinks our author was peculiarly unhappy in coining names, though perhaps his censure is too generally expressed. The dispute, as might be expected, is conducted in a very liberal and candid style, but the speeches are rather too long, and a little too formal for a free conversation. The argu- ments, however, are well supported, and enlivened by some strokes of genteel wit, insomuch that Lady Hartford says, she never read any thing more entertaining or instructive.f In the preface to the second edition, the Doctor informs us the principal objection he had heard was, that his deist does " not argue so strenuously" as persons of that character generally do, but is too soon convinced. The Doctor, however, hopes to be forgiven in representing Logisto as too fair and candid a disputant ; though he might \ easily, as he observes, have " drawn the teazing saw of controversy further," and pro- duced " a wrangling dialogue" more agreeable to the usual practice of disputants, but certainly less valuable to the reader. In 1739 the Doctor was visited by the celebrated Mr. Whitefield, then in the zenith of his popularity, and just before he embarked the second time for America. The Doctor had heard of him, not only at home, but by a letter from Dr. Colman, of New England ; and took this opportunity, in a friendly manner, to caution his young admirer against the dangers of popularity, enthusiasm, and intemperate zeal. This is mentioned in a correspondence between the Doctor and Bishop Gibson, in which the latter com- plaining of the young apostle, the former replies, " I said many things to warn him of the danger of delusion, and to guard him against the irregularities and iinprudencies which youth and zeal might lead him into ; and told him plainly, that though I believed him very sincere, and desirous to do good to souls, yet 1 was not convinced of any extraordinary call he had to some parts of his conduct. And he seemed to take this free discourse in a very candid and modest manner." Those who knew the disposition of this amiable and popular man, will easily believe the concluding sentence of this paragraph ; and those who know how much he after- wards lamented his own intemperance of zeal, in some instances, will regret that the Doctor's good advice was not more closely followed. The year 1741 produced one of the most important publications, not only of Dr. Watts, but in the English language, the first part of the " Improvement of the Mind," • Gibbons, p. .Tr>.'>. t Ibid. p. 374. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxvjfi which he confesses had been the labour of more than twenty years : The second pari was left in MS. and published by the editors of his works.* Dr. Johnson says of this treatise, " Few books have been perused by me with greater pleasure than his ' Improve- ment of the Mind,' of which the radical principles may indeed be found in Locke's Con- duct of the Understanding ; but they are so expanded and ramified by Watts, as to confer upon him the merit of a work in the highest degree useful and pleasing. Whoever has the care of instructing others, may be charged with deficiency in his duties if this book is not recommended." f The " Harmony of all Religions" || appeared in 1742, wherein the author endeavours to shew that true religion is the same under every dispensation since the fall, differing only in the manner and circumstances of revelation. The law being the type, and the gospel the antitype, of our salvation. About this time, Mr. Toplady informs us J (and he had it from the Countess herself), the Doctor was favoured with a visit from the pious Lady Huntingdon, whom he thus accosted : " Madam, your ladyship is come to see me on a very remarkable day." " Why is this day (said she) so remarkable?" " This day thirty years (replied the Doctor) I came hither, to the house of my good friend, Sir Thomas Abney, intending to spend but one single week under this friendly roof; and I have extended my visit to the length of exactly thirty years." Lady Abney, who was present, immediately ad- dressed the Doctor : " Sir, what you term a long thirty years visit, I consider as the shortest visit my family ever received." " A coalition like this (says Dr. Johnson), a state in which the notions of patronage and dependance were overpowered by the per- ception of reciprocal benefits, deserves a particular memorial." In 1745 the Doctor published his " Sermons on the principal Heads of Christian Doctrine. "§ In addition to what has been already remarked on the Doctor's other Sermons, we may add, that in these discourses, while he discovers the most laudable zeal for the grand essential doctrines of the gospel, he shews the greatest candour, and the most amiable modesty, on inferior points ; always urging the importance of revealed truth ; but never contending strenuously for his own particular explications. In the same memorable year appeared Dr. Doddridge's admirable work, entitled, " The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." The political events of this year are almost forgotten, with the very name of the Pretender, through whose insurrection so much blood was shed; but when shall this work be forgotten? Never while the Christian religion and the English language have existence. But wherefore connect the name of Doddridge with thai of the subject of these Memoirs? Because they are so connected in the history of literature, that while the name of one shall live, the other can never die. As it respects the present work, Dr. Watts has the honour of forming the plan, and suggesting many of the materials ; and when complete, he recommended it most cordially to the Christian world. It may be worthy a remark, that two years previous to this publication, some of Dr. Doddridge's works had found their way into Holland, as those of Dr. Watts had some time before ; but Mr. Tinon, the bookseller, of Amsterdam, was afraid to publish them in the Dutch language, without a recommendation from Dr. Watts, as a certificate for * See Vol. V. t Johnson's Life of Watts. || See Vol. IV. J Gospel Mag. 1776 p.. 41. § See Vol. I. d 2 xxviii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. their orthodoxy ; while at the same time, in this country, his own orthodoxy was called in question among many of his brethren! The year 1746 produced the Doctor's treatise on the " Freedom of the Human Will,"* in which he endeavours to justify a liberty of indifference; and it must be owned he has written with his usual candour and ingenuity : But President Edwards, of America, hath since supported the opposite hypothesis with such prodigious strength of argument, that it is likely, had the Doctor lived to read this masterly treatise of his friend, j his own would have been materially altered. It was certainly the Doctor's design to obviate the infidel objections against the character of God, drawn from the doctrine of necessity ; but in doing this it requires, perhaps, more than human skill, to avoid weak- ening the other attributes of Deity, and to preserve " A God full orb'd, In his whole round of attributes complete." The year following (1747) produced the " Evangelical Discourses," || some of which had been preached many years before ; also an " Essay on the Rational Foundation of a Christian Church."^ There is something so engaging in the manner in which the Doctor treats this subject, that those who differ the most widely from him on the affairs of church government and ecclesiastical discipline, must acknowledge the ingenuity and candour of his statements. His representation of the Lord's Supper as the memorial of a departed friend, has something very endearing in it, without rejecting any other object referred to by this ordinance in scripture. There are a few other of the Doctor's publications, to which no date can positively be affixed, and which therefore may be mentioned here; such particularly are his " Discourses on the Passions, and on the Love of God."§ The former, in the first edition, was inserted merely as an introduction to the latter ; but in the second it was considerably enlarged, and forms a valuable philosophical essay, the best upon the subject in our language. The " Discourses on the Love of God" were also improved and printed separately, as they have been generally since, though often bound together. Their ten- dency is practical, and their great object, to lead men from " the frigid zone of Chris- tianity" (misnamed rational religion) into the warmer region of Divine Love, which is here shewn to be the proper climate of the christian. In the sixth discourse particularly is " the affectionate christian vindicated," and the religion of the gospel shewn to be the religion of the heart. The Doctor proves that Christianity not only admits, but demands the wannest of our affections ; and that the cool and cautious religionist errs just as far from true reason as from piety. The Essay on " The Ruin and Recovery of Mankind, "^[ is another publication without date ; yet two things may be remarked, that it appeared before his " Orthodoxy and Charity united," and that he lived to publish a second edition of it. A principal subject of this work is the doctrine of the fall; and in the preface to the second edition he remarks — " I have endeavoured, throughout this whole composure, * See Vol. VI. + Dr. Watts, in conjunction with Dr. Guyse, strongly recommended Mr. Edwards's " Narrative of the Revival of Religion in New England." || See Vol. II. J See Vol. VI. § Sec Vol. II. 51 See Vol. VI. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxix to relieve and soften all the harsher and more obnoxious parts of this doctrine of original sin, and several other articles of our religion dependent upon it; and this I did attempt here and there by some netv sentiments, which I was sensible must run the risk of severe trial, and bear the test of ancient prejudice. But this freedom of thought seemed to be necessary, where former solutions failed."* Among the new sentiments here referred to, is the " singular opinion," as Doddridge himself calls it, " that the sin of Adam has subjected all his posterity not only to death, but to the utter extinction of being; the consequence of which is, that all those who die in their infancy fall into a state of anni- hilation, excepting those who are the seed of God's people, who by virtue of the blessings of the covenant made with Abraham, and the promise to the seed of the righteous, shall, through the grace and power of Christ, obtain part in a happy resur- rection, in which other infants shall have no share." f How far it may be necessary or allowable to " relieve and soften" the apparent harsh- ness of scripture doctrines, admits of considerable doubts. We observe nothing like it in the conduct of St. Paul, who was the great controversialist of the New Testament. He seems rather to delight in bold and strong assertions, on the authority of the Holy Spirit, and this method seems to be most consistent with the scripture plan of humbling sinners, and bringing them as penitents to the footstool of mercy ; as well as with that of leading believers to live by faith, and credit the word of God on its own authority, rather than its apparent harmony with our reason. As to the opinion respecting infants, it yields such cold consolation to the heart of a parent, that it will most probably still remain singular. What parent would not rather leave his deceased infant in the hands of God, trusting to his sovereign mercy, || than suppose his future happy existence depended on his own salvation? — an opinion, by the way, which, if minutely traced, would have to combat objections little less formidable than those against the common notions of original sin, which our author, in this " very ingenious" work, as Dr. Dod- dridge justly calls it, has taken such pains to soften. " It was not only in his book, but in his mind also," says Dr. Johnson, " that ortho- doxy and charity were united." The great object of this piece, and of the Doctor's life, was to place the doctrines of the fall — the atonement — divine influence — the necessity of repentance, faith, and holiness (which formed his system of orthodoxy), in a point of view consistent with their truth and importance ; while he endeavours to lessen the smaller differences among christians respecting inferior points of sentiment, or rather forms of expressions, and to promote charity and forbearance toward one another, The Doctor thought (and who does not think ?) that the chief difference between real believers lies rather in terms than things ; for we find the same men who wrangle with each other in their sermons or conversation, agree very cordially in their devotions at the throne of grace. Habits of education, and of reading, create these differences in their statements ; but when they come before God, under a proper sense of their own vileness, they forget their party shibboleth, and melt down their differences in the sacred fire of scriptural piety. The seventh Essay, " against uncharitableness," should be read and studied by every religious disputant or controversial writer. To this work is appended an ingenious Essay, entitled " Self-Love and Virtue recoil- * Preface, Vol. VI. f Doddridge's Lectures, Vol. II. p. 2l6\ II See an ingenious pamphlet, lately published, entitled " Infant Salvation." xxx MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. cilecl only by Religion, or an Argument to prove that the only effectual Obligation of Mankind to practise Virtue, depends on the Existence and Will of God ;" a piece that merits the high commendation it has received. We now come to the Doctor's more obnoxious publications on the Trinitarian con- troversy ; and to enquire particularly what were his last sentiments on this important subject. Dr. Watts studied the doctrine of the Trinity, as some Indian devotees are said to have contemplated the sun, till their own sight was darkened. The Doctor had read upon all sides of the question, was grieved at the angry spirit in which the controversy was conducted, and imagined, good man ! that it was possible to reconcile contending parties by some modest and candid statements. " It is my opinion," said he, " that a fair, easy, and intelligible scheme of the Trinitarian doctrine, agreeable to holy scripture, would be the noblest ,and the securest guard against the Arian and Socinian errors, for then there would be no pretence to deny it." This may be true; but the question is, who shall draw up this " easy and intelligible scheme" of a doctrine, on all hands con- fessed to be a most sublime and incomprehensible mystery? What was the Doctor's success, with certainly the best qualifications for such an attempt, we shall now proceed to enquire. It has been already hinted, that he discovered his peculiarity of sentiment respecting the pre-existence of Christ's human soul (which laid the foundation of his future system), in his treatise on the Doctrine of the Trinity, first published in the year 1 722 ; at which time, it appears by a note on that passage, that the first part of his Dissertations was then written; though we are not able to state exactly at what period it was published. The first Dissertation is entitled, " The Arian invited to the Orthodox Faith," in which the Doctor attempts to lead him, by " a plain and easy method," into " the proper deity of Christ." This he does, in the first instance, by a string of queries founded on his " Christian Doctrine" just mentioned, which certainly place the arguments for the proper divinity of Jesus in a very striking point of view. He then introduces his hypothesis of the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, prior to the creation of all things ; supposes a personal union to take place between this glorious created Spirit and the Supreme Divinity, in consequence of which the sublime works of creation and providence are attributed to this complex person — the God-man — the Son of God : And from this divine union he derives the efficacy of his atonement and satisfaction for mankind. In the second Dissertation, the author pursues the Socratic method (for which he was eminently qualified) to shew the possibility of such a union between the divine and human natures, and its consistency with reason, in which he argues with great shrewdness and perspi- cuity. In the third Dissertation, he justly considers the worship of Christ as founded on his godhead, and very ably proves that no mere creature, however highly exalted, can be made the object of religious worship without idolatry. Here ends the first part of the Dissertations. In the preface to the second part of his Dissertations, he first avows his strong attachment to the indwelling scheme, which, it seems, ascribes the Godhead of Jesus to his union with the Divine nature, and not to his being a distinct person in that nature, as Trinitarians generally speak ; for in this preface he confesses he was before en- gaged in no one particular scheme : " I thought (says he) the general doctrine of scripture was plain and evident, but as to the modus of it, I was much in doubt." About this time, however, Mr.Tomkins, an ingenious writer of the Arian cast, attacked our author's MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxxi book, in " A sober Appeal to a Turk or an Indian," and drove him, as he says, to adopt the hypothesis above mentioned. It is certainly no part of the biographer's office to defend or refute the peculiar tenets of the subject of his memoir; yet, as in writing- the life of a general or a statesman, it is expected that some attention should be paid to his schemes and plans for the public good, so in the life of an author an impartial account of his writings should be given, with the same freedom of remark as in the other cases. How far it may be necessary to adopt any human explication of this divine mystery, may be seriously doubted ; but, surely, the Doctor was under no necessity to recur to this particular hypothesis, which is no more without its difficulties than the more commonly received opinion; and this circumstance it would not be justice, to our young reader especially, to conceal. As to the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, however convenient it may be to account for some circumstances, as his appearance under a human form, &c. it is very difficult to conceive how he could be the second Adam, the son of our first pro- genitor, if in his human nature he was formed before him. If the soul be the chief part of the Man, as we usually consider it, then very imperfectly, and by a strong figure only, can he be the Son of Man ! As to the necessity of the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, to form a party in the covenant of grace, if we admit any distinctions in the Divine Being sufficient to warrant the use of the personal pronouns we and us — /, thou, and he — which are common and frequent throughout both Testaments of Scripture — that is surely sufficient to admit the idea of a covenant between those parties ; and if there be a difficulty in conceiving the human nature to be pledged to such engagements, especially to sufferings and death before it was called into existence, there is no less difficulty in the contrary supposition ; for a creature could not be at liberty to refuse the sugges- tions of the Divine Will : The moment that it is made known to a perfect creature, he must acquiesce in it. Another strong objection to this hypothesis, or at least to the use made of it by Dr. Watts is, that it inverts the Scripture economy. There, we find the human nature of our Lord first obeying, suffering, dying; and then, in consequence, raised to the throne of glory: But this scheme represents his human soul, immediately on its existence, endued with divine powers to create and govern the world ; and becoming of course, in its union with the Deity, the object of religious adoration. Afterwards, indeed, this exalted spirit is supposed to stoop so low as to assume a body, an essen- tial part surely of human nature, and necessary to its perfection ! And it is not easy to conceive how it could be an act of great humility for one who was properly a servant (because a creature) of however high rank, to assume a servant's form ; but it is a much greater difficulty to explain how Jesus could be exalted to new and superior honours, if indeed his human soul had been employed, as this hypothesis supposes, as the Creator and Governor of the Universe ! As to the distinction between a real, modal, or scriptural Trinity, it is too meta- physical for Christianity, which was intended for the simplest of the common people ; and, probably, it would puzzle the most acute philosophers to define a medium between real and modal. That hypothesis, however, which represents the human nature as united to the Divine, without personal distinction, supposes the Father xxxli MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. himself incarnate, subject to sufferings and death ; and confounds the distinction between the sacred Three. The doctrine of the Trinity is not founded on a few detached passages of scripture. It is woven into the constitution of the sacred language of the Old Testament; and in the New, though not systematically defined, it is constantly implied, and in many places sufficiently expressed, as the Doctor has largely shewn, though he has wea- kened the force of his own argument by reducing the doctrine to little more than a trinity of names.* The preface to the second part of these Dissertations is dated in May 1725; and the following are the subjects herein discussed: First, the sentiments of Jews and Christians relative to the Word or Logos. This, numbering from the former Disserta- tions, is called the fourth, and contains a great deal of curious learning, and favours the pre-existence of Christ's human spirit; but as it is chiefly collected from human writers, and those the most mystical and obscure, is not very important to our subject. The fifth Dissertation enquires into the scriptural doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and sufficiently proves, what no judicious Trinitarian would controvert, that this name is often used impersonally for the gifts and graces of the Spirit conferred on men. Sometimes, however, the Doctor candidly confesses (as in that contested passage, 1 John v. 7.) the Father, the Word, and the Spirit " are represented personally" for they are called " three witnesses, or three persons bearing witness." The sixth Dissertation considers, however, the precise sense in which the term person is used in scripture, and ought to be used in this controversy. Here our author properly remarks, that " the distinctive character of a person is the application of the personal pronouns 7, thou, he ;" and these " three pronouns being frequently applied in scripture to the Father and the Son, and the pronoun he to the blessed Spirit, we therefore call them three persons."