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mathematical calculator, that a sin gle penny put out at compound interest at the commencement of the Christian æra, would have amounted, at the present day, to the value of many globes of solid gold, as large as the planet which we inhabit. In the same glorious kind of ratio, would the word of God run, and be glorified,' had it but free course:' not indeed in a way of pecuniary accumulation, but salutary diffusion. In this respect its capacity of increase is like the element of fire, which spreads and flashes in every direction, and assimilates all the combustible materials within its reach. There is a capacity of diffusion in the divine word, which, when put in motion by adequate causes, would inwrap the globe, till not another rational being were left to receive it, or another soul remaining unsaved by it.

"I am confident I shall not offend your Grace, if I venture to affirm, that you never appeared in a situation more truly dignified than at the present moment. As a member of the great senate of the nation, (unquestionably the most illustrious civil assembly in the realm,) you appear under the honourable title of a British Peer; but here under the still more dignified character of a Christian believer; there you take your seat as one of a body of legislators to an individual empire, but here as a friend to a perishing world; there you are the subject of a venerable, but, alas! disabled earthly sovereign; here you appear as the loyal subject of the blessed and only Potentate King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality; there you are stationed as a counsellor, consulting the wellbeing of the country; but here you preside at the head of a band of advocates in the cause of human salvation, nor would an angel from heaven think himself demeaned by occupying the chair

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which your Grace fills, on an occasion like this; for if there be joy in heaven over one sinner which repents, what must be the emotions of those benevolent spirits, in witnessing the proceedings of this day, which have for their object the repentance and salvation of millions. Nor surely, will it be extravagant to affirm, that a time may come, when it shall appear a greater honour to have been the humblest individual belonging to this society, than to be the emperor or conqueror of the globe.

"Upon these principles, my Lord, I do most cordially approve of the institution about to be formed this day, which has for its object the dispersion of a book, separate from the information and blessings of which, the scenery of nature, magnificent as it is, is to the eye a splendid but mysterious riddle; the advances of death, the approaches of an hour of darkness and dismay: and an entrance into eternity, little better than a leap into a gulf of desperation.

"Before I sit down, surely I may say, without offence, that I trust we shall consider the transactions of this day as laying us under additional obligations, to exemplify in our lives the excellence of that book, which we so zealously recommend to others; that they may derive their ideas of its value, not merely from perusing its contents, but from observing the fair and beautiful transcript of its principles and tempers in our characters and conduct, so that our light may shine before men in humble subserviency to the word: that at the awful day, when human distinctions shall be levelled in the dust, and nothing survive the ruins of a dissolving world but the truths of that volume, and the characters formed by them, a goodly multitude, both of sowers and reapers,' may have occasion to rejoice eternally in the happy consequences of the events of this day."

ORIGINAL LETTERS OF
DR. DODDRIDGE.

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thize with

No. II.

Northampton, April 12, 1746. "Rev. and dear Sir, I am truly ashamed to think that I have two of your letters unanswered, but really I am so full of business, that I hardly know how to turn myself, and especially now, having been called into Worcestershire by the death of a relation, which occasioned a journey of eight days; but I can't persuade myself to do any thing till I have briefly acknowledged your's, and told you that we are all, through mercy, well, and that we sympain all you your sorrows and in all your joys, so far as we know them. The death of Mr. Scott* gave me a great deal of concern, though I could not but congratulate my invaluable friend on his happy escape from the burdens of mortality, and glorious entrance into his Master's joy. He was, indeed, one of whom the world is not worthy, but he is now in a world worthy of him. My heart rejoices in every remembrance of him, and particularly in reflecting how faithfully and affectionately I was often enabled to pray for him in the last stages of his life, though I then little thought the close of it so near; which reminds me to tell you, my dear brother, that though I write to you so seldom, there is seldom a day in which I am not expressly mindful of prayers, most heartily wishing you abundance of success in the good work in which you are engaged. I have just been making a visit to Kidderminster, where there is such a degree of religion prevailing in the dissenting congregation, under the care of one of my pupils, as I have scarce ever seen. He has upward of 300 catechumens of all ages, has received 60 new communicants into the church within

my

a year and a half, and visits his.
large congregation, in a pastoral
view, constantly every year. God
has blessed his Gospel in a most
wonderful manner, as preached by
this faithful and affectionate, ser-
vant of Jesus Christ, and made
him the means of convincing and
reforming some of the most profli-
gate sinners. He is a person of
great candour and moderation, and
I think there is no place where the
church-people and the dissenters
live on so good terms.
nister of the establishment preached
at church a funeral sermon for Mr.
Spilsbury, who had been the dis-
senting minister, in which he ad-

The mi

vised the dissenters to choose such
another; and Mr. Bradshaw, the
succeeding dissenting minister,
preached a funeral sermon for this
worthy clergyman, in which he
also spoke very respectfully of his
character, and prayed that the
rish might be provided with a suc-
cessor of like virtues and graces.

pa

"I am persuaded, dear Sir, that you will have a pleasure in hearing this, like what I feel in relating it. It is a great pleasure to me to hear that Miss Scott is so comfortably supported, as it is one of the most remarkable answers to prayer, when taken in all its circumstances, God has ever given me.

