SACRED POETRY. 66 THEY SING THE SONG OF MOSES."-REV. XV. 3. DARK was the night, the wind was high, When faithful Moses stretched the rod. The depths of that mysterious way; That shone for them with fav'ring ray. The flower of Pharaoh's chivalry. Their wonder burst into a song. And anxious watching with their sleeping. The path no human strength can tread; Heaven's light upon our path to shed. And tread yon golden strand at last, How grace hath led us safe along; And ev'n on earth, though sore bested- On Thee, thou brilliant tower of fire- That hope may all my breast inspire. MISCELLANEOUS. M'CH. Archbishop Usher.-A friend of this worthy prelate repeatedly urged him to write his thoughts on Sanctification, which at length he engaged to do; but a considerable time elapsing, the performance of his promise was importunately claimed. The bishop replied to this effect-I have not written, and yet I cannot charge myself with a breach of promise; for I began to write, but when I came to treat of the new creatures which God formed by his Spirit in every regenerate soul, I found so little of it wrought in myself that I could speak of it only as parrots, or by rote, without the knowledge of what I might have expressed, and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any further in it." Upon this his friend stood amazed, to hear such a confession from a man so eminent. The bishop then added, must tell you we do not well understand what sancti I fication and the new creature are. It is best for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his own will to the will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the flames of love as a whole burntoffering to Christ; and Oh! how many who profess Christianity are unacquainted experimentally with this great work upon their souls." Testimony to the Value of the Bible-Dr Leechman, Principal of the College of Glasgow, had a great veneration for the sacred oracles. When on his deathbed, he said to the son of a worthy nobleman, “you see the situation I am in; I have not many days to live; I am glad you have had an opportunity of witnessing the tranquillity of my last moments; but it is not tranqullity and composure alone, it is joy and triumph, it is complete exultation!" "And whence does this exultation spring?" "From that book," (pointing to a Bible that lay on the table,) "from that book, too much neglected indeed, but which contains invaluable treasures -treasures of joy and rejoicing; for it makes us certain that this mortal shall put on immortality !" Sabbath.-Coleridge looked forward with great delight to the return of the Sabbath, the sacredness of which produced a wonderful effect on the temperament of that Christian poet. To a friend he said, one Sunday morning, "I feel as if God had, by giving the Sabbath, given fifty-two springs in every year." A Christian Officer.-Sir Charles Middelton, afterwards well known as Lord Barham, whose management of the navy when first Lord of the Admiralty in times of unequalled difficulty, will ever be mentioned to his honour in the pages of British history, was highly com mended for his prompt services by Lord Nelson, and the navy of England reached the acmè of fame, when a Let man, ridiculed as a saint, presided over its affairs. this for ever silence those who assert that religion incapacitates for the use of this life. But another point deserves to be mentioned. Lord Barham permitted no Sabbath labour in the dock-yards; yet he managed to comply with the urgent and rapid demands of the hero of the deep, whose circumstances and uncommon movements required no ordinary energy in the supply of his Neither nations nor individuals will evet lose by the dedication of the sacred day to the worship of a God who prospers those who serve him and obey his commandments. resources. And sold by the Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and to be procured of every Bookseller in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh and Leith will have their copies delivered regularly at their own residences, every Saturday morning, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher, or with John Linds.y & Co., 7, South St. Andrew Street.-Subscribers in Glasgow will in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 32, Glassford Street. Subscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, 1s. 6d. per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s.-per year, of fortyeight weeks, 68.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in printed wrapper, Price Sevenpence. THE CONDUCTED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 66 THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THAT IS WISDOM." VOL. I. No. 9. SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1836. ON INDUSTRY (Extracted from a Manuscript, Dated Aug. 9, 1807.) REV. SIR HENRY MONCREIFF WEllwood, Bart., of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." "And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you." Not only so-even "those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessary." "God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another, that whether one member suffer, all the members might suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members might rejoice with it.” But the close connection of the members of the body with each other supposes, of necessity, that each member separately performs its own office or functions, and that on this depends the general health and soundness of the body. OUR separate duties, like our different conditions, are not the effects of any arbitrary arrangements, devised by men, but are universally the consequences of the wise and perpetual decrees of God, who gives to every man his place, and selects for every man his peculiar occupations. The distinctions created by wealth and poverty, by power and dependence, are inseparable from the condition of human nature, and of civilized society; but