DODDRIDGE
851
DODWELL
I the same 3rear, Dr. Doddridge, in ooi^imction with r. Watts, Rev. Mr. Saunders, Rev. Mr. Some, and iiers, established an academy for preparing young len ibr the work of the ministry among Dissenters ; id to that institution he was appointed tutor. No lan was better qualified than Dr. Doddridge for that tuadon, and the institution soon acquired a wide ce- ibrity. A pressing invitation fh>m the Independent >ngregation in Northampton, enforced by the advice r Dr. Watts and other firiends to accept it, led him to
new sphere of labor ; and from December 24, 1729, d discharged in that town the double duty of pastor r a large congregation and tutor to the theological sminary. " Seldom has there been a more laborious r conscientious life than that of DoddridgeJ* To serve is divine Master was the ruling principle of his heart ; id to the advancement of the sacred cause he brought
II the energies of an active mind, and all the stores r an almost boundless knowledge, daily to bear. Tany students resorted to him from all parts of the ingdom, and amongst these not a few who afterwards >se to distinction, not among the Dissenters only, but 1 the established churches of England and Scotland, 1 America, and even in Holland. The University of iberdeen conferred on him, in 1736, the degree of D.D. [e was a voluminous author. His most important rorks are Sermona on RegenercUian; Sermons to Young *eopk; Life o/ Colonel Gardner ; IHte, and Progress qf ItUgion m the Soul; Family Expositor, or Paraphrase nd Version of the N, T, Dr. Doddridge's frame, never obust at any time, was enfeebled by his incessant la- ors, and severe cold having settled on his lungs, and een followed by symptoms of consumption, he was dvised to try the effects of a sea voyage. On the 80th f September, 1751, he sailed from Falmouth in a ves- el bound for Lisbon, where he landed on the 13th of )ctober, and, being completely exhausted, he sank in
few days, expressing to Mrs. Doddridge, who accom- •anied him, his firm faith and joyful hope in Christ*' Rich, Cyclop(Edia of Biography, s. v.). The best edi- ion of Doddridge's works is that of Leeds, 1802, 10 •ols. 8vo, the first vol. containing his Life by Job Or- on. His Lectures on Pneumatology, Ethics, and Divin- ty are stereotyped in one vol. imp. 8vo (Lend., Bohn). rhe Family Expositor has passed through many edi- ions ; a convenient one is that of Amherst (1844, royal Ivo), with memoir by Prof. N. W. Fiske.
As commentator and theologian Dr. Doddridge de- lerves the praise of industry and purity of aim, but n no field, except in that of practical religion, did he ise to the first rank. In the Commentary "Dod- Iridge always writes in a good spirit. The love of [l^hrist reigns in his heart, and pours itself out in all ;hat he says. This is the charm of his ^ Observations.' Sis * Notes,' though often valuable, could not be ex- pected to possess the highest philological merit. Dr. Doddridge had not the time, the training, nor the neans to furnish a thorough critical commentary on the N. T. The pan4)hrase is diffuse, often needlessly K> ; circuitous in expression, when the straightforward limplicity and terseness of the original would be far better. It is proof enough of the comparative and ab- lolute worth of the Observations that they are more and more read, at family devotion and in private read- ing, to the exclusion of other parts, and in preference to other commentators. Good sense, warm piety, flow- ing ease of expression, and a happy exhibition and improvement of his text, mark the Observations, and recommend them to the Christian reader" (Comprehen- •n« Commentary, Phila., Supplement). As a divine, '* with all his manifold excellencies, Doddridge had neither a deep theological interest nor a strenuous the- ological mind. He did not always conceive of nice distinctions clearly; he did not value them highly when conceived. Hence he flees to authorities, re- cites catalogues, and balances opinions, and continual- ly slides frvm the acientific to the historical. From
one end of the lectures to the oUier we look in vain for a thorough, masterly, and exhaustive treatment of any one theological point. The method of the work scarcely allows such a resulL Continual perusal, if^ indeed, such a thing were endurable, would, we think, engender vacillation and scepticism. Such seems to have been the effect upon his students, who heard hhn announce every variety of opinion, without decided and weighty assertion on his own part. Great liber- ality and mildness are beautifrd in their time; but this is not when the enemy is assaulting the citadel, which was true of Nonconformist theology a hundred yean ago. .... His sermons are remarkable for soundness in doctrine, fbr rigid method and clear statement, and for earnest application to the heart and conscience of the hearer. .... His hymns are, in number, three hundred and seventy-four. A few of these are likely to be preserved, such, for exam- ple, as *Let Zion's Watchmen all Awake;' 'God of my Life, through all its Days;' *Ye Hearts with youthful Vigor warm ;' * See Israel's gentle Shep- herd stand;' * What if Death my Sleep invade?' and * Remark, my Soul, the narrow Bound ;' but, in gen^ eral, they are measured prose" (Princeton Renew, 1857, p. 257). See also Bogue and Bennett, History qf Dissenters, vol. ii; Orton, Ufe of Doddridge; Stough- ton, lAfe of Doddridge (Boston, 1858, 12mo) ; Kippis, Biographia Britannica, voL v ; North British Reciew, xiv, 190.