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"Mr. Hervey's Meditations are universally acceptable to serious, people all over the kingdom, and I am glad to find they are so. in you thank you, Sir, for your kind invitation to Norfolk, which I shall not want an inclination to accept, if I can have an opportunity. My wife joins her compliments, and also retains a most affectionate sense of your friendship. I thank God I enjoy as comfortable a state of health as I ever did in my whole life. The third volume of my Family Expositor is ready to be published. I have almost finished Colonel Gardiner's Memoirs ; and I intend to begin to write on the Romans the first day

*Mr. Scott was an eminent dissenting minister at Norwich.

of the new year, and will do something at it every day till it is finished, though that something may, perhaps, sometimes be little more than half a page; but I find, in the midst of my many avocations, that it is of great importance to be still creeping on. I am extremely glad to hear Master Bobby* goes on so well, and pray God to give you in him all the joys you can wish. I bless God, my son also promises very well, as all my other children do, especially my eldest daughter, who is at a boarding school at Worcester, and whom I saw the other day; she seems to be under such genuine impressions of religion, that on your principles, relating to communion at the Lord's table, in which I concur, I should not have the least scruple in my own mind of admitting her to it. I think nothing would fix our young people for religion more than engaging them to come early to that ordinance, and maintain a diligent inspection on their after conduct. I cannot say I know the authority on which Archbishop Usher went in asserting that some were admitted to the communion before baptism. suppose it must have been when things were in a disordered state, some centuries after the apostolic days. This reminds me of a remarkable passage I met with in Tertullian, by which it seems that masters of families administered the Eucharist to their own domestics, which, I confess, filled me with great astonishment. But it is now time that I conclude.Farewell, my dear brother, may the success of your ministry be proportionable to the zeal and fidelity of it, and to that rich abundance of gifts and graces with which God has blessed you. can't forbear telling you, the man of all my acquaintance that seems most to resemble you, is called by Providence to Taun

I

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that

Robert Martyn Frost, one of Mr. Frost's sons, and who was an eminent attorney at Diss, in Norfolk.

ton, where I hope he will be a burning and a shining light, and though there should be some to oppose him, I do not doubt his acceptance, and though some of the mal-contents should be driven to join Mr. Amory's congregation, I persuade myself their loss will be repaired ten-fold. I only add my desire of your continued prayers, that God would invigorate my resolutions for his service; and particularly with respect to my pastoral care, which I am sensible, amidst my many other engagements, I have been too ready to neglect. I am, Rev. and dear Sir, your most affectionate brother and obliged humble servant,

"P. DODDRIDGE."

REFLECTIONS UPON THE OLD
AND THE NEW YEAR.
Joy! that in our embers
Is something doth live,
That nature yet remembers
Thethought ofour past years in me doth breed
What was so fugitive!
Perpetual benedictions.

With new-fledged hope still flattering in his breast. WORDSWORTH.

NOTHING is so flattering, yet nothing so deceitful as human life. It is fair in prospect, and big with promise; yet its issue is commonly disappointment and sorrow. After a man has reached its utmost limit, or even surpassed the ordinary term of his fellows, he too frequently appears to have lived andlaboured only for very vanity, or for a fuller measure of misery than others.

His hope, once fair as the rose-bud, and fragrant as the shrimorning, has become a velled, shrunken thing, at the touch of time; and the very last leaf drops from the tree in the hollow sweeping gust which precedes and foretels the approach of neither like the full-clustered vine, the fatal uprooting blast. He is nor the shock of corn fully ripe, coming in in its season; but like the aged oak, which the lightning of heaven has scathed, ere the

feller has applied his axe to the trunk. He is old, indeed, but has neither acquired wisdom nor grace; and is as dissatisfied with himself as with the world he is quitting. Something he feels he wants, which every succeeding year has made more necessary, but failed to bring him; and something he ought to have learnt, essential to his happiness, which all his experience, and all his accumulation of years, have only seemed to render more distant and difficult. He is sated with the world, but not satisfied; bidding adieu to its troubles and perplexities, but not happy; approaching a new world, but unfit for its discoveries, and fearful of its reality. All within is tremulous and wretched; all without is gloomy and silent. Such, if the weakness and folly of man would allow them steadily to scrutinize the facts-such are the closing scenes of the lives of most aged persons; and such they will be with us all, if the years of our frail mortal being are not devoted to the pursuit of a higher and fairer prize, than usually engages the ambition of the human heart.

