THE DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF PHILIP DODDRIDGE, D. D. SECTION I. General Observations, with some Memoranda made by Dr. Doddridge as an assistance in the Discharge of his Ministerial Duties at Kibworth, and a Continuation of his Confidential Correspondence. AMONG the many pleasing characteristics which this correspondence has already displayed, its perfect exemption from cant is, perhaps, one of the most delightful. To find a bosom, where a profound veneration and an ardent love of the Deity were beyond question the dominant principles, still tremblingly alive to all the more gentle sympathies of humanity, yearning over sorrows it cannot assuage, and exulting in the innocent gaieties of youth and friendship, is indeed not only pleasing but instructive. It shows how finely the spirit of genuine Christianity harmonizes with our wants and our wishes. It demonstrates that piety and philosophy are syno nymous terms; and that to follow in the path which the universal Parent of Nature has traced with the confiding docility of childhood, is in fact to achieve the noblest triumph of reason. Another interesting point is the constant presence of that charity "that thinketh no evil." Not a single passage occurs where an angry, or even a depreciating feeling is evinced towards an individual on account of a difference of opinion on theological subjects. The pride, the self-will, and contention, with which pharisaical leaders of different sects have ever struggled to enforce their private views as a general standard of faith, were never mistaken by Dr. Doddridge for piety. The only zeal he prized or felt was an extreme ardour in the adoration of the Most High, and for the service of his fellow men. For those who participated in these feelings his fraternal embrace was ever ready, nor could the artificial barriers of speculative opinion keep them from his bosom. It may, perhaps, be remarked, that this liberality of sentiment was but the natural growth of a disposition so affectionate as that of Dr. Doddridge. This consideration has some weight; but it should also be remembered, that his tutor, Mr. Jennings, and several of his friends, as Dr. Clark of St. Albans, Mr. King, and Mr. Some, all leading ministers of that day, were evidently free from a sectarian taint, and at once too pious and enlightened to assume or recommend that specious mask of formality which the ignorant may deem a token of sanctity. |