they are as intimately embodied with the peculiar duties which every individual, in his own condition, is required to fulfil. The advantages, suited to the place which God hath given us This analogy is perfectly correct, as it applies among our brethren, are only to be enjoyed in to the different duties and conditions of mankind. connection with the employments and the duties The labour of the statesman, of the soldier, of which it prescribes to us; and he who will not the mariner, of the profound inquirer, of the public perform the duties of his station, can have no instructor, of the teacher of children, of the skilful right to expect that he can possess its advantages. physician, of the enterprising merchant, of the acIndustry, or labour, is the indispensable duty of tive manufacturer, of the industrious mechanic, is, every individual, whatever his situation or capacity in each of them, labour demanded for the general may be; and this, as much from the law of Re-order, security, and happiness of mankind; and not ligion, as from the interests and arrangements of the present life. It is not confined to any rank or condition. The lower orders of the people are often apt to imagine, that all the labour is with them; and that they who occupy the superior, and even the middle ranks, live above the necessity of personal exertion, on the industry of those below them. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The different departments, and the variety of stations in human life, are essential to the general happiness and prosperity of mankind, and depend so universally and so closely on one another, that there is not one of them, which can either exist, or become a source of prosperity, without the rest: an idea, which the apostle Paul illustrates, with regard to the different offices and talents in the Church of God, by their analogy to the members of the human body. the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" "God hath set the members every one more essential to public prosperity than to the comfort and tranquillity of the lowest situation. The great communicate to the small, and the wise to the ignorant, the opportunities, the knowledge, or the protection which they require; and they receive from them, in return, the means both of their private comfort and of their public usefulness. The wealth and activity of the rich produce bread and employment to the poor, while the industry of the poor lies at the foundation of all the prosperity and wealth of the rich. Every man's labour is suited to his own talents, and to his own place; and there it is essential, not only to his separate duty, or individual happiness, but to the general interests of human life, and to the progress and prosperity of human affairs. They who occupy the higher departments of so"Ifciety, are not at liberty to neglect their duties to those below them, or to forget that they depend on them, every moment, for all the external means of their comfort and prosperity. It is their labour to provide for the effectual defence and security of the state, for the suppression of vice, for the punishment of crimes, for the firm and impartial execution of the laws, for the protection of the innocent, for the encouragement of industry, for the progress of arts and of improvement, for the general instruction of the great body of the people, for the education and employment of the poor, and for the effectual relief, which can be given, from the pressure of age, of sorrow, and of poverty. On the other hand, they whom Providence hath placed in the inferior stations, have duties assigned to them of equal importance, and not less indispensable. To them are committed the practical arts, on which the articles of first necessity depend, the labours of industry, the culture of the soil, the duties of subordination and obedience, either in public service, or domestic occupation. To all this must be added the labour of every order of the people, in their separate families,-in the provision which the necessities of their families require in the economy which is essential to their comfort and tranquillity,-in the means which they must employ to watch over their children, and to educate them,-in the many exertions, with which they are required to meet domestic sufferings, or domestic duties. The labour is perpetual, among all the different ranks and denominations of men, who are capable either of activity or of foresight; and it is impossible not to be conscious, that every important interest and comfort of human life depends on the fidelity with which the requisite labour is performed by every man in his place. This also is the positive and indispensable law of religion, as much as it can be the law of human society, or the source of private satisfaction. It is impressed on our consciences by the doctrine of Christ, as duty to God, and to Him who hath redeemed us to God by his blood. It was the first law given to man when he fell from Paradise: "Thou shalt eat the herb of the field," and "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." It is a law renewed and enforced under every form of Religion which hath come from God. "Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do," said Solomon, (in the labour suited to the condition which God hath given thee,)" do it with thy might; for there is neither work, nor device, nor knowledge, in the grave." "We command and exhort men," says the apostle Paul," by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread, and that they be not weary in well-doing. That they study to be quiet, and to do their own business, and to work with their own hands, as we commanded you." These important and solemn admonitions bring home to our consciences the law of Christ. They tell us how we ought to labour, and to glorify God, in the place he hath appointed us to fill. They tell us, that the idle and unprofitable servants, in the highest as well as