zeal in this and in every good word and work; and that joining in spirit with all those who, in one place or another, are devoting their lives to the advancement of the gospel, we may another day partake of their joy."

The elders of the church at Castle Hill, under the care of Doddridge, were stirred up to unite with him in efforts to awaken the zeal of the brethren, and to look well to the spiritual state of the members of the church who had become careless and lukewarm. A faithful letter, April 2, 1741, was addressed to them on this subject requesting them to meet for its serious consideration. Doddridge next preached a sermon, June 30, 1741, at Conference Denton, in Suffolk, on the evil and danger at Denton. of neglecting the souls of men, to an association of ministers, and at the close of the public worship held a conference of which he gives the following account;

Sermon and

"On that memorable day, which I shall always number among the most delightful of my whole life, you were pleased, toward the evening, to indulge me in the liberty of a private conference, when I laid before you some hints of a scheme which I was then forming for the revival of religion in our parts.

Greatly encouraged by the sanction which your concurrence gave to the plan, and also by that which it received from the approbation of London ministers of different denominations, to whom I had an opportunity of communicating it on my return home, I proposed it in general to my reverend and worthy brethren at a meeting of ministers, which was held here, at Northampton, about the middle of August, 1740. The proposals were in the general very well received; and it was agreed to take them into a more particular consideration in our conference at our next assembly, to be held at Kettering, on Thursday, October 15.

* Cong. Mag., 1824, vol. ix., p. 512.

"It was resolved, that it may tend to the advancement of religion.'

"1. That the ministers should agree to preach one Lord'sday on family religion, and another on secret prayer, and that the time should be fixed, in humble hope that concurrent labour, connected with concurrent petitions to the throne of grace, might produce some happy effect.

"2. That pastoral visiting should be more solemnly attended to, and that greater care should be taken in personal inspection, noting down the names of the heads of families, the children, the servants, and other single persons in the congregation.

"3. It will be proper, as soon as possible, and henceforward, at least once a year, to visit, if it be practicable, every head of a family under our ministerial care, with a solemn charge to attend to the business of religion.

"4. To set up the work of catechizing in one form or another, and to keep to it statedly for one half-year at least.

"5. To endeavour, by our prayers to God and serious addresses to pious and valuable persons, who live in neglect of the Lord's Supper, to introduce them into communion, cautiously guarding against any thing in the methods of admission which may justly discourage sincere Christians of a tender and timorous temper.

"6. To animadvert on those who give offence, and if they will not reform, solemnly to cut them off from our communion, as a reproach to the Church of Christ.

"7. To advise our people to enter into little bands or societies for religious discourse and prayer, each consisting of six or eight, to meet for these good purposes once in a week or fortnight.

"8. If it can be done, to select out of each congregation under our care a small number of persons remarkable for experience, prudence, seriousness, humility, and zeal for promoting religion in the said Society.

"9. That neighbouring ministers in one part of our land and another, should enter into associations to strengthen the hands of each other by united consultations; that an hour or two in the afternoon be spent in religious conference and prayer, and in taking into consideration, merely as a friendly council and without the least pretence to any right of authoritative decision, the

concerns of any brother, or any society, which may be brought before us for our advice; and finally, that every member of this association shall consider it as an additional obligation upon him to endeavour to be, as far as he justly and honourably can, a friend and guardian to the reputation, comfort, and usefulness of all his brethren in the Christian ministry, near or remote, of whatever party or denomination.

"10. That it may be proper to enter into some farther measures to regulate the admission of young persons into the ministry; that if any student within the compass of this association desires to be admitted as a preacher, he apply to the ministers at one of their periodical meetings, when, if they be in the general satisfied that he is a person of a fair character, in sacramental communion with a Christian society, and one who has gone through a regular course of preparatory studies, they will appoint three of their number to examine more particularly into his acquaintance with, and sense of, the great doctrines of Christianity as delivered in the Scripture, and into the progress he has made in literature, the views with which he professes to undertake the ministry, and in general his aptness to teach, in order to judge which it may be proper that a theological thesis be exhibited in Latin, and a popular sermon, composed by the candidate, be submitted to the perusal of the examiners, that if they in their consciences believe he is fit to be employed in the Christian ministry, they give him a certificate of that approbation, which he may be desired to produce at the next general meeting, that his testimonials may be signed by all the associated ministers present, and be solemnly recommended to God in prayer."