-\ But then he goes on to shew that we do not take the word person exactly in the same sense, and include precisely the same ideas, as when we call three men, or three angels, three distinct persons. || All this is certainly just, and admitted by the most orthodox Trinitarians. Dr. Hopkins, of Ame- rica, in his " Body of Divinity,"' says, " It is thought that the use of the above-mentioned personal epithets (I, thou, he, &c.) is a sufficient warrant to distinguish the Three in the Divine Trinity by the word person. But it must be carefully observed, that when this word is applied to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as three distinct persons, it does not import the same distinction which is expressed by it when applied to men. It means nothing inconsistent with the highest perfection, or with these three being really and perfectly one God. Nor is it pretended, that this word, when used in this instance, can be so defined as to give any clear and adequate idea of a subject so mysterious, and infinitely incomprehensible." So far we seem agreed ; but what then do we mean by distinguishing three persons in one Divine Essence? — Simply this; that there is such a distinction as that, while we maintain each of the Divine Persons to be truly God, and equally entitled to divine * Those who wish to sec what some of Dr. Watts's pious and leaned contemporaries thought of his Trinitarian writings, may peruse Dr. Abraham Taylor's " Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity vindicated, in opposition to Mr. WattVl scheme of one Divine Person, and two divine powers." Mr. H union, also, a very ahle writer, published a set of discourses entitled " The Scripture Doctrine of the proper Divinity, real Personality, &C. of the Holy Spirit, stated and defended." t See Vol. VI. || Ibid. * MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxxiii honours, yet certain things may be predicated or denied of the one, which cannot be so of the others ; thus, for instance, the Father is impassible — the Son incarnate — the Spirit sent by both ; and this distinction is sufficient also to attribute to each a distinct ceconomical character ; the Father elects — the Son redeems — the Spirit sanctifies. But if, as the Doctor attempts afterward to shew, the word person is more strictly applicable to the Father, and in a more lax and figurative sense to the Son and Spirit, so that in fact, as he sometimes expresses it, the Deity consists of one divine philosophical person, and two divine powers (analogous to the mind and will in man) then the Father (for instance) may be said to have become incarnate with as much propriety as the Son ; and all the acts of the Son may be attributed to the Father, as justly as the acts and determinations of the mind and will may be attributed to the man himself; and this seems to be a millstone about the neck of this hypothesis, from which nothing can disentangle it. In these remarks we have anticipated the substance of the seventh and last Disser- tation, and shall only give a few extracts from the conclusion. " Far be it from me,'' says this amiable divine, " to assert this explication of the Triniity with any positive airs, or in assured language: All that I aim at is, to gain and give as clear and distinct ideas as I can of the words which the Scripture uses, that, as far as possible in explain- ing the word of God, I might secure myself and others from talking without ideas." This modest paragraph is sufficient to shew that our author had nothing of the character of a heretic about him. Err he might, and probably, did; but he never discovered a desire to form a party — to make a division in the church — or to exalt himself. His fault seems to lie in the vain hope of penetrating within the veil that human weak- ness has drawn over this and many other divine mysteries. Systems of divinity, like other systems in science, have their use, and should not be rashly ridiculed or con- demned. But if they are deduced from Scripture only, as certainly they should be, they must have their, blanks. For, as in drawing maps of this terrestrial globe, there are many parts which must be marked terra incognita, or unknown countries ; so, in a system of Bible Theology, there are many parts which can only be filled up by conjecture, and are therefore best left blank. Or, we may borrow an illustration from the sister science of the stars : Our astronomers have covered the celestial globe with the monsters of imagination, and as they have enlarged their discoveries, have planted them with almost innumerable stars ; yet still there are many void spaces in the celestial concave, and probably will be so till another state supplies us with superior modes of discovery. To apply these illustrations to the subject before us. We have the outlines of this doctrine in the Scriptures, drawn in strong and bold characters. We know that the same infinite nature, and the same divine honours, are ascribed to Father, Son, and Spirit — and yet that to each are ascribed distinct works and characters ; we therefore conclude that these three divine persons must be God — and one God, because revela- tion plainly enjoins us to worship one God alone. But if we go farther, to enquire into the modus of the Divine Being, all systems fail us, and we are lost in clouds and darkness ; even that hypothesis, on which the Doctor too much flattered himself^ becomes as obscure and unintelligible as the most vulgar notion. These difficulties were no doubt strongly felt by our author, and occasioned the final paragraph of this work, with which we shall close our review of his Dissertations, cor- dially uniting in his concluding sentiment. vol. i. e Axxiv MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. " After all, I am free to declare that I am not so fond of any particular hypothesis, but I shall be ready to relinquish it for another, that will afford a better interpretation of all the scriptures that relate to the blessed Three, and a happier solution of all the objections that have been raised against this article. I should rejoice to see so clear and bright an explication of it arise in the Christian world, as shall overcome and scatter all the difficulties and darknesses that have hitherto hung about it; and shall set it in so divine and triumphant a light, as shall penetrate every soul, diffuse universal con- viction, and demand a ready and unshaken assent. But, perhaps, it is above the privilege of a mortal state, to expect the accomplishment of such a wish. In the mean while, let us pay the homage of our understandings to the Supreme Incomprehensive, by firmly believing what God has plainly revealed, and wait for the favours of higher illumination in the regions of light and immortality. Amen."* The " Useful and important Questions concerning Jesus the Son of God" are dated 1746f, and may properly be noticed here. In great measure they go over the same ground with the Dissertations; but the main point laboured is, to shew that the term " Son of God" does not expressly relate to his Deity, but to his mediatorial character and miraculous conception. On this head the Doctor is by no means singular. Many eminent divines, and, of late, all those of the Hutchinsonian school, maintain the same. The sacred student should however know, that although it is certain Jesus was declared to be the Son of God, both in regard to his incarnation and resurrection, there are many passages which seem to imply that he was so in a much superior sense, and that his sonship implied his divinity,|| — or, which is the same thing, his equality with God the Father. That the divinity of Jesus was not so clearly taught by himself as by his apostles, if true, may easily be accounted for ; because he did not seek his own honour, but upon the most important occasions. It is also, however, certain that his apostles before the death of their Master were but slow in apprehending his instructions on these, as on other subjects ; but nothing can be inferred hence against the importance of this truth, unless we would also infer, that the doctrine of his sufferings for our sins was equally unimportant. To these " important questions" is subjoined a short " Essay on the true Importance of Human Schemes to explain the sacred Trinity, J in which our author shews, that " no such scheme of explication is necessary to salvation ;" that it may, however, be " of great use to the church ;" but that such explications ought to be proposed with modesty to the world, and never imposed upon the conscience. As to the doctrine itself, whatever God has clearly revealed is certainly important, and the perspicuity of the revelation will generally be found in proportion to its intrinsic moment. But truth is important to us only as it affects the heart and life. The scriptures rest the importance of this doctrine on the due rendering divine honours to the sacred Three; and, in particular, to the Son of God, whose humiliation being * See Vol. VI. t See Palmer's Life of Watts, p. 51. || See John v. 18. Heb. vii. 8, &c. The reader may see some modest but judicious remarks 00 this subject, in the late Rev. Mr. Newton's Messiah , Sermon XXVII. See also Dr. Riclglev's Body of Divinity. I See Vol. VI. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. on extreme, peculiar care is taken to secure his glory; and the Father hath committed the great work of judging the world into his hands expressly for this end — that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. While, therefore, we honour the Divine Persons by a life of holy obedience and communion, trusting our salvation to the Saviour alone, and daily imploring the agency of his Holy Spirit, Ave can hardly depart far from the essential doctrines of the gospel. But the danger of speculation is, that it is apt to lead us from the plainest and most important truths, to enquiries more curious than they are useful ; though on different minds this effect may be produced in various degrees: Dr. Watts is, perhaps, an instance almost singular, of a christian preserving close and daily communion with God in the midst of the most abstruse theological enquiries. Under the second head of enquiry the Doctor exclaims, " If it were possible (and such is avowedly the Doctor's aim) to exhibit a scheme of explication which should be so plain, so easy, so agreeable to the light of nature, and yet so happily correspondent with scripture as to captivate the assent of learned and unlearned at the very proposal of it, what a glorious advantage would the church of Christ obtain toward its unity and peace !"* Alas, good man ! this flattering reverie proceeds upon a principle, which never has been realized, that the doctrines of Christianity want only to be clearly stated, in order to be universally received ; whereas it is certain from the scriptures (as the Doctor himself acknowledges) that the fault lies in the corruption of human nature. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; neither indeed can he faioiv them, because they are spiritually discerned; 1 Cor. ii. 14. Nor does it appear to be the design of Providence to represent the doctrines of the gospel with that overpowering evidence which is here supposed. Our life, in the present state, is a life of faith ; we are to receive the truths of revelation upon the authority of the Revealer, and not because they are " plain, easy, and agreeable to the light of nature." As to the last question, whether it be lawful to impose any human explication of the doctrine upon our fellow-christians, if it refer to an imposition attended with penalties on their refusal, there can be no dispute ; but how far we have a right to name the terms of communion with our fellow-christians, is a question of more delicacy, and with which we shall not interfere. The last piece published by the Doctor on this subject, and probably his very last piece, is entitled, " The Glory of Christ as God-man, displayed in three Discourses ;" to which is added, " An Abridgment of Dr. Goodwin's Discourse of the Glories and Royalties of Christ." In this discourse our author produces, more at large, the argu- ments in favour of his darling scheme of the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, which also, it seems, was maintained by Dr. Thomas Goodwin and some other eminent divines, without departing (it should seem) from the usual Trinitarian doctrine. This it does not necessarily reject ; though it so far smooths the way to what is called " the indwelling scheme," that of late years, few, perhaps, have embraced the one without sliding into the other. For the sake of our young readers, we have shewn that this hypothesis is not without * See Vol. VI. e2 xxxvi MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. its difficulties ; those who have leisure to pursue the enquiry farther, we refer to the piece before us on the one hand, and to the authors in the margin on the other.* In order to conclude this subject, and that we may not have occasion to recur to it again, we may observe, that there is another paper, printed in the fourth volume of his works, entitled, " A solemn Address to the great and ever-blessed God," prefixed to some papers on the " Trinitarian Controversy," which (say his executors) it was not judged necessary to publish. These papers, Mr. Palmer informs us, on the authority of an eye-witness, contained nothing new, but some farther thoughts in confirmation of the Doctor's former writings. A living writer, however, under the name of Gabriel Watts, (but no relation, we believe, to the Doctor's family,) has lately pretended to give us the very papers which were suppressed, from a printed copy, of which he renders the following account. The tract is entitled " A faithful Enquiry after the ancient and original Doctrine of the Tri- nity, taught by Christ and his Apostles ;" the copy from which this was printed (he says) was found in a bookseller's shop in Southampton, in 1796, with the author's name (Isaac Watts, D. D.) and the date (1745) written at the bottom of the title-page. In a blank leaf of this book was also written the following note : " The doctor printed off only fifty copies of this work, and shewed them to some friends, who all persuaded him that it would ruin his character in his old age, for publishing such dotages, and at length he was prevailed on to burn them ; so that the whole impression of fifty was destroyed without publication, except this single copy of it, which by an accident escaped the flames." This curious note, written nobody knows by whom or when, has however some gross inconsistencies attached to it. The pamphlet is dated 1745 ; but in 1746 and in 1747 the Doctor published his " Questions relative to the Son of God," and his treatise " on the Glory of Christ as God-man," which we have just reviewed, and in which the very same sentiments are advanced ; but why suppress the one in 1745, and immediately after pub- lish the same opinions in two other works ? For, upon comparing this pamphlet with the others, it appears that he had incorporated the substance of this imperfect tract (for it is but the first part of a work after all) into his other publications with considerable en- largements. For instance, What is said in the enquiry (§ v.) about the title Son of God, will be found in the " Important Questions" much enlarged, and the same passages of Scripture quoted and explained. f So also what is said of the Holy Spirit will appear, on examination, little more than an abridgement of his fifth Dissertation published above twenty years before. Why then burn this tract, which is but a slight sketch of the con- troversy, and preserve the treatises in which the same principles are at large defended ? But here arises another difficulty. Mr. Gabriel Watts more than insinuates}! that these are the very papers left in manuscript, J which the executors declined to publish. If they were, it fully exonerates them; for Mr. Watts allows that to those " acquainted with his (the Doctor's) other essays on the Trinity, it exhibits little of a speculative * Dr. A. Taylor's Scriptural Doctrine of the Trinity; Mr. John Hurrion's Scriptural Doctrine of the proper Divinity, Ac.; President Edwards's Miscellaneous Observations, Part 3. i See Vol. VI. || Preface, p. \i. J In the list of iMSS. I.y his executors, a piece under exactly the same title is marked No. VII. which demon- strates the existence of such a work. See Palmer's Life of Watts, Appendix. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxxtii nature which is entirely new." * But how is it that this tract should be found in MS. if actually printed by the Doctor three years before his death ? Why preserve a manuscript already printed, and carefully destroy the printed copies ? In short, the probability is, that this may be the tract suppressed, and that some officious disciple of the Doctor's procured a copy and printed it, either without his consent, or subsequent to his death ; and on that account, as well as from its being the first part only of a work, which he probably intended as an abridgment of his other writings on the subject, it was judiciously suppressed. The address, however, prefixed to this paper is so curious and interesting-, that we shall here insert it, and then take our final leave of this subject, with a few observations. A SOLEMN ADDRESS TO THE GREAT AND BLESSED GOD. " Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee ; yet I may talk with thee concerning thy judgments." Permit me, O my God and Father, to plead with thee concerning the revelations of thy nature and thy grace, which are made in thy gospel ; and let me do it with all that humble reverence, and that holy awe of thy majesty, which becomes a creature in the presence of his God. Hast thou not, O Lord God Almighty, hast thou not transacted thy divine and important affairs among men by thy Son Jesus Christ, and by thy Holy Spirit? And hast thou not ordained that men should transact their highest and most momentous concerns with thee, by thy Son and by thy Spirit? Hast thou not, by the mouth of thy Son Jesus, required all that profess his religion to be washed with water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost ? Is it not my duty then, to enquire, who or what are these sacred names, and what they signify? Must I not " know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ thy Son, whom thou hast sent," that I may fulfil all my respective duties towards thyself and thy Son, in hope of eternal life? Hath not thy Son himself appealed to thee in his last prayer, that eternal life depends upon this knowledge? And since thou hast made so much use of thy Holy Spirit in our religion, must I not have some knowledge of this thy Spirit also, that I may pay thee all those honours thou requirest from this divine revelation? Hast thou not ascribed divine names and titles, and characters to thy Son and thy Holy Spirit in thy word, as well as assumed them to thyself? And hast thou not appointed to them such glorious offices as cannot be executed without something of Divinity or true Godhead in them? And yet art not thou, and thou alone, the True God? How shall a poor weak creature be able to adjust and reconcile these clashing ideas, and to understand this mystery? Or must I believe and act blindfold, without understanding ? Holy Father, thou knowest how firmly I believe, with all my soul, whatsoever thou hast plainly written and revealed in thy word. I believe Thee to be the only true God, the Supreme of Beings, self-sufficient for thine own existence, and for all thy infinite affairs and transactions among creatures. I believe thy Son Jesus Christ to be all- sufficient for the glorious work of mediation between God and man, to which thou * Preface to Gabriel Watts, p. vii. xxxviii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. hast appointed him. I believe he is a man, " in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." I believe he is one with God ; he is God manifested in the flesh ; and that the man Jesus is so closely and inseparably united with the true and eternal Godhead, as to become one person, even as the human soul and body make one man. I believe that this illustrious Person is hereby possessed of divine dignity, sufficient to make full atonement for the sins of men by his sufferings and death, even though sin be accounted an infinite evil ; and that he hath all-sufficient power to raise himself from the dead, to ascend to heaven, and fulfil the blessed works for which thou hast exalted him, and to govern and judge the world in thine appointed time. I believe also thy blessed Spirit hath almighty power and influence to do all thy will, to instruct men effectually in divine truths, to change the hearts of fallen mankind from sin to holiness, to carry on thy work of illumination, sanctification, and consolation on the souls of all thy children, and to bring them safe to the heavenly world. I yield myself up joyfully and thankfully to this method of thy salvation, as it is revealed in thy gospel. But I acknowledge my darkness still. I want to have this wonderful doctrine of the all-sufficiency of thy Son, and thy Spirit, for these divine works made a little plainer. May not thy humble creature be permitted to know what share they can have in thy Deity ? Is it a vain and sinful curiosity to desire to have this article set in such a light, as may not diminish the eternal glory of the Unity of the True God, nor of the supremacy of thee the Father of All ? Hadst thou informed me, Gracious Father, in any place of thy word, that this divine doctrine is not to be understood by men, and yet they were required to believe it, I would have subdued all my curiosity to faith, and submitted my wandering and doubtful imaginations, as far as possible, to the holy and wise determinations of thy word. But I cannot find thou hast any where forbid me to understand it, or to make these enquiries. My conscience is the best natural light thou hast put within me, and since thou hast given me the scriptures, my own conscience bids me search the scrip- tures to find out truth and eternal life. It bids me try all things, and hold fast that which is good. And thy own word, by the same expressions, encourages this holy practice. I have, therefore, been long searching into this divine doctrine, that I may pay thee due honour with understanding. Surely I ought to know the God whom 1 worship, whether he be one pure and simple Being, or whether thou art a threefold Deity, consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Dear and Blessed God, hadst thou been pleased, in any one plain scripture, to have informed me which of the different opinions, about the Holy Trinity, among the contend- ing parties of christians had been true, thou knowest with how much zeal, satisfaction, and joy, my unbiassed heart would have opened itself to receive and embrace the divine discovery. Hadst thou told me plainly, in any single text, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are three real distinct persons in tin divine nature, I had never suffered myself to be bewildered in so many doubts, nor embarrassed with so many strong fears of assenting to the mere inventions of men, instead of divine doctrine; but I should have humbly and immediately accepted thy words, so far as it was possible for me to under- stand them, as the only rule of my faith. Or hadst thou been pleased so to express and include this proposition in the several scattered parts of thy book, from whence my reason and conscience might with ease find out, and with certainty infer his doctrine, I MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xxxlx should have joyfully employed all my reasoning powers, with their utmost skill and activity, to have found out this inference, and ingrafted it into my soul. Thou hast taught me, Holy Father, by thy prophets, that the way of holiness, in the times of the gospel, or under the kingdom of the Messiah, shall be a highway, a plain and easy path ; so that the wayfaring man, or the stranger, though a fool, shall not err therein. And thou hast called the poor and the ignorant, the mean and the foolish things of this world, to the knowledge of thyself and thy Son, and taught them to receive and partake of the salvation which thou hast provided. But how can such weak creatures ever take in so strange, so difficult, and so abstruse a doctrine as this ; in the explication and defence whereof, multitudes of men, even men of learning and piety, have lost them- selves in infinite subtilties of dispute, and endless mazes of darkness? And can this strange and perplexing notion of three real persons going to make up one true God, be so necessary and so important a part of that christian doctrine, which, in the Old Testa- ment and the New, is represented as so plain and so easy even to the meanest under- standings ? 