in the lowest ranks, who desert their duties, and hide their talents in the earth, cannot be the disciples of Christ. While they multiply to themselves the sorrows which are inseparable from an idle and a useless life, be their rank or capacity among their brethren great or small, they are judged and condemned with the wicked at the tribunal of God. Idleness has certainly no claims, in any rank of life, either to respect or to advantages. He who will not submit to the labour which the duties of his own station demand, and who wastes his time, his strength, his wealth, and his talents, in frivolous, useless, or unworthy pursuits, whatever his opulence or his rank may be, loses every portion of esteem, and forfeits every claim to comfort among his brethren. Though the laws of society protect him in the possession of his property while it continues to be his, he derives from it no real or substantial advantages, while his mind is oppressed with the burden of time which he will not employ, or is plunged into miseries by the vices which he will not abandon. "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much;" while his idle and dissolute life, with all that wealth can do for him, deprives him of the comforts which the meanest of his dependants possess. He, again, who depends for his subsistence on the labours of his hands, or on the activity of every day, and whose family depend on him, can have no resources whatsoever, if he permit himself to give way to an idleness which works itself into his habits by degrees; and much less, if, through idleness, he sinks into vices, which add to his wants while they lessen his capacity. We see around us, daily, the multitude of unhappy men, who, with the most common industry in their own stations, might have been placed in easy circumstances, and have been both respectable and useful citizens, who are completely ruined by the neglect of labour alone, and by the vices which that neglect produces; who pass from sloth to idleness, from idleness to drunkenness, from intemperance to every other dissipation; and, because their inconstant and deserted labour will no longer supply their private or their domestic wants, they teach themselves, and teach their children, "the hidden things of dishonesty," till they sink together into the lowest and most abject perdition. There is no doubt, that even the most degraded and most worthless poverty has some relief to expect from the spirit of our Religion, and the humanity of our laws and of our manners, which will not permit any human creature, whose situation is known, to perish before our eyes from the absolute want of food or raiment. But this is all which can in reason be expected, in such a case. Unprincipled poverty and resolute idleness we can do nothing to palliate and nothing to encourage, whatever we may think necessary to save the individuals from perdition. He who will not work, while he has the means, can have no claims; and nothing is to be given to relieve the wants of the present moment, which can have any influence to prevent him from returning to the labour, which, even when it is forced on him by necessity, may save him from wretchedness at last. conversant with his writings. Philip Doddridge was born in London, on the 26th of June 1702. His father, who was an oil-merchant, had a very large family, all of of our narrative. Throughout life he was always of a whom died young, except one daughter, and the subject very infirm constitution, and of a very consumptive There is also another case to be stated, very different from this, which we are not permitted to forget. They who are no longer capable of labour, through age or infirmities, and destitute children, left fatherless in the world, have an indisputable claim to the beneficence of those who are in hap-habit of body, "and, therefore," says his Biographer, pier situations. The industrious poor, the destitute sick, the helpless orphan, the disconsolate widow, are expressly given us in charge by Him, "who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich." The obligation to help them, and to give them comfort, is indispensable, as the great law of the Gospel; and the deeds of kindness performed to them, are declared to be estimated as done to their Master and ours. "I find him frequently, especially on the returns of his birthday, expressing his wonder and thankfulness that with pious parents, and was by them brought up in the he was so long preserved." Doddridge was blessed nurture and admonition of the Lord. His mother seems to have taken a very great charge of his early religious education, and he used in after life to say, that her wise and pious reflections on the stories contained in the Scriptures were the means of making impressions on his heart which never were effaced. This tender parent, however, was not long permitted to watch over the interests of her beloved son, for she was called from time to eternity while Doddridge was yet very young. In the year 1712, when only ten years of age, he was removed to a school at Kingston-on-Thames, where he remained till about the time of his father's death, which took place in the year 1715. When informed of this melancholy occurrence, he made the following reflection, which shows that he had profited not a little by the ligion: "God," said he, "is an immortal Father, my soul rejoiceth in him. He has hitherto helped me and provided for me. May it be my study to approve my self a more affectionate, grateful, dutiful child!" From these views, it follows, that they who faithfully employ the means which they possess, have a right to enjoy in security the fruits of their industry. The whole order and prosperity of human society depends on the security given to industrious men, in the possession of their property. They are fully entitled to the perfect and secure enjoy-instructions which he had received in the Christian rement of whatever they can acquire by