A visit Doddridge received from Whitefield stimulated him to increased effort in the cause of Christ, but for the welcome he gave to the zealous evangelist he incurred the rebuke Methodists. of Nathaniel Neal, the formal and frigid Secretary of the Coward Trust.

Doddridge and the

"MILLION BANK, October 11, 1743.

"REV. AND DEAR SIR,-It was with the utmost concern that

I received the information of Mr. Whitefield's having preached

last week in your pulpit, and that I attended the meeting of the (Coward) Trustees this day, when that matter was canvassed, and that I now find myself obliged to apprise you of the very great uneasiness which your conduct herein has occasioned them.

"The many characters you sustain with so much honour, and in which I reverence you so highly, makes me ashamed, and the character I sustain, of your friend, makes it extremely irksome for me to express any sentiments as mine which may seem to arraign your conduct; but when I reflect in how disadvantageous a light your regard to the Methodists has for some considerable time placed you in the opinion of many whom I have reason to believe you esteem among your most judicious and hearty friends, and what an advantage it has given against you to your secret and avowed enemies, of either of which facts I believe you are not in any just degree sensible, I could run any hazard of your censure rather than that should remain unapyou prised of these facts.

"You cannot be ignorant how obnoxious the imprudences committed, or alleged to be committed, by some of the Methodists, have rendered them to great numbers of people; and though, indeed, supposing they have a spirit of religion amongst them to be found nowhere else, so that a man would, for his own sake, and at any temporal hazard, take his lot amongst them; yet if besides their reputation for a forward and indiscreet zeal, and an unsettled injudicious way of thinking and believing, they have nothing to distinguish them from other serious and devout Christians, surely every man would choose to have as little concern with them as possible. But in the case of such a public character, and so extensive a province for the service of religion as yours, it seems to me a point well worth considering, whether, supposing even the opinion of the world entertains of them to be groundless, it is a right thing to risk such a prospect as Providence has opened before you, of eminent and distinguished usefulness, for the sake of any good you are likely to do amongst these people.

"For my own part, I have had the misfortune of observing, and I must not conceal it from you, that wherever I have heard it mentioned that Dr. Doddridge countenanced the Methodists-and it has been the subject of conversation much oftener than I could

have wished I have heard it constantly spoken of by his friends with concern, as threatening a great diminution of his usefulness, and by his adversaries with a sneer of triumph.

"The trustees are particularly in pain for it, with regard to your Academy, as they know it is an objection made to it by some persons in all appearance seriously, and by others craftily; and yet they are almost afraid of giving their thoughts, even in the most private manner, concerning it, lest it should be made an occasion of drawing them into a public opposition to the Methodists, as they are likely to be, in some measure, by your letter to Mr. Mason (excusing your prefixing a recommendation of a book of theirs without the advice of the trustees), which letter, they have desired me to inform you, has given them great offence."

John Barker, the stedfast friend of Doddridge, was equally alarmed, and reported some of the extravagances of the Moravians and Methodists. There was apparent cause for apprehension in the irregular and indiscreet conduct of some of the early Moravian brethren, of which Doddridge had afterwards seriously to complain. He was

pelled to admit that the zeal of the new converts sometimes outran their discretion.

In a letter to Nathaniel Neal, dated December 12, 1723, he says:

Reply of
Doddridge

to censure.

"I had great expectations from the Methodists and Moravians. I am grieved from my very heart that so many things have occurred among them which have been quite unjustifiable; and I would assure you faithfully they are such as would have occasioned me to have dropped the intimacy of correspondence which I once had with them. And I suppose they have also produced the same sentiments in the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, to my certain knowledge, received Count Zinzendorf with open arms, and wrote of his being chosen the Moravian Bishop, as what was done, plaudente toto cælesti choro. I shall always be ready to weigh whatever can be said against Mr. Whitefield, as well as