0 thou Searcher of Hearts, who knowest all things, I appeal to thee concerning the sincerity of my enquiries into these discoveries of thy word. Thou knowest me, thou hast seen me, and hast tried my heart towards thee: If there be any lurking hypocrisy in my heart, any secret bias towards any thing but truth, uncover it, O Father of Lights, and banish it from my soul for ever. If thine eye discovers the least spark of criminal prejudice in any corner of my soul, extinguish it utterly, that I may not be led astray from the truth, in matters of such importance, by the least glance of error or mistake. Thou art witness, O my God, with what diligence, with what constancy and care, I have read and searched thy holy word ; how early and late, by night and by day, I have been making these enquiries. How fervently have I been seeking thee on my bended knees, and directing my humble addresses to thee, to enlighten my darkness, and to shew me the meaning of thy word, that I may learn what I must believe, and what I must practise with regard to this doctrine, in order to please thee, and obtain eternal life ! Great God ! who seest all things, thou hast beheld what busy temptations have been often fluttering about my heart, to call it off from these laborious and difficult enquiries, and to give up thy word and thy gospel as an unintelligible book, and betake myself to the light of nature and reason ; but thou hast been pleased by thy divine power to scatter these temptations, and fix my heart and hope again upon that Saviour and that eternal life, which thou hast revealed in thy word, and proposed therein, to our knowledge and our acceptance. Blessed be the name of my God, that has not suffered me to abandon the gospel of his Son Jesus ! And blessed be that Holy Spirit that has kept me attentive to the truth delivered in thy gospel, and inclined me to wait longer in my search of these c]ivine truths, under the hope of thy gracious illumination. 1 humbly call thee to witness, O my God, what a holy jealousy I ever wear about my heart, lest I should do the slightest dishonour to thy supreme majesty in any of my en- quiriesjor determinations. Thou seest what a religious fear, and what a tender solicitude I maintain on. my soul, lest I should think or speak any think to diminish the grandeurs and honours of thy Son Jesus, my dear Mediator, to whom I owe my everlasting hopes. Thou knowest how much afraid I am of speaking one word, which may be construed into a neglect of thy blessed Spirit, from whom I hope I am daily receiving happy in- fluences of light and strength. Guard all the motions of my mind, O Almighty God, xl MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. against every thing that borders upon these dangers. Forbid my thoughts to indulge, and forbid my pen to write one word, that should sink those grand ideas which belong to thyself, or' thy Son, or thy Holy Spirit. Forbid it, O my God, that ever I should be so unhappy as to unglorify my Father, my Saviour, or my Sanctiner, in any of my sen- timents or expressions concerning them. Blessed and faithful God, hast thou not promised that the meek thou wilt guide in judgment, the meek thou wilt teach thy way? Hast thou not told us by Isaiah thy prophet, that thou will bring the blind by a way ivhich they knew not, and wilt lead them in paths which they have not known? Hast thou not informed us, by thy prophet Hosea, that if we follow on to know the Lord, then we shall know him ? Hath not thy Son, our Saviour, assured us, that our Heavenly Father will give his Holy Spirit to them who ask him ? And is he not appointed to guide us into all truth ? Have I not sought the gracious guidance of thy good Spirit continually ? Am I not truly sensible of my own darkness and weakness, my dangerous prejudices on every side, and my utter insufficiency for my own conduct? Wilt thou leave such a poor creature, bewildered among a thousand perplexities, which are raised by the various opinions and contrivances of men to ex- plain thy divine truth? Help me, Heavenly Father, for I am quite tired and weary of these human explain- ings, so various and uncertain. When wilt thou explain it to me thyself, O my God, by the secret and certain dictates of thy Spirit, according to the intimations of thy word ? Nor let any pride of reason, nor any affectation of novelty, nor any criminal bias what- soever, turn my heart aside from hearkening to these divine dictates of thy word and thy Spirit. Suffer not any of my native corruptions, nor the vanity of my imagination, to cast a mist over my eyes, while I am searching after the knowledge of thy mind and will, for my eternal salvation. I entreat, O most merciful Father, that thou wilt not suffer the remnant of my short life to be wasted in such endless ivanderings, in quest of thee and thy Son Jesus, as a great part of my past days have been; but let my sincere endeavours to know thee, in all the ways whereby thou hast discovered thyself in thy word, be crowned with such success, that my soul being established in every needful truth by thy Holy Spirit, J may spend my remaining life according to the rules of thy gospel ; and may, with all the holy and happy creation, ascribe glory and honour, wisdom and power, to thee, who BJttest upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever, Many things here mentioned are already animadverted upon as they occur in our author's previous writings, we shall add two or three additional observations. 1. The Doctor seems to suppose that it is the office of the Holy Spirit, not only to lead into the essential truths of the gospel, which arc indeed so plain that " he who runs may read ;"' but also into its higher and more philosophical principles; On this point. however, we may observe, that while the Spirit of God leads the humble christian into all the (ruth, so far as it is important to his salvation, he never encourages idle or pre- sumptuous curiosity. Job, it should seem, erred on this head, in attempting to push his enquiries too far into the mysteries of Dhinc Providence; and he was silenced, not by .in explication of his difficulties, but by being reproved for his presumption : Who is this MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xli that darkenelh counsel by words without knowledge? When Daniel, after being favoured with extraordinary prophetic revelations, which he heard but understood not, said, O my Lord, what shall the end of these things be ? he received for ansM er, Go thy way, Daniel — Go thy way till the end be: For thou shall rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. When Paul was taken up into the third heaven, he was permitted to make no discoveries ; and though John was allowed to write his sublime visions, it was in language so enigmatical, as only to be understood when they are fulfilled. We are taught to live by faith, and not by sight, in the present imperfect state. 2. Our good Doctor seems to have imbibed too much the spirit and language of holy Job in this respect also, when he justifies himself rather than his Maker. Assuming, perhaps, rather too confidently, his own integrity and purity of intention, he thence in- fers the certainty of divine direction ; whereas many reasons may be given to justify the wisdom and goodness of God in not granting his request ; especially as perfect know- ledge is the privilege of the heavenly state ; What thou knouest not now, thou shall know hereafter. 3. It appears that our author was by no means settled and confident in his own opinions. After so many years earnest enquiry after truth, he was yet a learner ; and near the close of his long and studious life lamented that " a great part of his days" had been " wasted in endless wanderings, in quest" of satisfaction on this subject. No great encouragement by the way for others, in this respect, to imitate his conduct \ although in other respects so bright an exemplar of christian graces. 4. It is clear, however, the Doctor never degenerated into the Arian or Socinian systems, though his opinions have been supposed to lead toward them. But little before his death, and while he was attacked by the Trinitarians, he also sustained a contro- versy Avith Mr. Tomkins, who laboured much to draw him into Arianism ;* but though the Doctor certainly departed from the common hypothesis, nothing could induce him to give up the Deity or the worship of Jesus Christ ; or to suppress those ascriptions of praise to the divine Trinity in his doxologies, notwithstanding he might think some of them rather incautiously, because unscripturally, expressed, f We cannot, perhaps, conclude this subject more properly than by adverting to some lines, which the Doctor in his early days had written upon the great Mr. Locke, who before his death, was supposed to have indulged some dangerous speculations, partly also on the same subject. * Palmer's Life of Watts, Appendix. Beside Mr. Touikins's "Sober Appeal to a Turk or an Indian," he also published " A calm Enquiry whether we have any Warrant from Scripture to address ourselves in a Way of Prayer or Praise to the Holy Spirit," on which Dr. Watts wrote animadversions: of these Mr. Palmer gives a specimen, but they were never wholly printed. + There is one respect, in which it seems the Doctor wished to have introduced some alterations. Dr. Amory related to Mr. Palmer a conversation between Mr. Henry Grove and Dr. Watts, in which Mr. Grove remarked, that several of the Doctor's Hymns appeared rather to lay the stress of our salvation on the compassion of Christ than on the love of God. The Doctor seems to have admitted this, but lamented, that, having sold the copyright, it was not in his power to make altera- tions. This applies, however, only to a few expressions, which a small share of poetical licence is sufficient to account for. The report raised of his having prepared an edition of his hymns altered to the Arian or Socinian standard, is certainly without foundation. See Palmer's Life of Watts, p. 27, note. VOL. I. f akin MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS: " Sister of Faith, fair Charity, Shew me the wond'rous man on high, Tell how he sees the Godhead, Three in One : The bright conviction fills his eye, His noblest pow'rs in deep prostration lie, At the mysterious throne. " Forgive," he cries, " ye saints below, The wav'ring and the cold assent I gave to themes divinely true: Can you admit the blessed to repent ? Eternal darkness veil the lines Of that unhappy book ; Where glimmering reason with false lustre shines, Where the mere mortal pen mistook What the celestial meant !"* In applying these lines of our author to some of his own writings, we do not mean to insinuate (as he does of Mr. Locke) that it is needful " to invoke charity, that by her help" we may " find him out in heaven ;" the scenes to which we are now proceeding, as well as the whole tenour of his life, preclude the possibility of doubt on that subject. Having now bid adieu to the Doctor as an author, we return with him to the scenes of private life, and find him in the same happy and pious family to which his illness pro- videntially introduced him in 1712, and where he finished his days, after six and thirty years abode. Sir Thomas, we have observed, was soon taken from him, but his excel- lent relict, who was " a widow indeed," survived the Doctor about a year. " A coali- tion like this," says Dr. Johnson, " a state in which the notions of patronage and depend- ance were overpowered by the perception of reciprocal benefits, deserves a particular memorial." In adverting to the Doctor's private life, which has been yet but very slightly noticed, we must take a retrospective view. The delicacy of his constitution, and repeated sick- nesses soon brought upon him the infirmities of age ; yet the goodness of God, and the kind attention of his friends preserved his feeble frame to a good old age ; and though the taper of life burned slowly to the socket, its flame was brilliant to the last. In health he was remarkable for vivacity in conversation, and for ready wit ; though he never shewed a fondness for displaying it, especially in satire, to which his amiable temper was naturally averse. " Wit fell from him," says Dr. Gibbons, " like occasional fire from heaven; and like the ethereal flame was ever vivid and penetrating."! His long and repeated illnesses gave him little opportunity for visiting ; but whenever he went into fatuities, he filled his pockets with hymns and catechisms, and where he was known and expected, the young people flocked around him to receive them. In early life it has been said that an attachment was formed between OUT divine and the pious and amiable Miss Singer, afterwards Mrs. Rowe ; if this was ever any thing more than a Platonic passion, which is doubtful, it certainly subsided into a pure and sincere friendship— in consequence of which that lady, at her death, committed her papers to his care. It is probable, however, that his frequent afflictions prevented him from seriously thinking of altering his condition, and after his kind reception into the Abney family, it became the less desirable. * Hor. Lyr. Bk. II. + Gibbons's Life of Watts, p. l62. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xliii A few interesting anecdotes of the Doctor may here be properly introduced. He was low of stature,* (but about five feet,) and his bodily presence was weak ; yet there was a certain dignity in his countenance, and such piercing expression in his eyes, as commanded attention and awe. Being once in a coffee-room with some friends, he overheard a gentleman asking, rather contemptuously, " What, is that the great Dr. Watts ?" and turning round suddenly, and in good humour, repeated a stanza from his Lyric Poems, which produced a silent admiration : " Were I so tall to reach the pole, Or grasp the ocean with my span, I must be measured by my soul : The mind's the standard of the man."f Dr. Gibbons informs us that, like other men of genius, our author was a dabbler in the mimic arts, and copied some antiques that shewed him master of his pencil. Of course he was an admirer of Raphael's Cartons ; and once, on being shewn that which represents St. Paul preaching at Athens, he exclaimed, " I'll tell you what he is saying, Behold he cometh ! and were we to fthink as long as we will (says Dr. Gibbons), we could not perhaps conceive any words more suitable to the aspect and attitude of the speaker, and the solemnity reigning upon the countenances of the hearers."|| By the way we may remark, that as the great apostle of the gentiles is reported to have been a little man, of similar stature and appearance with our author, so it was his opinion that St. Paul's infirmities were also similar to his own ; for his biographer tells us, that the Doctor explained " the thorn in the flesh," to be a state of nervous debility, such as he was himself latterly afflicted with to a remarkable degree.:}; As the Doctor was free and cheerful in conversation, so his remarks were constantly directed to some valuable end. On his last visit to his father at Southampton, a servant in the family was ordered to accompany him a day's journey homeward. On this occasion, the Doctor entered into such a serious discourse with him as was the means of his conversion, and Richard Ellcock (such was his name) lived and died an honourable christian. The Doctor was blessed with a retentive memory. Dr. Gibbons mentions hearing him readily repeat in conversation, in the latter part of his life, several verses from Juvenal, though he had never read them since he was a young man.^ We have remarked, that in his latter days he was a good deal engaged in controversy. Flattered on the one hand by innumerable admirers, and on the other teased by the envy and jealousy of his rivals in popularity, his delicate mind, naturally irritable and shat- tered by sickness, must have very sensibly felt his situation ; though, it is said, Lady Abney kept from him, as much as possible, every thing she thought calculated to give * His stature was beneath the common standard, perhaps not above five feet, or at most five feet two inches, but without any thing like deformity in his frame. His body was spare and lean, his face oval, his nose ac- quiline, his complexion fair and pale, his forehead low, his cheek bones rather prominent, but his countenance on the whole by no means disagreeable, his eyes were small and grey, and whenever he was attentive or eager, amazingly piercing and expressive, his voice was rather too fine and slender, at least it would have been thought 90, if he had been of a larger mould, but it was regular, audible, and pleasant. Dr. Gibbons, p. 322. t Hor. Lyr. False Greatness. || Gibbons's Life of Watts, page l6l. J Ibid. 157. § Ibid. 323. N. f 2 xliv MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. him uneasiness. It was indeed the Doctor's own disposition, not to pain a worm, but to sympathize with every feeling of human nature ; and though his means of benevo- lence were small, his income not exceeding one hundred pounds per annum, yet one- third of it he constantly disposed of in charity, and offeted to decline his salary when he found himself no longer able to fulfil his public service. The account of his last illness and death cannot be given better than in the words of his friend, Dr. Gibbons, and his faithful servant and amanuensis, Mr. Joseph Parker. " It is a glory (says our author in one of his discourses) to the gospel, when we can lie down with courage in hope of its promised blessings. It is an honour to our common faith, when it overcomes the terrors of death, and raises the christian to a song of triumph in the view of the last enemy. It is a new crown put upon the head of our Redeemer, and a living cordial put into the hands of mourning friends in our dying hour, when we can take our leave of them with holy fortitude, rejoicing in the salvation of Christ. No sooner does he call but we are ready, and can answer with holy transport, Lord, I come." " What the Doctor so justly and properly describes, that he himself exemplified in his last hours. As his day of life was eminently bright and useful, so its setting was remarkably serene and happy. His weakness was such as greatly to interrupt him in the pursuit of his studies, though not so great as to deprive him of his intellects, or to leave him to any strange chimeras of fancy, which I have frequently, heard, but without any kind of ground attributed to him.* He saw his approaching dissolution with a mind perfectly calm and composed, without the least alarm or dismay, and I never could discover, though I was frequently with him, the least shadow of a doubt as to his future everlasting happiness, or any thing that looked like an unwillingness to die. How have I known him recite with a self-application those words in Heb. x 36. Ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye may receive the promise? And how have I heard him, upon leaving the family after supper and with- drawing to rest, declare with the sweetest composure, that if his Master were to say to him he had no more work for him to do, he should be glad to be dismissed that night? And I once heard him say with a kind of impatience, perhaps such as might in some degree trespass upon that submission we ought at all times to pay to the divine will, " I wonder why the great God should continue me in life, when I am incapable of perform- ing him any further service." He has been heard to say, " I bless God I can lie down with comfort at night, not being solicitous whether I awake in this world or another." * We are happy in being able, from the best authority, to contradict those idle tales so frequently told and so generally believed of the Doctor's nervous fancies, as they are called. We copy Dr. Gibbons's testimony on this head: " How it came to pass I know not, but that it has so happened is certain, that reports have been raised, propagated, and currently believed concerning the Doctor, that he has imagined such things concerning himself, as would prove, if they were true, that he sometimes lost possession of himself, or suffered a momentary eclipse of his intellectual faculties, and I could refer my reader to a biographer who gives the World a grave narrative of the particulars of these wild reveries. But I take upon me, and feel myself happy to aver that these reports were utterly and absolutely false and groundless; and 1 do this from my own knowledge and observation of him for several years, and some of them the years of his decay, when he was at the weakest; from (lie express de- claration of Mr. Joseph Parker his amanuensis for above twenty years, and who was in a manner ever with him; and above all from that of Mrs. Elizabeth Abney, the surviving daughter of Sir Thomas and l-ady Abney, who lived in the same family with him all the time of the Doctor's residence there, a period of no less than thirty-* j»ix years. Can any evidence be more convincing and decisive I" MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. x|v wmmm — — —————— i— » i ■ ■ 'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSB^^^ Again, " I should be glad to read more, yet not iii order to be confirmed more in the truth of the Christian religion, or in the truth of its promises; for I believe them enough to venture an eternity upon them." When he was almost worn out and broken down by his infirmities he observed, in conversation with a friend, " that he remembered an aged minister used to say, that the most learned and knowing christians, when they come to die, have only the same plain promises of the gospel for their support, as the common and unlearned ; and so, said he, I find it. They are the plain promises of the gospel which are my support, and I bless God they are plain promises, which do not require much labour or pains to understand them ; for I can do nothing now but look into my Bible for some promise to support me, and live upon that." When he has found his spirit tending to impatience, and ready to complain, he would thus check himself, " The business of a Christian is to bear the will of God as well as to do it. If I were in health I could only be doing that, and that I may do now. The best thing in obedience is a regard to the will of God, and the way to that is, to get our inclinations and aver- sions as much mortified as we can." " I visited the Doctor on his death-bed * (says his biographer) where I found him ex- ceedingly weak and low, the lamp of life very feebly glimmering in its last decay, but he was still in the perfect possession of his understanding. He told me in answer to my inquiry whether he had any pain in his body, that he had none, and acknowledged it as a great mercy. To my second question, how was it with his soul, whether all was comfortable there, he replied it was, and confessed it to be a great mercy. Mr. Joseph Parker, a person of most respectable character, and the Doctor's amanuensis, as has been before mentioned, for about one-and-twenty years, sent the following intelli- gence concerning him, to his brother at Southampton, but the day before his death, November 24, 1748. " I wrote to you by the last post that we apprehended my master very near his end, and that we thought it not possible he should be alive when the letter reached your hands ; and it will no doubt greatly surprise you to hear that he still lives. We our- selves are amazed at it. He passed through the last night in the main quiet and easy, but for five hours would receive nothing within his lips. I was down in his chamber early in the morning, and found him quite sensible. I begged he would be pleased to take a little liquid to moisten his mouth, and he received at my hand three tea-spoonfuls, and has done the like several times this day. Upon inquiry he told me he lay easy, and his mind peaceful and serene. I said to him this morning that he had taught us how to live, and was teaching us how to die by his patience and composure, for he has been remarkably in this frame for several days past. He replied, " Yes." I told him I hoped he experienced the comfort of these words, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." He answered, " I do." The ease of body and calmness of mind which he enjoys is a great mercy to him and to us. His sick chamber has nothing terrifying in it. He is an upright man, and I doubt not but his end will be peace. We are ready to use the words of Job and say, " We shall seek him in the morning but he shaii not be." But * Dr. Gibbons, page 31 6, directly contradicts the story relating to a visit paid by the Rev. Geo. Whitcfield to Dr. Watts just before his death, and the conversation said to have passed on that occasion. Dr. Gibbons says, " Mr. Whitefield never visited the Doctor in his last illness, nor had any conversation with him for some months before his decease." xl?i MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. God only knows, by whose power he is upheld in life, and for wise purposes no doubt.. He told me he liked I should be with him. All other business is put off, and I am in the house night and day. I would administer all the relief that is in my power. He is worthy of all that can be done for him. My lady sends her compliments, and am your very faithful and truly afflicted servant, — Joseph Parker." On the 2Gth of November, the day after the Doctor's decease, Mr. Parker again wrote to the same person. " At length the fatal news is come. The spirit of the good man, my dear master, took its flight from the body to worlds unseen and joys unknown yesterday in the after- noon, without a struggle or a groan. My Lady Abney, and Mrs. Abney, are supported as well as we can reasonably expect. It is a house of mourning and tears, for I have told you before now, that we all attended upon him and served him from a principle of love and esteem. May God forgive us all that we have improved no more by him, while we enjoyed him P Thus did this great and good man, after an eminently holy and useful life, finish his course with joy, and the last sight of him to the eye of faith was not unlike that which the corporeal eye of Elisha had of Elijah, when he ascended in triumph to the heavenly glory. Dr. Watts was very honourably interred among the worthies in Bunhill Fields, his pall being borne by six ministers, two from each of the three principal denominations among the protestaut dissenters,* presbyterians, independents, and antipedobaptists. Dr. S. Chandler delivered the oration at the grave, | and Dr. Jennings preached the funeral sermon from Heb. xi. 4. He being dead, yet speaketh. Several other sermons were preached on the same occasion in different parts of the kingdom, but we shall give an extract only from that of Dr. Jennings, who from personal knowledge was well qualified to delineate our author's character. " Though that which gave him the most remarkable pre-eminence was the extent and sublimity of his imagination, yet how few have excelled, or even equalled him, in quickness of apprehension and solidity of judgment? And having also a faithful memory to retain what he collected from tin4 labours of others, he was able to pay it back again with a large increase. I question whether any author before him, did ever appear on such * Dr. Grosvenor was one of these, and on his return a friend thus accosted him; "Well, Doctor! you hare seen the end of Dr. Watts, and must soon follow him: What think you of death?'' — " Think of it!" replied he, *' When death comes, I shall smile on him, if God smile on me." t Dr. Samuel Chandler in the oration at the grave, delivered the following just commendation of the deceased : " We here commit to the ground the venerable remains of one, who being intrusted with many excellent ta- lents by him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift, cheerfully and unwearicdly employed tliem as a faithful steward of the manifold grace of God in his Master's service, approving himself as a minister of Christ in much patience, in afflictions, and distresses, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the armour of righteousness, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report, and who, amidst trials from within and from without, was continued by the kind providence of God, and the powerful supports of his grace to a good old age, honoured and beloved by all parlies, lemming his usefulness till he had just finished his course, and being at last favoured, according to his own wishes and prayers, with a release from the labours of life into tbat peaceful state of good men, which com- mences immediately after death. () how delightful is that voice from heaven which has thus pronounced, lllrs- sed are the dead who die in the Lord, yea, sailh the Spirit, that they may rent from their labours, and their WOrki follow them.'' MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xlvii a variety of subjects as he has done, both as a prose writer and a poet. However, this I may venture to say, there is no man now living, of whose works so many have been dispersed, both at home and abroad, that are in such constant use, and translated into such a variety of languages ; many of which will, I doubt not, remain more durable monuments of his great talents than any representation I can make of them, though it were to be engraven on pillars of brass." In addition to this encomium on his cha- racter as an ingenious man and a scholar, he considers him in the more exalted light of a christian, (" the highest style of man,") and instances in the various christian virtues and graces which distinguished him. Dr. Gibbons and Mr. Palmer have both enlarged upon the features of the Doctor's character, but, as we have given a fall-length portrait in the history of his life and ac- tions, we shall only add the masterly sketches of two writers of the first literary rank, and who being both members of that establishment from which he conscientiously dis- sented, could have no temptation to partiality. Dr. Samuel Johnson says, " Few men have left behind them such purity of charac- ter, or such monuments of laborious piety. He has provided instruction for all ages, from those who are lisping their first lessons to the enlightened readers of Malebranche and Locke ; he has left neither corporeal nor spiritual nature unexamined ; he has taught the art of reasoning and the science of the stars. His character, therefore, must be formed from the multiplicity and diversity of his attainments, rather than from any single performance ; for it would not be safe to claim for him the highest rank in any single denomination of literary dignity ; yet perhaps there was nothing in which he would not have excelled, if he had not divided his powers to different pursuits." Here the Doctor enters into a critique upon our author's poetry, which has already been cited, with some animadversions, and concludes as follows : " He is at least one of the few poets with whom youth and ignorance may be safely pleased ; and happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his Nonconformity ; to copy his benevolence to man, and his reverence to God."* While there is something meanly depreciating in the idea that " youth and ignorance" may be pleased with the poetry of Watts, there is a strong censure implied upon his brother poets, for there are " few" — very few indeed — " with whom youth and ignorance may be safely pleased." But the reflection in the last paragraph upon his Nonconformity is so evidently out of place, that one would wonder how even Johnson, with all his pre- judices, should have introduced it. Thus much is evident, that Dr. Watts's character, like that of the prophet Daniel, was so singularly irreproachable that, except in a mat- ter of conscience, nothing could be alleged against him.f * Lives of the Poets, Vol. IV. f We cannot pass over this uncandid insinuation of Dr. Johnson, without a remark. This we shall borrow from the Rev. S. Palmer, in the Life of Dr. Watts by Dr. Johnson with Notes, &c. " Is not this exception a striking proof of Dr. Johnson's bigoted attachment to the national established mode of worship? " Reverence to God (or rather for God) and benevolence to man," are the two grand essentials of reli- gion. He that possesses these is a true christian, whatever be the external mode of worship which he adopts. Neither his Conformity nor his Nonconformity will exclude him from the divine favour, nor ought it to be matter of censure to his fellow-creatures. If a man, in uniting with any christian community, appears to follow the dic- tates of his own conscience, and to act conformably to his principles, he deserves the esteem of all parties, and xlwii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. The encomium of another eminent literary character, Dr. Vicessimus Knox, is far more liberal. " For my own part," says he, " I cannot but think this good man ap- proached as nearly to christian perfection as any mortal ever did in this sublunary state ; and therefore I consider him as a better interpreter of the christian doctrine than the most learned critics, who, proud of their reason and their learning, despised or neg- lected the very life and soul of Christianity, the living, everlasting gospel, the super- natural influence of divine grace ; and be it ever remembered, that Dr. Watts was a man who studied the abstrusest sciences, and was as well qualified to become a verbal critic, or a logical disputant on the scriptures, as the most learned among the Doctors of the Sorbonne, or the greatest proficients in polemical divinity. I mention this circumstance for the consideration of those who insinuate that the doctrines of grace cannot be en- tertained but by ignorant, as well as fanatical persons ; by persons uninitiated in the mysteries of philosophy."* After perusing these panegyrics it may be thought we should have followed such examples, and not have marked our author's frailty by our observations. This, however, is not according to the example of the sacred penmen ; nor does it answer the grand end of biography, which is to exhibit models within human imitation ; not that we should copy blemishes, but they convince us that the model is not inimitable. They serve us also as waymarks to caution us against those errors into which the greatest and best of men have been betrayed. Anticipating the partial eulogium of his friends, the Doctor had provided for his tomb the following modest inscription with the date of his dissolution, which was engraved on it at the joint expence of his kind friends, Sir J. Hartopp and Lady Abney. to object to his peculiarity of religious profession, is the mark of a little mind. — That Dr. Watts was con- scientious in his Nonconformity there can be no doubt. Dr. Johnson acknowledges that ' any denomina- tion of christians would have been glad to have received him.' If he could have conformed to the national church, doubtless he might have had preferment in it equal to what some of his fellow-students obtained. He neither had, nor could he expect any such emoluments among the dissenters. On what principle then could he ' resolve to take his lot with them' but that of conscience? If he had complied with the terms of Confor- mity while he thought them unlawful, he had violated his conscience, and lost his integrity. Was not his Noncon- formity then laudable'? "Supposing him to be mistaken in his judgment of the matters in debate between the Church of England and Dissenters, that ' reverence for God,' which Dr. Johnson acknowledges he possessed, was the very thing which made him a Dissenter. He made the word of God the rule of his faith and practice. He could not submit to human impositions in matters of religion. He dared not yield to such tonus of communion as the holy scriptures have not prescribed. His judgment did not approve many things which the Church of England enjoins, and his conscience would not allow him to profess to believe, as true what he thought to be false, or to practise as right what he apprehended to he wrong. Why then is he censured for his Nonconformity? And why is it suggested that it would be unhappy for any to imitate him in it, though they should he actuated by the same noble princi- ples ? An inspired apostle has said, ' Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing that he alloweth.' And again, ' This is our rejoicing the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of G©d we have our conversation in the world.' The principal source of hap- puu8» i> 'a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards man.' He that has this must he 'happy/ and he OUgb.1 to he respected. Dr. Johnson therefore had much better have said, ' Happy indeed is that reader who is disposed by his verses or his prose to imitate him in his impartial enquiry after truth, and in following the dictates of his owa conscience, in his reverence towards God and his benevolence to men, whether he be a Conformist or a Nonconformist." * Christ. Philosophy. i MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. xlrx ISAAC WATTS, D.D. Pastor of a Church of Christ in London, Successor of the Rev. Mr. Joseph Caryl, Dr. John Owen, Mr. David Clarkson, and Dr. Isaac Chauncey, after Fifty Years of feeble Labours in the Gospel, interrupted by Four Years of tiresome Sickness, was at last dismissed to Rest. November XXV. A. D. MDCCXLV1II. iET. LXXV. 2 Cor. v. 8. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Col. iii. 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, I shall also appear with him in glory. IN VNO IESV OMNIA. A few years ago, a small marble monument was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey ; but it is by no means worthy of the illustrious man whom it is intended to honour. We are sorry to add, it is already mutilated by the hand of wantonness. It would be highly creditable to the body of Protestant Dissenters, were they to pro- cure another monument, more worthy of Dr. Watts, in St. Paul's Cathedral. But the most honourable and the most durable monument of his uncommon worth, we have now the happiness of presenting to the world in his admirable WORKS. VOL. I. g' LETTERS BETWEEN DR. WATTS AND HIS CORRESPONDENTS Mr. Isaac Watts, Sen. (Father of the Doctor) to his Children, when absent through Persecution. My dear Children, JL HOUGH it hath pleased the only wise God to suffer the malice of ungodly men, the enemies of Jesus Christ (and my enemies for his sake) to break out so far against me as to remove me from you in my personal habitation, thereby at once bereaving me of that comfort which I might have hoped for in the enjoyment of my family in peace, and you of that education, which my love as a father and duty as a parent, required me to give ; yet such are the longings of my soul for your good and prosperity, especially in spiritual concernments, that I remember you always with myself in my daily addresses to the throne of grace. Though I cannot speak to you, yet I pray for you ; and do hope that my God will hear me, and, in due time, bring me to live again amongst you, if he shall see such a mercy fit to be bestowed on me or you. Howsoever, we must endeavour, by patient waiting, to submit to his will without murmuring ; and not to think amiss of his chastising us, knowing that all his works are the products of infinite wisdom ; his designs are the advancement of his own glory ; and his ends towards his people their sanctification and salvation, which shall certainly be accomplished at last, however his great providences may seem contrary to it as to our apprehensions. My dear children, since in this my absence from you, it is the desire of one of you (that is, my eldest son) to have a line of counsel from his father, I hope he has but mentioned it as the mouth for himself, and the rest of you that are anywise capable of understanding, and that it will be acceptable to you all, and regarded by you ; and, therefore, I shall write in general terms to you all that can understand it at present; and to the rest as they grow up to understand it, if you will keep it, or copy it for them ; for though I am not altogether without hopes of seeing you again, yet I am nowise certain of it, all our time being in God's hand; but I would have you know that you have yet a father that loves you. I am glad to hear such a desire from any of you ; and willing heartily to comply with it, so far as my time and the many disadvantageous circumstances that attend me will permit; which take as followeth : ]st, I charge you frequently to read the holy scriptures; and that not as a task or burden laid on you, but get your hearts to delight in them : There are the only pleasant histories which are certainly true, and greatly profitable; there are abundance of pre- cious promises made to sinners, such as you are by nature ; there are sweet invitations and counsels of God and Christ to come in and lay hold of them ; there are the choice heavenly sayings and sermons of the Son of God, the blessed prophets, and apostles. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. Ii Above all books and writings, account the Bible the best, read it most, and lay up the truths of it in your hearts ; therein is revealed the whole will of God for the rule of man's faith and obedience, which he must believe and do, to be holy and happy here- after. Let all the knowledge and learning you attain by other books, both at school and at home, be improved, as servants to help you the better to understand God's word in all the several tongues wherein you read it. I am the larger upon this head, because therein you may come to know your duty to God and man ; and, indeed, the sum of all the counsel I can give you, necessary for the regulating your behaviour towards God and man, in every station, place, and condition of your lives, is contained in that blessed word of God, which pronounceth a blessing to those that read and hear it, and keep the things that are therein written. 