their talents or their skill, excepting only, that part of the fruit of their labour which it is necessary to contribute to the general welfare of the community. The public faith is pledged to them, that no other encroachment shall be made on any thing which they can attain by the utmost exertion of ardour and talents. And in this respect, the security of private men is more complete in this happy country, than it has ever been in any period of the world, or in any other condition of human beings. Every individual may aspire from the lowest to the highest situations, by means of successful and honourable labour within the department assigned to him. No man is excluded from the full extent of the reward he can deserve, and every individual is completely protected in the possession, and in the free and independent enjoyment, of whatever he has been able to acquire. Blessings so important and so generally diffused in public and in private life, call for the most distinguished gratitude to God, and afford general inducements to industry and honourable labour, which can never be estimated beyond their value. They may well attach us to our country, and attach us to our brethren; and, while we see the other nations of Europe laid waste around us by the ravages of war and of despotism, and every man's person and property in other countries at the mercy of lawless violence, we have good reasons, indeed, to bless the God of our fathers, and strong motives to co-operate heartily and generally with one another, to support the industry, and to encourage the virtues, by which we ought to express our gratitude, and on which, under God, our general safety and prosperity depend. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF After his father's death, he was removed to a private school at St Albans, where his acquaintance with Dr Samuel Clark commenced an acquaintance which continued unimpaired during their earthly pilgrimage. To this person, as we shall see in the subsequent part of our narrative, Doddridge was much indebted both for instruction and encouragement in his pursuits. His meeting with this eminent individual was of the more advantage to him, as the person to whom his father's concerns were intrusted, managed them so imprudently that he soon had nothing to depend upon. In Dr Clark, however, Doddridge found a father, an instructor, and a friend: a circumstance which strikingly exemplifies the paternal care which God takes of those who trust in him, for, as we formerly said, this poor, forsaken, and forlorn orphan committed all his concerns to his heavenly Father; and he was not disappointed. It was during his residence at St Albans that he commenced his Diary, in which he kept an exact account of the subjects to which he devoted his time, a custom which in after life proved very useful. At this school, he not only, by in their studies, but likewise, as often as he could, introevery means in his power, assisted his school-fellows duced religious topics into his conversation with them. When walking alone in the fields, he used either to read or to reflect on what he had read, and frequently in his walks called upon the poor and the ignorant at their houses, his own small allowance, and in these visits he not unsupplying them with what money he could spare out of frequently read or lent them books of a religious description. These attempts, he had reason to believe, were not altogether in vain. As Doddridge had at that time the office of the ministry in view, besides applying himself diligently to the study of the languages, he perused the Scriptures morning and evening, and read some commentary on them, an exercise which he seldom or never neglected, whatever were his other engagements. He used likewise to commit to writing the substance and design of the sermons which he heard, as also the impression which they had produced upon his mind, and the resolutions which he had been led to make by the consideration of them. In the year 1718, while still residing at St Albans, he was admitted for the first time to the Lord's Supper, by his friend and counsellor, Dr Clark. The following reflections on the occasion | show the serious frame of mind which he was in at the time. "I rose early this morning, read that part of Mr Henry's book on the Lord's Supper which treats of due approach to it. I endeavoured to excite in myself those dispositions and affections which he mentions as proper for that ordinance. As I endeavoured to prepare my heart according to the preparation of the sanctuary, though with many defects, God was pleased to meet me, and give me sweet communion with himself, of which I desire always to retain a grateful sense. I this day, in the strength of Christ, renewed my covenant with God, and renounced my covenant with sin. I vowed against every sin, and resolved carefully to perform every duty. The Lord keep this in the imagination of my heart, and grant I may not deal treacherously with him! In the evening, I read and thought on some of Mr Henry's directions for a suitable conversation after the Lord's Supper, and then prayed; begging that God would give me grace so to act as he requires, and as I have bound myself. I then looked over the memorandums of this day, comparing the manner in which I spent it, and in which I designed to spend it; and blessed be God, I had reason to do it with some pleasure, though in some instances I found cause for humiliation." During the same year in which Doddridge was admitted to the Sacrament, he left the school of St Albans, and retired to his sister's house, where he took into his most serious consideration his prospects regarding after life. Quite unresolved what profession to adopt, he had some good proposals made to him upon condition that be should follow the law, upon which he was on the point of determining, when he thought it would be best to devote one morning solemnly to seek God for direction. The