We are entering upon a new year, a new section of the contracted circle of human life ;-and are taking our leave of another portion of time-a large proportion of human life-which will meet us with its testimony on the morning of eternity;-and what so proper, then, as to turn our attention to the final close of our earthly pilgrimage, and the commencement of that " year of release," which will take its glorious date from the dissolution of the prison-house of flesh.

The year that has now ended, and the one we are entering, are, like all the other years of human life just what we make them. Yet the new one ought to be spent more wisely, carefully, and circumspectly than the last; and with a nearer and stronger apprehension of our final year. The Christian

should inquire, what sins of my heart have I overcome in the last, and what yet remain for the victory of my faith and patience? What graces have been strengthened-what affections have been excited-what fruit has been brought to perfection, in the past year? Surely, I have not enjoyed such precious means of grace altogether in vain! May I now hope, not only that I am nearer my release from flesh, and woe, and sin, but nearer my appointed meetness for heaven, as I am so much nearer the place? My experience, during the last revolution of this planet in its orbit, has surely convinced me of the emptiness of human glory, for I have seen it burst in the hand that grasped it ;—of the vanity of human pleasures, for I have seen them all die as soon as they are plucked;-of the nothingness of human life, for I have seen it exhaled like a vapour by him that called it forth. All things here are but painted sepulchres the gilded air-bubbles on a troubled water, that borrow all their hues from a setting sun, which will soon leave them to expire, colourless and dark. Since, then, we are commencing a new year, let us try to cast off old sins, old imperfections, old and bad habits; and let us renew our allegiance to the best of causes, our subjection to the best of Masters. Sin should grow viler, but religion ought to grow fairer and more captivating, not only every year, but every day. Let us begin our Christian duties with new pleasure, as we begin fresh time with new hopes. Let us pursue our plans of usefulness with renewed zeal, as a fresh season of serving men, and glorifying God, is bestowed upon us. us redouble our diligence in the means of grace, as we are so much nearer their termination, and must so soon be beyond their reach. Let us redouble our fervour, both in listening to God's promises, and in pleading them at his heavenly

Let

throne, as the larger our expectations become here, the fuller will be our fruition hereafter. Let the minister of Christ begin his work afresh, and conduct it more carefully, more faithfully, as only a short period remains to complete the proof of his ministry, and advance the cause of his Master. Let his people hang upon his lips, and live upon his words, for he is the messenger of mercy, and may soon be recalled. Let teachers of youth reflect how soon their young charge will pass from under their instructions. Their youth is the spring and seed-time of life, and let them not lose it. In short, "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”

Are we entering upon new time, time so precious that nought on earth can purchase a single moment? then surely the Christian will strive to improve the coming year better, by taking none of the sins he fell into during the past year, into the new one. He will watch and pray to put them off, like a garment that is worthless and polluted. He is rising in his character, in his hopes, and in his prospects; and shall he not rise this year in the internal power, and dignity, and purity of his principles? Shall not his affections reach a higher and serener sky? He is on the eve of full age of passing from his minority to the possession of his inheritance; and shall he not leave off childish things? Shall not his spirit and his hopes rise to a glory above the earth, as his body totters downward in feebleness and darkness to the grave?

The new year may well suggest to the aged Christian-to the way worn traveller in Zion's path," the year of release," which now stands nearer than ever before. We are all anticipating it with faith and hope, but it is nearer to some than CONG. MAG. No. 49.

they imagine. To the aged and experienced Christian, it cannot be far off. What a bright scene is before such! Eternity with all its treasures! Heaven with all its glories! God with all his mysteries! A spring whose flowers will never lose their freshness and their fragrance. A summer whose sun will never decline. An autumn whose fruits will suffer no decay, and its leaves never wither. Here,-time is the measure and the sphere of our existence-the bane, and yet the being of our pleasures. There we shall have a being out of the bounds of time -a scope without and not within its circle-pleasures that will not so much be in us, as we in them. Here we make progression in grace, progression in life-and hold our existence only by the help of time;--we snatch pleasures like gleams of sunshine, or sudden catches of light, between clouds, upon a gloomy landscape;-There-we shall have stopped the flight of time itself,— shall find progression without succession of moments, and joys which no time could contain--as well as a being which no time could destroy. Soon! soon! fearful Christian, you will begin this new year of eternity, the first day of which will contain more than all time; and the first sense of which, as the rising ray of its glory will strike your immortal faculty, will obliterate the recollection of crowded years of sorrow.

our

The new year

we are now beginning to enjoy is a pledge to you of the near approach of your felicity, and ought, therefore, to lighten your burden, and mitigate your woes ;-as each return of the heir's birth-day brightens and confirms his hopes, while it assures and reminds him of their approaching consummation. And, O, what an inheritance of joy, and purity, and life, have you in view, when a few more years, perhaps days, have run their round. Not like the earthly joys

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