2ndly, Consider, seriously and often, of the sinful and miserable estate you are in by nature, from the guilt of original sin, which came in by the fall of our first parents ; also of the increasing of that guilt by your own transgressions, and that you are liable to eternal wrath thereupon ; also think of the way of fallen man's recovery by grace, according to the foundation principles of the true christian religion, which you have learned in your catechism ; and beg of God by prayer, to give understanding in them, and faith to believe in Jesus Christ, and an heart willing to yield obedience to his gospel commands in all things. Though you cannot tell how to pray as you should do, nor in any order, yet, be, not afraid nor ashamed to tiy. Go aside, my dear children, and think in your minds what it is that you want to make you holy and happy. Tell God that you want pardon of sin, a soft, tender, and sanctified heart, a portion of the Spirit, &c. ; and then beg God to help you to pray for those things, and to teach you to pray, and to pardon the iniquities Of your prayers. My children though it may want a form of words, yet if the heart be in it, this is prayer, and such a prayer too as God will hear and accept ; for he despises not the day of small things, nor little ones ; but loves to see them come and tell him what they would have. Tell him you would pray better, but you cannot, till he pleases to help you. My children, if you do but use this way you shall find that in time you will come to have praying gifts and praying graces too; for to them that ask, it shall be given: it will be your excellency, your honour, and your great profit to begin betimes to be praying christians. Prayer is the character of a child of God, the best remedy for soul diseases, and the best weapon for a saint's defence! God ivill pour out his wrath upon them that call not on his name. 3dly, Learn to know God according to the discoveries he hath made of himself, in and by his word, in all his glorious attributes and infinite perfections; especially learn to know him in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be acquainted with this blessed Redeemer, of God's elect, who hath paid so great a price as his own blood for the ransom of your souls; thereby satisfying Divine Justice, purchasing peace and reconciliation for sinners. Labour to believe that this was done for your souls ; and look upon yourselves bound, as the Lord's redeemed, to walk in all holy conversation and godliness. Know that if Jesus Christ had not come and suffered in the flesh, thereby undertaking and accomplishing the work of Redemption, there had been no remedy ; but you must have perished for ever ! 4th, Remember that God is your Creator, from whom you received life and being; and as such, you are bound to worship him ; much more, when you consider that he m ff 2 H MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. your benefactor, from the fountain of whose goodness all your mercies come. Now, upon both these accounts, the best of your time and abilities are required in his service; and the earlier you begin to devote yourselves to his service, the abler you will be to perform it acceptably, the greater will be your honour here, and your glory hereafter: though you must not expect to merit aught at his hands, by way of merit for what you can do, yet certain it is, that Jesus Christ will reward every one according to his works ; and we are bidden to look to the recompence of reward, in that sense, after Moses's example ; and it is no small commendation and honour to be an old disciple of Christ. 5th, Know this, that as you must worship God, so it must be in his own way, with true worship and in a right manner: that is, according to the rules of the gospel, and not according to the inventions or traditions of men. Consider, that idolatry and superstition are both abominable to God. Now idolatry is the worshipping of idols, images, pictures, or any creatures or representations, as the heathens do ; or crucifixes and consecrated bread, as the papists do. Either to worship these as God ; or to worship God by and under them, as the children of Israel did the molten calf; or to worship God in a false manner — is idolatry ; and no idolaters must enter into heaven. Super- stition is to make additions of ordinances or ceremonies to God's worship more than he hath appointed, though they have ever so fair pretences for them. Take heed, my chil- dren, of these things. It is not enough to say that such things are not forbidden in scripture; but you must see whether they are commanded there, or else obey them not. 6th, Entertain not in your hearts any of the popish doctrines, of having more medi- ators than one, namely, the Lord Jesus ; of praying to the Virgin Mary, or any other saints or angels ; for saints and angels, though in heaven, yet they are creatures ; and prayer is a divine worship due to none but God the Father, Son, and Spirit : Also avoid their doctrine of meriting by works of obedience; for there is some sin that pollutes our best duties, and we can deserve nothing at God's hand but wrath : All the good we re- ceive comes of his free grace. Their doctrine also of purgatory is abominable; for there is no middle place for souls to go to — there is only heaven and hell : Also, their doctrine that the pope can forgive sins is a lie; for he is a wicked man himself, and must go to hell, unless God forgive him : Also, their turning the bread into the very body of Jesus Christ by a priest's words — this is a falsehood, and notorious idolatry. Many other erroneous and damnable doctrines they own, which I cannot enlarge upon ; but you must receive no doctrine, but such as is rightly built upon the holy scriptures. My children, pray to God to give you the knowledge of the truth, and to keep you from error, for it is a very dangerous time you are like to live in. 7th, Do not entertain any hard thoughts of God, or of his ways, because his people are persecuted for thein; for Jesus Christ himself was persecuted to death by wicked men, for preaching the truth and doing good; and the holy apostles and prophets were cruelly used for serving God in his own way. The wicked ones of the world are the seed of the serpent; and they will always hate the people of God, torment and seek to destroy them ; and God suffers them to do so, not for want of love to his people, but to purge their sins by chastisement ; to try their graces and fit them for heaven, till the wicked have filled up the measure of their iniquities, and for many other holy rea- sons : therefore, if you should come to live very poor, for the gospel's sake, be con- tented with it, and bless God for every mercy you receive ; and know this, that poor ones are heirs of glory as well as rich ones. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. hii Lastly, I charge you to be dutiful and obedient to all yonr superiors — to your grand- father and both grandmothers, and all other relatious and friends that are over you ; but, in an especial manner, to your mother, to whose care and government God hath wholly committed you in my absence ; who, as I am sure, dearly loves you, so she will command and direct you to her utmost ability, in all ways for your good of soul and body. Consider, she is left alone to bear all the burden of bringing you up ; and is, as it were, a widow : her time is filled up with many cares, and therefore do not grieve her by any rebellious or disobedient ways ; but be willing to learn of her and be ruled by her, that she may have some comfort in seeing your obedient carriage ; and it will rejoice me to hear it. Avoid bad company of wicked children ; abhor swearing, lying, and playing on the sabbath-day, and all other wicked courses, so shall you grow in favour with God and man. Love one another. You that are eldest help to teach the younger ; and you that are younger, do not scorn the teachings of the elder. These things I charge and command you, with the authority and love of a father. Now, commending you to God, and what I have written to his blessing upon your hearts, through Jesus Christ, with my dear love to your mother, my duty to your grand- father and grandmothers, and love to all other friends, being indifferent in health, I rest your very loving father, Isaac Watts. London, the 21st of May, 1685. Mr. Enoch Watts to Dr. Isaac Watts. Southampton, March, 1700. Dear Brother, IN your last, you discovered an inclination to oblige the world by shewing it your Hymns in print ; and I heartily wish, as well for the satisfaction of the public as myself, that you were something more than inclinable thereunto ; I have frequently importuned you to it before now, and your invention has often furnished you with some modest reply to the contrary, as if what I urged was only the effect of a rash and inconsiderate fondness to a brother ; but you will have other thoughts of the matter, when I first as- sure you that that affection, which is inseparable from our near relationship, would have had in me a very different operation, for instead of pressing you to publish, I should with my last efforts have endeavoured the concealment of them, if my best judgment did not direct me to believe it highly conducing to a general benefit, without the least particular disadvantage to yourself; this latter I need not have mentioned, for I am very confident whoever has the happiness of reading your Hymns (unless he be either sot or atheist) will have a very favourable opinion of their author, so that at the same, time you contribute to the universal advantage, you will procure the esteem of men the most judicious and sensible. In the second place, you may please to consider, how very mean the perfiv niers in this kind of poetry appear in the pieces already extant. Some ancient ones I ave seen in my time, who flourished in Hopkins and Sternhold's reign; but Mason nirfo reduces this kind of writing to a sort of yawning indifference, and honest Barton chimes us i liv MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. asleep. There is, therefore, great need of a piece, vigorous and lively as yours, to quicken and revive the dying devotion of the age, to which nothing can afford such assistance as poetry, contrived on purpose to elevate us even above ourselves. To what may we impute the prevalency of the songs, filled with the fabulous divinity of the ancient fathers, on our passions? Is it, think you, only owing to a natural propensity in us to be in love with fable, and averse to truth in her native plainness ? I presume it may partly be ascribed to this, that as romance has really more need of artifice than truth to set it off, so it generally has such an abundance more, that it seldom fails of affecting us, by making new and agreeable impressions. Yours now is the old truth, stripped of its ragged ornaments, and appears, if we may say so, younger by ages in a new and fashionable dress, which is commonly tempting. And as for those modern gentlemen, who have lately exhibited their versions of the psalms ; all of them I have not seen I confess, and perhaps it would not be worth while to do it, unless I had a mind to play the critic, which you know is not my talent ; but those I have read confess to me a vast deference to yours, though they are done by persons of [no] mean credit. Dr. Patrick most certainly has the report of a very learned man, and they say, understands the Hebrew extremely well, which indeed, capacitates him for a translator, but he is thereby never the more enabled to versify. Tate and Brady still keep near the same pace ; I know not what sober beast they ride (one that will be content to carry double) but I am sure it is no Pegasus ; there is in them a mighty deficiency of that life and soul, which is necessary to raise our fancies, and kindle and fire our passions ; and something or other they have to alledge against the rest of adventurers ; but I have been persuaded a great while since, that were David to speak English, he would choose to make use of your style. If what I have said seems to have no weight with you, yet you cannot be ignorant what a load of scandal lies on the Dissenters, only for their imagined aversion to poetry. You remember what Dr. Speed says : So far hath schism prevailed, they hate to see Our lines and words in couplings to agree, It looks too like abhorr'd conformity : A hymn so soft, so smooth, so neatly dress'd, Savours of human learning, and the beast. And perhaps it has been thought there were some grounds for his aspersion from fhe admired poems of Ben Keach, John Bunyan, &c. all flat and dull as they are; nay, I am much out, if the latter has not formerly made much more ravishing music with his hammer and brass kettle. Now when yours are exposed to the public view, these calumnies will immediately vanish, Avhic h methinks should be a motive not the least considerable. And now we are talking of music, J have a crotchet in my brain, which makes me imagine that, as cords :\m\ discords equally ph ase heavy-eared people, so the best divine poems to ill no more inspire the rude and illiterate than the meanest rhymes, whicfi may in some mea- sure giv. you satisfaction in that tear you discover, ne in rude vutgus caddnl, and you must all. v them to be tasteless to many people, tolerable to some, but to those lew who kno \ their beauties, to be very pleasant and desirable; and lastly, if I do not speak reason, I will at present take my leave of you, and only desire you to hear what MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. fv your ingenious acquaintance at London say to the point, for 1 doubt not you have many solicitors there, whose judgments are much more solid than mine. 1 pray God A1-' mighty have you in his good keeping, and desire you to believe me, my dear brother, your most affectionate kinsman and friend, Enoch Watt?.. Dr. Watts to the Church of Christ assemblhi^ in Mark Lane. Fob. s, lru-. Beloved in our Lord, WHEN you first called me to minister the word of God among you, I took the free- dom to acquaint you, that in the chief doctrines of Christianity I was of the same mind with your former reverend pastor, Dr. John Owen, who being dead yet speaketh ; and I have been glad to find, by three years experience, that you retain the same principles that he preached among you. Now, since through your great affection and undeserved respect to me, you have thought fit to call me to the great and solemn office of a pastor. I cannot but take the same freedom to hope, that you are of one mind with him in the chief points of church discipline. Though I call no man master upon earth, nor confine my belief to the judgment of another, yet I cannot but own, that, in the study of gospel order, I have found much light and assistance from his works, and from those of your late reverend pastor, Dr. Isaac Chauncy: but being desired by you to give some hints of my principles in writing, in order to future satisfaction, and continuance of peace and love, (if the Lord shall fix me with you) I have here briefly written a few things, whereby you may discover something of my knowledge in the mind and will of Christ concern- ing his churches. 1. I believe that Jesus Christ, the king of saints, has given command and power to his saints, to form themselves into spiritual societies and corporations, for his public glory, and their own edification. 2. That every society of saints, covenanting to walk with God and one another in all the rules and institutions of the gospel, is a church of Christ. 3. That every such church has power to increase its own number by the addition of members, or to purge itself of corrupt members, before it be organized, and made com- plete, by having fixed officers among them. 4. That this society of saints ought to look on themselves more nearly united, and related to one another, than to other christians ; and consequently to pray with and for each other, to visit one another, to exhort, comfort, and assist one another, and to maintain such a love and communion to and with each other, as that they may look like fellow-members of the same body. 5. The members of such an incomplete church, before any pastor is settled among them, may pray together, and exhort one another ; yet this church hath not power in itself to administer all ordinances among them. But when they have chosen a proper officer to be over them in the Lord, and when he is ordained by their public call, his Ivi MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. public acceptance, and by a solemn separation of him to the work by fasting and prayer, then unto the officer is this power committed. 6. It follows thence, that though the pastor be named or chosen to this office by the people, yet his commission and power to administer all divine ordinances is not derived from the people, for they had not this power in themselves ; but it proceeds from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only King of his church, and the principle of all power; and he has appointed in his word, that the call of his church, and solemn ordination, should be the means whereby his ministers are invested with this authority. 7. That in the ordination of a pastor to a particular church, our Lord Christ, as the supreme Governor and Head of his church, sets him in an office of spiritual rule over a willing people, who freely commit themselves to his care ; even as Christ also, in and by his word and his providence, now commits them unto his care and charge, of which he must give an account. 8. Hence it follows that pastoral acts, such as teaching, feeding, guiding, and over- seeing the flock ; exhorting, reproving, comforting them ; are not performed in the name of the people, but in the name, stead, and place of Christ, by the pastor, as his repre- sentative in that church, and as his ambassador to it ; as a shepherd, in ruling, leading, and feeding his flock, acts not in the name of the sheep, but in the name and place of him that owns them, and that has committed them unto his care ; and therefore these pastoral acts are to be received by the people, as clothed with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, so far as they agree with his mind and will according to these scriptures. 2 Cor. v. 20, Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. John xiii. 20. He that re~ ceiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me. And this regard is also due to such acts of the pastor from every member, because they have given themselves up to him in the Lord. 9. Yet I believe, that even with regard to these pastoral acts, Christ has given to his churches so far a judgment of discretion, that they are not bound to submit blindly to the government of the pastor, unless he approve himself therein to act according to the will and mind of Christ in his word : And it is the neglect of this consideration that has brought in that unbounded authority, and usurped dominion of the priests, and that implicit faith and blind obedience of the people in the antichristian church. 10. I believe also, that in all those other exercises of church order, which are not merely acts of the pastor, but also acts of the church; such as receiving and casting out members, appointing places of stated or occasional worship, setting apart days of prayer, and times for church meetings ; a pastor ought to do nothing without the consent of the people ; and though the ivhole office of a pastor herein lies not merely in declaring the mind and consent of the church, yet this is part of that business and service that he oweth to the church. 11. That in the admission of members to the church, it is necessary that the people be well satisfied with the person they receive into their fellowship, as well as the pastor to receive him into his care ; and that the church has liberty to make objections, if they are dissatisfied with his fitness for church communion : Nor can the pastor receive in any member, or cast out any one, contrary to the mind of the people, or without their actual free consent. 12. I Ulie\e, that when the pastor admits a member upon the profession of his faith MEMOIRS OF THE REV. [)li. WA'i"l>. |yjj and hope, and the satisfaction of the church, he doth, in the name of our Lord Jcmis Christ, and by the consent of the chinch, receive him into fellowship with Christ, and with that church, in all gospel privileges and ordinances. 13. The duties of a pastor are chiefly such as these; preaching and labouring in the word and doctrine ; praying earnestly for his flock in public and private ; administering the seals of the covenant of grace, baptism and the Lord's Supper; being instant in season and out of season, teaching and exhorting, comforting and rebuking with all long-suffering and doctrine; contending for, and preserving the truth; approving himself an example to the flock ; visiting the sick and the poor ; praying with them and taking care of them ; making enquiries into the state of his flock, especially as to spiritual affairs; endeavouring to stir up and promote religion in their households and families; and labouring, by all means and methods of Christ's appointment, to further their faith and holiness, their comfort and increase ; and it is the duty of the people to attend upon his ministrations, to pray for him, to encourage and support him ; and w hereinsoever he acts according to the will of Christ, to receive him with all due regard. 14. That it is the proper business of the pastor also, to present persons and cases to the church, and to ask the votes or consent of the church, as one that is set to go before the flock ; except when he is necessitated to be absent ; or, through any indisposition, incapable when present ; or where the pastor himself is so far concerned in the case to be proposed, as may render it improper for him to propose it. 15. For the better performance of all these things, and by reason of the various neces- sities of a church, other officers are also appointed by Christ, of several names in scripture; especially for churches where the members grow numerous ; all whose business is to assist the pastor in those affairs which cannot be fully managed by himself alone, each of them according to their place, office, and business, which the Lord lias appointed them unto in his word. Lastly, That in the management of every affair in the church, there ought to be a spirit of gentleness, meekness, lowliness of mind, love, affection, and tenderness, both in the pastor and people toward each other; for Jesus, the great Shepherd of his church, was most humble and compassionate, most gentle and meek; and his saints were called his sheep from their like dispositions ; and that, the edification of the church being one great end for which Christ has given this office to his ministers, all lesser concerns and differences ought to be managed with a continual regard to this great end, and for the public honour of Christ in his churches. Thus I have given a short account of some of the chief principles of gospel order. If I am so unhappy in any of my expressions to be obscure, and to want explaining, 1 am ready at any time to declare my meaning, and to give the reasons of my judgment on any of the foregoing articles, shewing that they not only agree with the judgment of your reverend pastors aforenamed, but, which is more considerable, that they are all in my apprehension suitable to the will of Christ, concerning churches and pastors revealed in his word. Christian friends, dearly beloved, I cannot but tell you, that while I have been writing these articles, especially the 7th, 8th, and 13th, I shrink at the very thoughts of your call of me to so weighty an office in the church of Christ ; and I find such dis- couragements from the awfulness and greatness of the work, that it makes me cry out vol. i. h tviii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. feelingly, " Who is sufficient for these things?