language of his heart upon this occasion was, "Here am I, Lord, do with me what seemeth good in thy sight." The Lord had chosen him for a teacher unto his people, and when he was actually engaged in prayer for the guidance of the Almighty, the postman called at the door with a letter from Dr Clark, in which he told him that having heard of his difficulties, he would take him under his care, if he chose to follow the ministry, from sincere and Christian motives. This," to use his own words, "I looked upon almost as an answer from Heaven; and, while I live, shall always adore so seasonable an interposition of divine Providence. I have sought God's direction in all this matter, and I hope I have had it. My only view in my choice hath been that of more extensive service: and I beg God would make me an instrument of doing much good in the world." Thus was Philip Doddridge led to follow the ministry of Christ during his laborious and truly useful life. 66 After continuing for some time under the care of his sincere friend, Dr Clark, he was placed under the tuition of a Mr Jennings at Kibworth, a man of great learning and a true Christian. During his residence there, he was conspicuous for diligence in the prosecution of his studies, and no less so for his eminent piety. Applying himself with great assiduity and success to the study of the classics, he still kept the ministry in view, and made Divinity the chief subject of attention. Much of his time was spent in private devotion, examining the state of his heart, and keeping alive an habitual sense of God, religion, and eternity. About this time too, he drew out a solemn form of covenant with God, resembling that which he recommends in the 17th chapter of his "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul;" and in addition to this, some rules for directing his conduct aright, which he wrote at the beginning of his Testament. On the 22d of July, 1722, Doddridge was examined by a committee of ministers, who licensed him to preach the Gospel. His first sermon was delivered at Hinkley, from 1 Cor. xvi. 22: "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." This discourse was crowned with splendid success, and no doubt tended to inspire him with an ardent zeal in his Master's service, for in his Diary he mentions that two persons ascribed their conversion to the blessing of God attending this discourse. He had not been long licensed when he received a call from the congregation at Kibworth to be their pastor, which he accepted. Here he pursued his studies with the utmost perseverance, and the more diligently as his congregation was small, and the village retired. His favourite authors at this time were Tillotson, Bates, and Howe, but especially Baxter, whom he exceedingly admired. Intense as was his application to study, he did not neglect those who were committed to his care, but visited and instructed them with the greatest zeal. His own spiritual interests were never forgotten, and he was in the habit of preaching over on Sabbath evenings to his own soul the sermons which he had that day preached to others. In October 1725, he removed his residence from Kibworth to Market Harborough, where, however, he continued his relation to his former charge, preaching to them regularly every Sabbath. In 1729, he was chosen assistant to Mr Some at Harborough, a man for whom he had the highest esteem and respect. His fame had by this time spread abroad, and he received calls from many large congregations, which, for various reasons, he refused. About this time, at the earnest entreaty of his friends, he was induced to undertake the charge of an academy at Harborough, similar to the one in which he had been educated under the care of Dr Jennings. During his residence at that place, the dissenting congregation at Castle Hill in Northampton being vacant, he preached to them occasionally, and his services were so acceptable that they invited and strongly urged him to undertake the pastoral charge. Afraid lest he might not be able to fulfil the duties of this arduous situation, Doddridge wished to decline it. But owing to the earnest entreaties of his friends and the congregation, as well as other circumstances, he was induced to settle at Northampton. We give the following account of the matter in his own words: "While I was pleasing myself with the view of a continuance at Harborough, I little thought how few days would lead me to a determination to remove from it. But Providence had its own secret designs, at that time invisible to me. I went to Northampton the last Lord's Day in November, 1729, to take leave of my good friends there as gently as I could; and preached a sermon, to dispose them to submit to the will of God in events which might be most contrary to their views and inclinations, from Acts xxi. 14: And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, the will of the Lord be done.' On the morning of that day an incident happened, which affected me greatly. Having been much urged on Saturday evening, and much impressed with the tender entreaties of my friends, I had in my secret devotion been spreading the affair before God, though as a thing almost determined in the negative; appealing to him, that my chief reason for declining the call, was the apprehension of engaging in more business than I was capable of performing, considering my age, the largeness of the congregation, and that I had no prospect of an assistant. As soon as this address was ended, I passed through a room of the house in which I lodged, where a child was reading to his mother, and the only words I heard distinctly were these, And as thy days, so shall thy strength be." Though these words were strongly impressed upon my mind, and remained there with great force and sweetness, yet I persisted in my refusal. But that very evening, happening to be in company with one of the deacons of that congregation, he engaged me to promise |