*' And this inclines me still to suspend my answer, and to renew my request to you (though often in vain renewed) of quitting all thoughts of me, and choosing one, whose gifts, graces, and abilities may be more capable of discharging so vast a trust, and filling up the duties of so sacred an office. Yours in the service of the gospel, Isaac Watts. From Dr. Watts to the Rev. Mr. Rosewell, written on the day on which Mr. R. died in the evening. Dear Brother Rosewell, YOUR most agreeable and divine conversation two days ago, so sweetly overpowered my spirits, and the most affectionate expressions which you so plentifully bestowed on me, awakened in me so many pleasing sensations, that I seemed a borderer on the hea- venly world when I saw you on the confines of heaven, and conversed with you there. Yet t can hardly forbear to ask for your stay on earth, and wish your service in the sanctuary, after you have been so much within viewr of the glorious invisibilities which the gospel reveals to us. But if that hope fail, yet our better expectations can never fail us. Our anchor enters within the veil, where Jesus, our forerunner, is gone to take our places ; Heb. vi. ult. May your pains decrease, or your divine joys overpower them ! May you never lose sight of the blessed world, and of Jesus the Lord of it, till the storm is passed, and you are safely arrived. And may the same grace prepare me for the same mansions, and give you the pleasure of welcoming to those bright regions Your affectionate and unworthy Friend and Brother, Isaac Watts. Lime-street, 7th April, 1/22. Just going to Theobalds. P. S. Our family salute you: They were much affected, pleased, and edified with their late visit. Grace be with you, and all your dear relations. Amen. From Mr. afterwards Dr. Thomas Seeker, Jirst Bishop of Oxford, and for several Years before his Death Archbishop of Canterbury. Gloucester, Nov. 18, 1711. Rev. Sir, BEFORE I give you an account of the state of our academy, and those other things you desired me, please to accept of my hearty thanks for that service you have done, me, both in advising me to prosecute my studies in such an extraordinary place of MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WAITS. \lk education, and in procuring- me admittance into it. 1 wish my improvements m.n l»< answerable to the advantages 1 enjoy; but, however that may happen* your kindness has fixed me in a place where I may be very happy, and spend my time to good purpo-. and where, if I do not, the fault w ill be all my own. I am sensible how difficult it is to give a character of any person or thing, because the most probable guesses we make very often prove false ones. Hut, since you are pleased to desire it, I think myself obliged to give you the best and most impartial account of matters I can. Mr. Jones then I take to be a man of real piety, great learning, and an agreeable temper; one who is very diligent in instructing all under his care, very well qualified to give instructions, and whose well-managed familiarity will always make him respeeted. He is very strict in keeping good orders, and will effectually preserve his pupils from negligence and immorality. And accordingly, 1 believe, there are not many academies freer in general from those vices than we are. In particular, my bedfellow, Mr. Scott," is one of unfeigned religion, and a diligent searcher after truth. His genteel carriage and agreeable disposition gain him the esteem of every one. Mr. Griffith is more than ordinary serious and grave, and improves more in every thing than one could expect from a man who seems to be not much under forty ; particularly in Greek and Hebrew he has made a great progress. Mr. Francis |' and Mr. Watkins are diligent in study and truly religious. The elder Mr. Jones, having had a better education than they, will in all probability make a greater scholar ; and his brother is one of quick parts. Our logic, which we have read once over, is so contrived as to comprehend all Here- boord, and the far greater part of Mr. Locke's Essay, and the Art of Thinking. What Mr. Jones dictated to us was but short, containing a clear and brief account of the matter, references to the places where it w as more fully treated of, and remarks on, or explications of the authors cited, when need required. At our next lecture we gave an account both of what the author quoted and our tutor said, who commonly then gave us a larger explication of it, and so proceeded to the next thing in order. He took care, as far as possible, that we understood the sense as well as remembered the words of what we had read, and that we should not suffer ourselves to be cheated with obscure terms which had no meaning. Though he be no great admirer of the old logic, yet he has taken a great deal of pains both in explaining and correcting Hereboord, and has for the most part made him intelligible, or shewn that he is not so. The two Mr. Jones's, Mr. Francis, Mr. Watkins, Mr. Sheldon, and two more gen- tlemen, are to begin Jewish Antiquities in a short time. I was designed for one of their number, but rather chose to read logic once more; both because I was utterly unac- * Afterwards Dr. Daniel Scott. He was a very teamed and amiable man. After lie had studied under Mr. Jones, he removed to Utrecht for further education, where he took the degree of doctor of laws. In the year 1741 he published a new version of St. Matthew's Gospel, with critical notes, and an Examination of Dr. Mills's various readings. He published also in the year 1745 an Appendix to H. Stephens's Greek Lexicon, in two volumes. t Not improbably Mr. Henry Francis, for some time assistant in London to the Rev. Mr. John Foxon, and afterwards pastor of the church at Southampton. I have now before me an original letter of Dr. Watts to him, dated March 10, 1728-9, persuading Mr. Francis's stay at Southampton, in which are expressions of the warmest affection and esteem, h 2 MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. ((iiainted with it when I came to this place, and because the others having all, except Mr. Francis, been at other academies, will be obliged to make more haste than those in a lower class, and consequently cannot have so good or large accounts of any thing, nor so much time to study every head. We shall have gone through our course in about four years time, which I believe nobody that once knows Mr. Jones will think too long. I began to learn Hebrew as soon as I came hitlu :*, and find myself able now to con- strue and give some grammatical account of about twenty verses in the easier parts of the Bible, after less than an hour's preparation. We read every day two verses apiece in the Hebrew Bible which we turn into Greek (no one knowing which his verses shall be, though at first it was otherwise). And this, with logic, is our morning's work. Mr. Jones also began about three months ago some critical lectures, in order to the exposition you advised him to. The principal things contained in them are about the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language, Letters, Vowels, the Incorruption of the Scrip- tures, ancient Divisions of the Bible, an Account of the Talmud, Masora, and Cabala. We are at present upon the Septuagint, and shall proceed after that to the Targumim, and other versions, &,c. Every part is managed with abundance of perspicuity, and seldom any material thing is omitted, that other authors have said upon the point, though very frequently we have useful additions of things which are not to be found in them. We have scarce been upon any thing yet, but Mr. Jones has had those writers which are most valued on that head, to which he always refers us. This is what we first set about in the afternoon ; which being finished, we read a chapter in the Greek Testament, and after that mathematics. We have gone through all that is commonly taught of algebra and proportion, with the six first books of Euclid, which is all Mr. Jones designs for the gentlemen I mentioned above, but he intends to read something more to the class that comes after them. This is our daily employment, which in the morning takes up about two hours, and something more in the afternoon. Only on Wednesdays, in the morning, we read Dionysius's Periegesis, on which we have notes mostly geographical, but with some criticisms intermixed; and in the afternoon we have no lecture at all. So on Saturday, in the afternoon, we have only a thesis, which none but they who have done with logic have any concern in. We are also just beginning to read Isocrates and Terence each twice a week. On the latter our tutor will give us some notes which he received in a college from Perizonius. We are obliged to rise at five of the clock every morning, and to speak Latin always, except when below stairs amongst the family. The people where we live are very civil, and the greatest inconvenience we suffer is, that we fill the house rather too much, being sixteen in number, besides Mr. Jones. But I suppose the increase of his academy will oblige him to remove next spring. We pass our time very agreeably betwixt study and conversation with our tutor, who is always ready to discourse freely of any thing that is useful, and allows us either then or at lecture all imaginable liberty of making objections against his opinion, and prosecuting them as far as we can. In this and every thing else he shows himself so much a gentle man, and manifests so great an affection and tenderness for his pupils* as cannot but command respect and love. I almost forgot to mention our tutor's library, which is composed for the most part of foreign books, which seem to be very well choseu, and are every day of great advantage to us. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. lxi Thus I have endeavoured, Sir, to give you an account of all that I thought material or observable amongst us. As for my own part, I apply myself with what diligence I can to every thing which is the subject of our lectures, without preferring one subject before another; because I see nothing we are engaged in, but what is either necessary, or extremely useful for one who would thoroughly understand those things, which most concern him, or be able to explain them well to others. I hope I have not spent my time, since I came to this place, without some small improvement, both in human knowledge, and that which is far better, and 1 earnestly desire the benefit of your prayers, that God would be pleased to fit me better for his service, both in this world and the next. This, if you please to afford me, and your advice with relation to study, or whatever else you think convenient, must needs be extremely useful, as well as agreeable, and shall be thankfully received by your most obliged humble servant, T. Secker.* From the Same. Cuddesden, near Oxford, June 19, 1741. Sir, I AM extremely obliged to you for the agreeable present of your book,f which is peculiarly well adapted for the direction and improvement of students in the university, where your Logic is by no means the only piece of yours that is read with high esteem. You have been a diligent promoter of useful and especially religions knowledge, of christian faith, and christian morals. On these accounts I have always respected you from the time that I had so many years ago the advantage of your conversation, and always rejoiced in the just honour that has been universally paid you ; and, as this opportunity of expressing my regard gives me much pleasure, so, if the favour of letting me see you next winter will not be inconvenient to you, it will be a great satisfaction to, Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, Tho. Oxford. From the Same. Cuddesden, Sept. 14, 1743. Sir, I HEARTILY thank you for your obliging letter, and, had I known that you had printed a sermon on the subject,|| I should not have failed to enrich my own from it. * This very sensible letter was written by Mr. afterwards Archbishop Secker, at the early age of eighteen. It does honour to himself, at the same time it pays such distinguished and deserved respect to his learned, vigilant, and amiable tutor, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Jones. Had Dr. Porteus, the late worthy Bishop of London, and Dr. Stinton, the authors of the -Archbishop's Memoirs prefixed to his works, been acquainted with Mr. Jones's emi- nent merits, they certainly would not have passed him over so slightly as one Mr. Jones, who kept an academy at Gloucester. t Dr. Watts's Improvement of the Mind, or a Supplement to the Art of Logic. H Dr. Watts's Essay towards the Encouragement of Charity Schools. Ml MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. I hope the things I have said in favour of our charity schools are true. I hope the christians of this nation in general are grown much milder towards each other, and I am sure we have great need to gain in this virtue what we lose in others, and become a more united body as we become a smaller, which I apprehend we do. But fear not, little flock. May God direct and bless us all in our poor endeavours to serve him ! May he give you every needful support under your long sickness, and restore you speedily to your former usefulness, if it be his holy will ! I am with great esteem, Sir, Your affectionate and faithful humble servant, Tho. Oxford. From the Same. St. James's, Westminster, March 20, 1744-5. Sir, I HEARTILY thank God that he hath restored you to a better state of health, and should not have permitted your letter, which brought me that good news, to continue unanswered so long, if more than ordinary business had not sometimes put it out of my power, and sometimes out of my thoughts, to make you my acknowledgments for it. The civilities for which you thank me, are no more than a very imperfect return of justice for the great services you have done to religion ; and you have made a valuable addition to them in the book * you have now been pleased to send me : Particularly by what you have written in so strong and awful, yet so compassionate and good-natured a manner, in defence of the scripture-doctrine concerning the duration of future punish- ments. I pray God to continue you long in a capacity of being still farther useful, and am with great regard, Sir, Your obliged humble servant, Tho. Oxford. From Jonathan Belcher, Esq. to Dr. Watts, just upon his appointment as Governor of New England. Whitehall, January S, 1729-30. Reverend Sir, I BELIEVE you will find among your last year's New-England letters, one that came by me from my esteemed friend, the Rev. Mr. Column; and I think, sometime in April last, 1 had the pleasure of waiting on you at my Lady Abney's, and afterwards of seeing you at Timbridge, since which 1 had promised myself the satisfaction of a more particular personal acquaintance with Dr. Watts; but. the sovereign God (in whose hands our times are) having lately confined you at Theobalds, and called me to an affair of life that engrosses much of my time to be in readiness to look homeward earl} in the Spring; I say, these things have debarred me of that satisfaction and happiness I have so much desired. In New England I have often regaled myself with your ingenious pieces, and I can assure you (without a Compliment) all Dr. Watts's works are had in * Dr. Watts's Discourses on the World to Come. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. lxi.i great esteem and honour amongst us. It was with uncommon concern I observed your weak, tender state of health the last Lord's-day; and although, as you very excellently set forth to us, " that the God of nature can make new vessels, and the God of grace can till them with treasure ; and although the apostle tells us we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, yet Christ's ministers are the salt of the earth, and how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things ! And when Christ fills his vessels with precious treasures, and makes his ministers burning and shining lights, God's people will sorrow most of all to hear the ministers tell them, they fear they shall see their faces no more." But, I hope it may stand with the holy will of God to restore and confirm your health, that his church may have Dr. Watts long in store, still to go on, by the grace and assistance of your ascended Lord, in multiplying the zeals of your ministry to his honour and glory, and the eternal happiness of those whom you shall turn from the error of their ways ; and then those sons and daughters you have here begotten in Christ will serve as sparkling jems to give lustre to that crown of righteousness which God, the righteous judge, will fix on your head in the great day of his appearance. Amen. God grant it may be so ! And now, Sir, since it has pleased the all- wise God (in his providence) to remove me from one ordination of life to another, and to a station where I must stand in a glaring light, exposed to the view of the whole world, and every one will think himself intitled to be my censor morum; to subject my words and actions to his ill-natured cavils and criti- cisms : And, I am sensible, great is the burthen and duty of the place with which the King has honoured me. I therefore desire you to join with me, while I bow my knees to the God of all grace and wisdom, that he would give me a wise and understanding heart, to discern between good and bad, and to know how to go out and in before his people. Every day fills my soul with care and solicitude, that I may discharge my trust to the honour of God, the good of his people, and my own comfort and credit. When I consider how ungratefully and unprofitably I have lived to God and man, it is with shame that I tell you, I am this day entered into the forty-ninth year of my age. My days are swifter than a post, and short (perhaps very short) the race I have to run ; may I then double my diligence for the honour and service of God and man, and so as may most of all promote my own eternal happiness. You will pardon me for the freedom I have taken with a gentleman, more a stranger than I could wish, and believe me to be, with great esteem and respect, reverend Sir, Your most obedient and humble servant, Jonathan Belcher. P. S. My service to the Rev. Mr, Price. Ixiv MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. From Dr. Doddridge to Dr. Watts. May, 1/31-. Reverend Sir, I VERY willingly comply with the request of my good friend, Mr. Hawtyn, in writing to you by him, as it gives me an opportunity of introducing to your knowledge a person very much esteemed by us in these parts, on account of his genius, learning-, piety, and conduct, and at the same time of paying my respects to Dr. Watts. With what sincere reverence and affection I do it, I hope, Sir, I need not tell you at large. I cannot but think that, whenever I have been so happy as to see and converse with you, my countenance must have discovered the inward pleasure that was diffusing itself over my mind on such an occasion. I am deeply sensible of the favour which you have done me, in joining with some other friends, in recommending me as a tutor at your board. If I do not impose upon myself, my conscience witnesses for me in the sight of God, that the hopes of usefulness, rather than the prospects of any worldly advantages, have engaged me to undertake the work. And I persuade myself that your prayers are sometimes concurring with mine, that the great Author of knowledge and of grace may impart to me all that furniture of both kinds which such a station requires, and may succeed my attempts for the edification of his church, and the glory of our common Lord. Till heaven is enriched by your removal thither, I hope, Sir, to find in you a counsellor and a friend, if God should continue my life ; and I cannot but admire the goodness of Providence in honouring me with the friendship of such a person. I can truly say, your name was in the number of those which were dearest to me, long before I ever saw you. Yet, since I have known you, I cannot but find some- thing of a more tender pleasure in the thought of your successful various services in the advancement of the best of causes, that of real, vital, practical Christianity. What happened under my observation a few days ago, gave me joy with regard to you, which is yet so warm in my mind that I hope, Sir, you will pardon my relating the occasion of it. On Wednesday last, I was preaching in a barn to a pretty large assembly of plain country people, at a village a few miles off. After a sermon from Hebrews vi. 12. we swag one of your hymns, (which, if I remember right, was the cxl. of the second book) anq in that part of the worship I had the satisfaction, to observe tears in the eyes of several of the auditory, and after the service was over, some of them told me that they were not able to sing, so deeply were their minds affected with it; and the clerk, in particular, told me he could hardly utter the words of it. These were most of them poor people, who work for their living. On the mention of your name, I found they had read several of vour books with great delight, and that four llvnins and Psalms were almost their daily entertainment. And when one of the company said, " What if Dr. Watts should come down to Northampton?" another replied with a remarkable warmth, "The very sight of him would be like an ordinance to inc." I mention the thing just as it was, and am persuaded it is but a familiar, natural specimen of what often occurs amongst a multitude of christians who never saw your face. Nor do I, by any means, intend it as a compliment to a genius capable of entertaining by the same MEMOIRS OF THE REV. Pit. WATTS. lxv compositions the greatest and the meanest of mankind ; but to remiud you, dear Sir, (with all the deference and humility due to a superior character) how much you owe to him who has honoured you as the instrument of such extensive service. Had Pro- vidence cast my lot near you, I should joyfully have embraced the most frequent opportunities of improving my understanding and warming my heart by conversing with you, which would surely have been greatly for my advantage as a tutor, a minister, and a christian. As it is, I will omit none which may fall in my way ; and when I regret it that I can enjoy no more of you here, will comfort myself with the thoughts of that blessed state where I hope for ever to dwell with you, and to join with you in sweeter and sublimer songs than you have taught the church below. It is my desire and my expectation, that these and your other writings may be transmitted to the remotest generations, and that thousands yet unborn may have eternal reason to be thankful for them. And it is, I hope, a desire animated by a higher principle than that sincere affection, gratitude, and respect with which I am, dear and honoured Sir, Your most obliged, humble servant, P. Doddridge. P. S. My most humble service attends Lady Abney, and her most agreeable family., with Mr. Price, Mr. Neal, Mr. Jennings, Mr. Auther, See. From Dr. Watts to a Friend. Stoke Newington, near London, Jan. 21, 1735. Sir, YOUR letter, dated about the middle of October, should have been answered long ago, had I not been withheld from my study by long illness ; nor am I yet fully recovered. I take pleasure, Sir, to find your honest enquiries after truth, and that you are not willing either to put oft* your children, or to be contented yourself with a mere set of words, instead of clear and intelligible doctrines. I will therefore write you my thoughts, in a few lines, of that impotency and inability of man to believe, and repent, and return to God, which arises from the fall, and which is, I think, the best and the only way to secure our thoughts from running into the ex- tremes of Antinomian opinions on the one side, or Arminian on the other. This impotency, though it may be called natural, or rather native, as it comes to us by nature in its present corrupted state, yet it is not a want of natural powers, either of un- derstanding or will, to know or choose that which is good ; for if there were not natural powers sufficient for this purpose, I do not see how men could be charged as criminals, in not receiving the gracious offers of the gospel. This impotence, therefore, is what our divines usually call a moral impotence, i. e. their mind will not learn divine things, because they shut their eyes ; their will refuse the proposals of grace, they shut it out of their hearts ; they have a delight in sin, and dislike to Christ and his salvation ; they have a rooted obstinacy of will against the methods of divine mercy, and against the holiness which is connected with happiness. And yet this moral impotency is described vol. i. i kvi MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. in scripture by such methods as represent us blind or dead in sin, and that we can no more change our nature, than the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots ; and the reason of these strong expressions is, because God knows this natural aversion to grace and holiness is so strong and rooted in their hearts, that they will never renounce sin and receive the salvation of Christ, without the powerful influence of the Spirit of God ; even that same Spirit which can cure those who are naturally blind, or can raise the dead. Now that this weakness of man to do that which is good is a moral impotence, appears by the moral remedies which are applied to cure it : viz. commands, promises, threatenings, which sort of methods would be useless and ridiculous to apply to natural impotence : that is, to make the blind see, or the dead arise. It must be concluded, therefore, that man has a natural ability, i. e. natural powers to do what God requires, but at the same time such a native aversion of will, that he will never do it without divine grace. Thus there is a fair way laid for the necessity of divine grace, and yet at the same time a just foundation laid for the condemnation of impenitent sinners. I have spoken more largely to this subject in the eleventh of the Berry-Street Sermons which were published last year in 2 vols. 8vo. May the wisdom and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ direct you to walk in a safe way to eternal life, and to lead your children therein ! at the same time assuring you, that the happening to take a little different turn of thought in some of the difficult in- quiries, is not of so vast importance as some persons would make it to be, with respect to our salvation, provided Ave do but maintain a constant dependance upon the grace of the Spirit of God in all our duties to assist us, and on the perfect righteousness or obedience and sufferings of Christ, as our atonement for sin, and the only effectual ground of our acceptance with God. I am, Sir, under frequent returning weaknesses, rendered unable to write much, and therefore subscribe Your friend and humble servant, unknown, Isaac Watts. From the Rev. George Thomson. St. Ginny's, Jan. 17, 1736. POET, Divine, Saint, the delight, the guide, the wonder of the virtuous world ; permit, reverend Sir, a stranger unknown, and likely to be for ever unknown, to desire one blessing from you in a private way. 'Tis this, that when you approach the throne of grace and lift up holy hands, when you get closest to the mercy-seat, and wrestle mightily for the peace of Jerusalem, you would breathe one petition for my soul's health. In return I promise you a share for life in my unworthy prayers, who honour you as a father and a brother (though differently ordered) and conclude myself, Your affectionate humble servant, George Thomson, P. S. If you can forgive my freedom, and find a few minutes leisure to ascertain me of your kind design to oblige, to make me happy, direct to George Thomson, Vicar of St. Ginny's, near Camelford, in Cornwall. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. !x kVtl Dr. Watts to his Father, just before his Death. Newington, Feb. 8, 1736-7. Honoured and Dear Sir, 'TIS now ten days since 1 heard from you, and learned by my nephews that you had been recovered from a very threatening illness. When you are in danger of life I believe my sister is afraid to let me know the worst for fear of affecting me too much. But as I feel old age daily advancing on myself,* I am endeavouring to be ready for my removal hence ; and, though it gives a shock to nature when what has been long dear to one is taken away, yet reason and religion should teach us to expect it in these scenes of mor- tality, and a dying world. Blessed be God for our immortal hopes through the blood of Jesus, who has taken away the sting of death ! What could such dying creatures do without the comforts of the gospel? I hope you feel those satisfactions of soul on the borders of life which nothing can give but this gospel which you taught us all in our younger years. May these divine consolations support your spirits under all your grow- ing infirmities, and may our blessed Saviour form your soul to such an holy heavenly frame, that you may wait with patience amidst the langours of life for a joyful passage into the land of immortality ? May no cares nor pains ruffle, nor afflict your spirit ! May you maintain a constant serenity at heart, and sacred calmness of mind, as one who has long past midnight, and is in view of the dawning day ? The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let the garments of light be found upon us, and let us lift up our heads, for our redemption draws nigh. Amen. I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate obedient Son, Isaac Watts. From Bishop Gibson to Dr. Watts. Fulham, Aug. 12, 1739- Good Sir, I RECEIVED the favour of your letter, and am glad to find that you think the cau- tions which I have given against lukewarmness, may, by the blessing of God, be of some service to religion. There is, without doubt, great need to awaken people out of that unhappy state ; and the labouring to do it, is what may truly be called the chief part of the ministerial oflice. But though we may hope that there are few who wholly neglect the work, we must never expect that it will be done by all with equal zeal and life. When you speak of the way of preaching among the Dissenters, you will not expect it from me to believe, that all the preachers do it with the same force and energy that Dr. Watts has done, and still does, and I pray God he may long continue to do. After I had given directions to my clergy, and put them into the hands of every parti- cular incumbent, I think I could say no less, than that I hoped they were not unmindful of them, unless I knew the contrary. It is a great misfortune to the Church of England, that in market towns, where there is the greatest need of able ministers, there is usually the meanest provision for them ; which gives great advantage to the preachers of other denominations, and may, in some * The Doctor was now in his 63d year. i2 IxviH MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. places, be the occasion of particular people choosing to resort to them, rather than to the church. This may sometimes happen either through the want of vigour and earnest- ness in the delivery, or through an unhappiness of voice, and sometimes by not preach- ing so frequently upon points purely christian as the person could wish ; cases to be much lamented when they do happen, but not to be prevented or wholly remedied by the utmost care and endeavour that a bishop can use, unless he had the appointment of them. It had been happy for Mr. Whitefield, if he had taken the wise advice and cautions you gave hiin. But, from the time that men imagine themselves to be singled out by God for extraordinary purposes, and in consequence of that to be guided by extraordi- nary impulses and operations, all human advice is lost upon them. However, as God knows how to bring good out of evil, I will hope that these extravagancies of theirs may be the occasion of some good in the event, if they do not get too much head. I am, with great affection and esteem, Sir, Your very faithful Servant, Edm. London. From Dr. Watts to Bishop Gibson. Tunbridge Wells, Aug. 15, 1739- My Lord, THE very kind and condescending reception you were pleased to give to the last book which I published, demands my first acknowledgement ; and it persuades me that your lordship much approves of our plain and warm manner of preaching, and our endeavours to make the great doctrines of the gospel to reach the hearts and consciences of those that hear us. And I am called again to be thankful to your lordship for the honour you did me in ordering your late pastoral letter into my hands. Your lordship has so seasonably and so happily cautioned your flock against that lukewarmness, which in times of peace is ready to overspread all the professors of Christianity, as, I hope, under the concurring influences of divine grace, will have a blessed effect upon the people under your care. [ hope, also, the clergy under your inspection will not think themselves neglected in your lordship's discourse, but will not only apply themselves with all holy zeal and fer- vency to warn their hearers of this danger, but set themselves to root it out from the tribe of Levi as well as the rest of the tribes of our Israel, and that every one among the priesthood may be burning and shining lights, and powerful examples among the people. Your lordships distinction of the extraodinary and the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit is so very necessary, that I think the New Testament cannot be understood without, it, and I wish Mr. Whitefield would not have risen above any pretences to the ordinary influences, unless he could have given some better evidences of it. He has acknowledged to me in conversation, that it is such an impression upon his own mind that he knows to he divine, though he cannot give me any convincing proof of it. 1 said many things to warn him of the danger of delusion, and to guard him against the irregu- larities and imprudences which youth and zeal might lead him into, and told him plainly, that though I believed him very sincere and desirous to do good to souls, yet I was not convinced of any extraordinary. call he had to Some parts of his conduct; and he seemed to take this free discourse in a very candid and modest manner. MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. Ixix I own with your lordship, that so large and general a charge as he lays upon the clergy of the established church, it is impossible for him to know certainly whether it is true or not, and therefore these censures are by no means justifiable. But if your lordship will permit me to say, that your lordship's excellent citation of some pages of your charge to those of your diocese is no sufficient refutation of the censure. That very charge was put into my hands, at least twelve years ago, in Essex, and it was the first thing that wrought in my heart a reverence and veneration for your lordship. I think no man could give better advice; and I persuade myself, all the best of the Dissenters, and I think far the greatest part of them, must have approved it with honour. But I cannot but suppose your lordship is so well acquainted with the lower clergy of England, as to know that not a great many of them preach according to those admirable directions. If they did, I easily imagine there would be no Dissenters in many parishes in England where now they abound. It is not the differences of ordination and ceremony, no, nor the imposition of them without warrant, that are so well understood as to create a large separation on those accounts merely. But it is the want of such preaching as your lord- ship recommends that makes many persons, of serious religion, uneasy that they find not such edification for their souls under the parochial clergy in many towns and villages. Nor do I think your lordship, and the rest of your brethren the bishops, can do any thing so effectual to lessen the separation, and to make all the Whitefields less regarded and less dangerous to the church, as to induce the ministers under your care to preach and converse among their people with that evangelical spirit, that zeal for the honour of God and success of the gospel, and Avith that compassion for the souls of men that your lordship so much approves and advises in your pious and excellent charge. Forgive me, my Lord, I entreat you to forgive me, if my zeal for such preaching as your lordship prescribes, has carried me out so far as to forget myself and the person to whom I write, as to say any thing unbecoming the lower station of, my lord, Your lordship's most obliged And faithful humble servant, Isaac Watts. From Dr. Coleman to Dr. Watts. Boston, May 7, 1739. Reverend and dear Sir, YOUR favour of April 4th is before me, and the box containing Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Guyse's Paraphrases, for me and Mr. Cooper, together with the two sets of Mrs. Rowe's works. We like well the binding, and are greatly obliged to you for the care and trouble you have been at to oblige us as you have done. I thank you for the two separate pictures of Mrs. Rowe. Her soul and face were both pleasant to me. I had in a manner lost the features, which I now perfectly remember. The account of her divine life, and walk with God, rises beyond my before raised ideas of her : her serenity, retirements, diligence, and abundant charities, are all wonderful. The father's character is bright as the offspring's, and very just according to all I saw in the two years of my acquaintance with him. He told me once, that Philomela was not to be compared with her mother. It pleased me beyond expression to hear him talk of his Ixk MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. deceased ; and so now does the account of the manner and way whereby Providence began their acquaintance. He told me one forenoon, as I rode out with him, that he had buried a younger sister of Philomela's, who was brighter and lovelier than she, and wrote as well in prose and poetry ; but both of them together was not equal to their perfect mother. After dinner, being alone with Mrs. Singer, (it was in 1698) I told her what her father had said to me of her excelling sister. She was perfectly pleased at it, and answered, " That as she was the youngest, so she was much the most gay and cheer- ful, and pleasing to her father ; she always saw that he most delighted in her, and that she was indeed a lovely daughter and sister." The whole conversation that afternoon was upon her. Philomela told me, that this sister loved her to a great excess; it was often troublesome to her; she would be ever with her, and broke in often upon her retirements for study; and when they retired by consent for composing, she would bring generally more lines written, but as she thought too hastily. The younger daughter was wont to invent ways to try the affection of her sister, and to win it more and more, and would often complain that she returned not an equal love. She gave me several instances of those childish ways of endearment, which I well remember ; and then she proceeded to give me the account of her death. " It was (said she,) and if I give not the words, I will keep exactly to the things she said ; and also up to the life and spirit with which she gave me the endearing story i which I soon after wrote down, and now keep to the record I then made of it; for it struck me too much ever to forget it. It was in my sister's death that my father was to be tried ; but it was I that was taken sick, and my sickness prevailed to a very dan- gerous degree; and when the physicians let them know my great danger, and the little hope they had of my recovery ; this dear sister came to me with a visible concern, and earnestly besought me to tell her, whether I was ready and willing to die, if God should call for me from them by this sickness, for she was afraid I should die ; and she could not comfortably part with me but only to go to Christ; she hoped, therefore, that my interest in him was comfortable and clear to me." I earnestly turned to her and said, " Why, sister, do they think me in such hazard? I must confess to you that my distress would be great, on the account of my soul, if I thought my death were now coming on, for I have not that full assurance of my interest in Christ, which I have always begged of God I may have before he pleases to call me hence." No sooner had she heard me say this, but she fell, as in an agony, on her knees by my bedside, and in a manner inexpressible, for fervour and humility, she begged of God, " That if her father must have the grief of burying one of his children, it might be her ; for through his free grace, and to the glory of it, she could joyfully profess before him her assured hope of her interest in his everlasting mercy, through Jesus Christ! wherefore she could willingly surrender herself to die, if it might please God to grant her sister a further space for the making her calling and election sure." Having prayed thus, in a transport the most surprising and astonishing to me (said Philomela), she earnestly kissed me and left the room, without giving me time or power to answer her a word; and what is almost incredible to relate, from that hour or two I grew better and recovered, but she took to her bed and died in a few days. Conceive, if you can, Mr. Colman (said she), how I was asto- nished at this event of Providence, and overwhelmed with sorrow! Yet I recovered health, but the load of grief upon me, and wonder, at the strange occurrence, confined me to my chamber for five or six weeks. My chief work was to consider the mind of MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. fxxi God in this his mercy to me, that I might make it evident, by his grace with me, that in love to my soul he had wrought this. I set myself to comfort my father what I could, and this was also his care toward me; nor durst we be inconsolable under a bereave- ment so circumstanced; yet my mourning is always returning to this day, with the remembrance of a love strong as death." Benjamin Colman. From Mr. Benjamin Colman to Dr. Watts. Boston, Jan. 16", 1739-40, Rev. and dear Sir, A WEEK is past since your letter and packet of September 17th, and another of October 12th, arrived together in Captain Forbes. I thank you for the books bought, and the account given of them ; I find it exact and j udicious, I could not bear to read Thomson through now I have hiin ; I thank you for not buying the second volume ; he studies obscurity and labours intricacy, while Sommerville's chain is smooth as an eagle's soaring. All of Young's pleases, edifies, and surprises. Mr. Lawe on Perfection is not equal, I think, to his Serious Call, which I had seen before. I present you now with our Boston edition of your Hymns and Guide to Prayer, done well for us. My Withered Hand, that little sermon, is like to be of some use here, and is in the press again, together with a little book of four sermons on the Incomprehensibleness of God. Mr. Whitefield arrived some months past at Philadelphia, where, through the Jerseys, and at New York, he preached daily to incredible multitudes with great eloquence and zeal, as a good judge there writes me. He has pleased to send me a letter and ask a correspondence with me. He was shewn at New York a letter of mine which named him with respect, but wherein I happened to say, " he is but a young divine ;" his sermon of Justification led me to say so. " You said right, Sir," says he to me," I am but a novice in the things of God ; I can only say I desire to know the whole will of God, that I may communicate it to others. Christ is so good a master, that I would have all men drawn after him. He is pleased to let me experience daily the teachings of his blessed Spirit, and to shew me the riches, freeness, and eternal duration of his love. Pray that I may be able to see all things clearly." America is like to do him much honour, as you will see by the prints from New York and Philadelphia here inclosed. And it is a most happy prospect to me, in favour of many a poor soul through the colonies of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, that he is gone preaching the gospel through them, and praying, in his way to Georgia. He proposes to see Boston in his return to Europe about June next, by God's will ; and our town and country stand ready to receive him as an angel of God. Indeed, ministers and people, all but his own church, speak of him with great esteem and love. He seems spirited from on high in an extraordinary manner, assisted and prospered. Mr. Holden sent me over his Journals and Answer to the Bishop of London ; I read there of his calling in to see you as he passed through Newington, but neither you nor Dr. Guise have said a word to me of him ; nor do I find how the dissenting ministers stand affected to him ; it may be prudent in them to be silent : But, in what of mercy or Ixxii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. judgment, God may mean this rise of the methodists to the glory of the church, or the nation in general, time must show. I shall be glad of your thoughts of this matter. As to the account I sent you of the story from Mrs. Rowe's own mouth, I leave it to Mr. Rowe to make what use of it he pleases, and am far, I assure you, from affecting to have it inserted at large in my words, or as from me. The more I consider her beauteous life and works, the more I admire the grace of God which preserved, ani- mated, and honoured her so. But it is a pleasure to me that you have named me to the Honourable Lady Hartford on the occasion, whom I love in the truth for her love to Mrs. Rowe, and her most endearing returns of high affection. Such beauteous souls are formed and shewn for the love and esteem of all the ends of the earth. Mrs. Rowe's hiding that secret from Lady Hartford, seems almost a prohibition from her of telling it to the world ; or, if the world now hears of it, the silence of her after-years about it may give it a double force and edge upon the ingenious and pious part of mankind. Mr. Sargeant goes on with great pleasure in his work, and Providence has sent up a worthy gentleman with his family to him, whose discreet and very amiable daughter he has married. I am sorry to hear of your continued low state of health, and that you think it pro- ceeds from a shock of the paralytic kind ; but the Lord, whose you are, when on earth healed the sick even of the palsy ! May he receive, support, refresh the soul, and prolong the life and service of my beloved friend ! Let not my correspondence with you be a burden and oppression. I hope God will yet give you health to add to your last songs- on death, " the world to come." I have had some revival the summer past, and the winter has not hitherto broken it; indeed, it has begun in a manner but this week, and earth and sky are alike dazzling bright ; a serenity which you (our revered mother isle) are altogether a stranger to ; it braces up also our nerves, and makes the old, whom it does not kill, think themselves hale again for a season. I have wrote to the ministers of Connecticut of the packet for them, which you have committed to Mr. Cox's care, that they may write to his indolent shopkeeper here, Avhom I call so as I find him, on his going off to London, and now on his return ; for by him I sent for some books, and at the end of two months after his arrival here, heard nothing of his bringing any, though his money lay ready : And now two months more are gone, and not a word from him, so I suppose he bought none, or has sold them to another. I have sent my friends the Rules of the Salisbury library. I thank you, Sir, for your free and kind advice to Mr. Hillhouse, by his messenger, Mr. Mason, and have informed the gentlemen of Connecticut of it, to whom (with us) it is very agreeable. And as to your question, " Why we give rings at funerals, and have plate in our houses, when we have no silver and gold currency among us, as a medium of trade!" I must first own, that Boston has always been too expensive in funerals, and also in vessels of plate in the house. A-la-mode and lutestring scarfs were our mourning twenfy years ago, we reformed to rings, Which were about half the expence. Our people expect a great deal of labour from their ministers when their families are sick, and have it: and the richer in return gives us a ring, which, till death returns again is, it may be, all the \;iil from them; three or four in a congregation excepted. The gold the mean while is only matter of trade and merchandise in the goldsmith's shop among us, like other 2 MEMOIRS OF TI1R REV. DR. WATTS. Ixxiii goods; and as to the silver, it is bought up by the merchants to make returns to you, to pay debts or buy more goods from you; and if one or two hundred thousand pounds in silver or gold were brought in among us to-morrow, we owe it to you, and ought t*> remit it presently, or to make gain of it, or purchase what we need from you, we send it to you. It is true, Sir, as you say, " A public self-denial in these1 instances would soon mend the matter with us," that is, in half a century it would do it, for so long the want of it has been bringing us into these circumstances, and as long there have not been wanting public and private warnings of the wrong and injurious step; but, beside the private spirit of traffic, wherein every one is apt to look to himself first, we have abun- dance of strangers from you and other places, who look only to themselves and em- ployers, and what will make the easiest and best returns ; and buy up the silver, and gold, and wanting often to return presently themselves, will give sixpence in an ounce more for one, and so in proportion for the other ; and our merchants are hereby forced to do the same, or give up the staple metal into their hands. How to extricate our- selves is difficult, and to preach self-denial to the merchant is, alas ! too much in vain. War is proclaimed, and our Americans are much spirited for it, but our poor province left defenceless and naked by sea and land, the instruction from the king to our governor tying up his hands, and our representatives tying up therefore theirs. If France go< s into the war, down will come the Indians, we may fear, on our wide-extended borders; there is not a fort in any good repair or furniture, nor a soldier or officer to be paid; and the same on our coasts. God can protect us, but surely expects we use the means of common prudence ; but we have not self-denial enough to stoop one to another in an exigence, or to the king for self-preservation. We need the more of the pity and prayers of our friends ; but how can we pray in faith, save in the pity that is infinite to pardon and heal us, and save us.? When nearest at the throne of grace, bear us on your heart, and him in particular who is under the strictest bands of friendship and gratitude. Sir, your affectionate brother and servant, Benj. Colman. P. S. If we hear not from one another as we expect, we must look that vessels and letters will sometimes fall into the hands of enemies. From the Archbishop of York to Dr. Watts. Downing-Street, Westminster, Oct. 16, 1739. Reverend Sir, I HAVE received your favour of the 10th of this month, and have great pleasure in observing, that my small benevolence to Mr. Leland will be doubled to the good man by your leave to find its way to him through the hands of so valuable a friend. On that account also it is, that I take the liberty to ask the further favour of knowing from you, if the good man's papers have escaped the flames, and that wre may yet hope to see the reply which we have heard he was preparing to a second volume, not long since published by the shameless enemy of the person and doctrine of our blessed Saviour. vol. i. k lxxir MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. May the good God of heaven and earth support aud assist us all in our just endea- vours to repel, with vigour, the virulent and impious assaults on the whole fabric of our common faith ; and to detect, with temper, the fallacious and" unmanly arts employed by the modern adversaries of our holy religion, with a degree of boldness and inve- teracy not to be equalled by those of any age that I have read of, since the days of Julian the Apostate. Give me leave to return to you in kind all your good wishes to me, together with the true esteem and sincere respect of, Reverend Sir, your faithful And obliged humble servant, Lau. Ebor. Lady Hartford to Dr. Watts. Percy Lodge, Nov. 15, 174,7. Reverend Sir, THE last time I troubled you with a letter, was to return you thanks on the Glory of Christ, a subject which can never be exhausted, or ever thought of without calling for all the praise which our hearts are capable of in our present imperfect state. My grati- tude to you is again awakened by the obligation I am under (and, indeed, the whole christian church) to you for giving Dr. Doddridge the plan, and engaging him to write his excellent book of the Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul : I have read it with the utmost attention and pleasure, and I would hope with some advantage to myself, unless I should be so unhappy as to find the impression it has made on my heart wear oft' like the morning dew which passeth away, which God in his mercy avert. If you have a correspondence with him, I could wish you would convey my thanks to him, and the assurance that I shall frequently remember him in my humble (though weak) addresses to the throne of Almighty Grace (and which I know myself unworthy to look up to any otherwise than through the merits and sufferings of our blessed Saviour), that he may go on to spread the knowledge and practice of his doctrine, and that he may add numbers to the church, and finally hear those blessed words, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into thy Masters joy." I cannot help mentioning to you the manner of this book falling into my hands, as I think there was something providential in it. About four mouths ago my poor lord had so totally lost his appetite, that his physician thought it necessary for him to go to Bath, I was not a moment in doubt whether I should attend him there, because I knew it was my duty, and besides I could not have been easy to be absent when I hoped my care might be of some use: Yet I undertook the journey with a weight upon my spirits, and a reluctance which is not to be described, though I concealed it from him. Since the great affliction with which it pleased Almighty God to visit me by the death of a most valuable aud only son, 1 (bund myself happiest in almost an entire retreat from the world; and being of a sudden called into a place where J remembered to have seen the utmost of its hurry and vanity everted, terrified my imagination to tin' last degree, and 1 shed tears every time 1 was alone, al (he thoughts of what I expected to encounter; yet this d a aded change has, by the goodness of God, proved one of the happiest MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. Ixw periods in my life, and I can look back upon no part of it with greater thankfulness and satisfaction. I had the comfort to see my Lord Hartford recovering- his health by the use of those waters, as fast as I could hope for. I found it was no longer necessary (as formerly, to avoid giving offence) to be always or frequently in company; I enjoyed tin* conversation of two worthy old friends, whom I did not expect to meet there ; and had an opportunity of renewing- my acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon, and admiring that truly christian spirit which seems to animate the whole course of her life; and as I seldom went out I read a great deal, and Frederick the bookseller used to send the new books which he received on the waggon nights, of which I kept what I chose, and sent back the rest. One night he sent me an account of some remarkable passages relating to the life of Colonel Gardiner; as I had known this gentleman in his uncon- verted state, and often heard with admiration the sudden and thorough change of his conduct for many years, it gave me a curiosity to read a book which seemed to promise me some information upon that subject. I was so touched with the account given of it, that I could not help speaking of it to almost every body I saw ; among others, the Dowager Lady Hyndford came to make me a visit in the morning, and as I knew she was of bis country, and had lived much in it, I begun to talk to her of the book, and happened to name the author. Upon which she said she would believe whatever he wrote, for he was a truly good man, and had wrote upon the Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, in a manner which she was sure would please me. She gave me the title in writing, and I bought the book the day before I left Bath. I have now been at home three weeks, and have already had the pleasure to engage several others to read it, who I hope will think of it as I do. I would not wish to trouble you to write to me yourself, but a letter from your amanuensis to let me know how you enjoy your health, and whether you are still carrying on some work of your pen, to the glory of our great Master, would be a very sincere pleasure to me. Let me beg to be remembered in your prayers, for I am every day more sensible of the imperfection of my own, and yet I hope my heart is sincere in its desire, that it may be brought to a perfect confor- mity and submission to the will of my heavenly Father. My Lord Hartford always mentions you with regard, and will be glad of your accept- ance of the assurance of his friendship, I am, with an affectionate esteem, Sir, Your most faithful And obliged humble servant, Hartford. From Dr. Watts to his Brother Enoch Watts. [Evidently written in his younger days, probably when a student, but without date.] My dear Brother, I SEND you the following definitions, or perhaps rather descriptions, according to your request, being the shortest and most comprehensive that I can form upon the subjects. Yours affectionately, Isaac Watts- k2 Ixxvi MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. The several opinions about religion, that are this day in England, are as follow : First, in respect of doctrine; Atheists, Deists, Arians, Socinians, Quakers, Papists, Armi- nians, Sabbatarians, Anabaptists, Calvinists, Baxterians, and Antinomians. I. ATHEISTS. First, Deny the being of God. 2nd, Say that the world is eternal, that it had no beginning, and shall have no end ; and that as men are continually born, and afterwards die, so successive generations shall last to eternity. Others indeed there are, who say the world was formed some thousands of years ago by atoms, or little particles of mat- ter jumping together by chance, and that these atoms shall after some time fall to pieces again ; and afterwards, it may be, jump into new worlds — a very pretty conceit ! So that they believe these atoms to be from eternity to eternity. 3rd, Hence it follows, that there is nothing in man distinct from his body, and that the soul is nothing but fine spirits, drawn from the blood, and playing about in the brain. 4th, Hence it follows, that they own no after state, but as the brnte dies so dies the man, and the soul dies with the body. 5th, As a consequence of all this, they think they may indulge them- selves in all manner of pleasures. II. DEISTS. First, They own there is a God. 2nd, That this God is to be worshipped, i. e. by loving him, honouring, and having awful thoughts of him. 3rd, They deny the scrip- tures to be the word of God, and so are called Antiscripturists. 4th, They deny the Trinity and Christ, and all the methods of the christian religion that are particularly revealed in scripture, and oblige themselves only to perform the duties of natural religion, i, e. loving and honouring God in general, and sometimes praying to him and giving him thanks, and being honest among men. 5th, Hereby they suppose they so please God, that they shall be in a happy state hereafter, if there be any such thing, for some of them doubt whether there be or no. III. ARIANS. Arians are old heretics, the disciples of one Arius, above one thousand years ago, and in our times some men are apt to believe his errors, which are, First, That Christ is not real and true God, equal with the Father, but only a creature created before all things else, and God made use of him before he made the world. This notion they build upon the false interpretation of 1 John i. 2, 3. and Col. i. 15, 10. 2nd, That Christ is called God only in respect of his office ; that is, his doing miracles, his in- structing the world, and such like. 3rd, They deny the Holy Spirit to be a person in the Godhead, and so overthrow the Trinity, and hence they are called Anti-trinitarians IV. SOCINIANS. There was one Socinus, in Calvin's time, who revived the heresy of Arius, but ex- plained it after another manner. First, the Socinians deny Christ to be n;il God, and yet they own the scripture to be the word of God as well as the Arians. 2nd, They say Christ did not die to satisfy divine justice for our sins, but only to confirm tli<> (ruth of his doctrine, and to give us a good example. They deny a Trinity of persons in the MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. Ixxvii Deity ; they deny original sin, and say that children sin by imitation, not from corrupt nature. The foundation of their errors is that they make reason the interpreter of scrip- ture, and generally believe the soul sleeps with the body till the resurrection. V. QUAKERS. They did generally shake and quake at their first coming up, which was about fifty years ago, and thence had their name. They deny all ordinances, and say, they are above them. 3d. They affirm perfection in this life, and deny that Jesus Christ, who died at Jerusalem, to be true God. They own a light within, which they call Christ and God, and say it is in every man if he would attend to it, and they follow the motions of this light within in all their actions. This gives them the name of Enthusiasts. Though they do not utterly deny scripture, yet speak meanly of it, say it is a dead letter, and that they do not need it, because they have the Holy Spirit in them, &c. ; they deny honour, and therefore they salute none. In their first rise they had a great many mad frantic fits, and strange. They are lately divided into two sects, one of them follow Penn, of the notions aforementioned, the other George Keith and Mead ; and it is said, they own Christ the Son of God, satisfaction by him, and justification through him, and are by little and little leaving the old Quakers' principles. VI. PAPISTS. They deny original sin in that extent as Calvinists own it; also justification by faith alone, perseverance, assurance, &c. They own the doctrine of meritorious works, tra- dition of equal authority to scripture, the worship of God by images and transubstantia- tion, the constant sacrifice of the mass, perfection in this life, and works of superogation, invocation of saints, prayer for the dead, implicit faith, or believing whatever the pope says, purgatory, the pope's supremacy over the church, seven sacraments, and other things contrary to the reformed churches. VII. ARMINIANS. There was one Pelagius of old, that invented several opinions about free-will, and against free-grace ; those that followed him strictly were called Pelagians ; those that allowed more to free-grace were called Semi-Pelagians, almost the same with modern Arminians, called also Remonstrants, and by the common people Free-willers. Their notions are, that God elects none to salvation but on the account of that faith he foresees in them. 2nd, That faith and sincere obedience are made the conditions of justification and salvation, just as Adam's perfect obedience would have entitled him to eternal life, and so God reputes this imperfect obedience for perfect, having released the rigour of the law upon the account of Christ's satisfaction, that God sent him to die without any particular design to save any particular person by it, but only to redeem all men in general, and now he applies salvation to all that believe and repent. That Christ so far redeemed all men, that none shall be condemned for original sin ; nay, they are ready to say, there is no original sin, or at least nothing in that extent, as Calvinists make it, that a natural man may use common grace, so as to attain saving grace and at last salvation. That all the grace that God gives towards the conversion of a sinner, is nothing but persuading him and enlightening his understanding ; but some go farther and say, that God gives some little touches to the will of man, to move him to believe and Ixxviii MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. WATTS. repent, but all of them say, that after all a man is left indifferent. They say God gives a believer grace enough to persevere, but he may not use it, and so fall. That there is no certainty of perseverance in this life, and consequently no certainty of salvation with- out particular revelation. VIII. SABBATARIANS. There are those who go by the name of Seventh-day-men, because they suppose the Jewish sabbath is not abolished, and therefore they observe our Saturday for their sabbath. They are against baptizing infants. Many of them now only assert a happy state of the church to be expected. IX. ANABAPTISTS. They differ not from Calvinists in their doctrine, unless in the article of infant baptism. They generally deny any children to be the covenant of grace, and so deny the seal of the covenant to them. They deny baptism by sprinkling to be real and true baptism. In church government generally Independents. X. CALVINISTS. So called from John Calvin, a great reformer ; his doctrine the same with the Assem- bly's Confession of Faith. XL BAXTERIANS. From Mr. Richard Baxter, whose design was to reconcile Calvin and Arminius ; his Body of Divinity is part of the one and part of the other. The one God has elected some which shall certainly be saved, and others to whom the gospel is preached have sufficient grace given them ; that is, they have common grace, which if they improve well they shall have saving grace according to Arminius. They own, according to Calvin, the merits of Christ's death to be applied to believers only ; but also that all men are in a state capable of salvation. Mr. Baxter says, there may be a certainty of perse- verance here, and yet he cannot tell whether a man may not have so weak a degree of saving grace as to lose it again : a-kin to Arminius. But so long as Mr. Baxter owns no salvation, but by the salvation of and merits of Christ, and no application of these without believing, and no true faith but what is the gift of God : hence there is sufficient ground to believe that his opinions, and his followers, who are generally not so wide as himself, are not so exceeding dangerous as some men think them, and we may believe them true christians, though they may differ in many things from the confession of faith, and the general opinions of the reformers and reformed churches. XII. ANT1NOMIANS. Those called Antinomians now-a-days take not so much care in expressing the Calvinistic doctrine, which most of them pretend to own, and so vent dangerous errors under such