returns he expects from us when he delivers us from going down to the grave. It gives me, my dear, unutterable joy to think that you have deliberately chosen the service of God, and solemnly given yourself up to Christ at his table, that you have there taken refuge and sanctuary in his blood, and entered yourself into the number of those who profess themselves his faithful disciples; I pray God you may be ever faithful. I would not flatter any one, especially my child; and I hope I do not flatter myself in the many good things I think of you. I truly think that you have many excellent dispositions by nature, if I may be allowed the expression; great Humanity, great Sweetness of Temper and Tenderness of Conscience, ready Compassion for the distressed, a remarkable willingness to oblige others and a grateful sense of obligations to them, adorned with native Modesty and Humility, which really adds a great lustre to all. These are lovely qualities, and I bless God who hath given you so much of them, and, I trust, sanctified them all by his grace. Your next question will naturally be, and what do I want to complete my character?' Shall I, my dear, tell you plainly? I think it is Resolution, Diligence, and Activity. Indolence and a disposition to trifle seem to me your great snares. You will, therefore, not only to oblige your parents, but to please God, and, in some measure, to repay his benefits, guard against them. Remember, my love, I entreat you, that we were all made to do good; and though that gracious Being, who knows our frame and our circumstances, requires no more than he has given us a capacity to perform, yet he requires that, even in the most private station of life. You will, I hope, often remember what, indeed, my dear, you sometimes seem to forget more than from your natural good sense I should expect ;-that the years of childhood are now past, and that the you are entered upon responsibility of rational life; and you will, I persuade myself, be solicitous that you may act wisely, of which you have daily before you a most amiable and edifying example in your dear mama, from whom all who are about her may learn every thing that can, in private life, adorn religion, and make those around us happy. Endeavour, therefore, like her, to divide your time in a proper proportion between devotion, reading, working, and improving conversation; not overburthening your delicate frame, for that would grieve me much, but always aiming at something that is right and good; in the pursuit of which that strong understanding, with which it hath pleased God to bless you, will direct you, and which you will find a thousand times more pleasant than a life of indolence can possibly be; especially, when you consider that every capacity of doing good is a talent which God hath committed to us, and for which we are accountable. These, my dear girl, are hints which I have often given you, and I now give them in writing, that you may review them at your leisure, and communicate them, whenever you think it necessary, to your sisters, that you and they may see how very near your interest lies to my heart. I must now conclude, only adding that, through the divine goodness, I am perfectly well, and as happy in the friends now about me as I can be, while absent from those who must be dearest of all. I please myself with the hope that a few weeks will bring me back to you again, and that the day of my return comes nearer every hour. In the mean time you and your dear mama and sisters may assure yourselves that you freely divide my heart among you, in such a manner as that each has, at least, as large a share as she ought, and it is well if each has not a larger, and the necessary consequence is that you share my prayers too, in which respect I hope you will endeavour to balance accounts with, My dear Child, your ever affectionate Papa, FROM THE REV. JAMES ROBERTSON.* REV. AND DEAR SIR, Leyden, Dec. 12, 1749. I NEED scarcely make any apology for my silence hitherto, as my writing would only divert you from more important business. Since I came hither I have enjoyed the agreeable conversation of some of the most learned men in this university, and particularly that of the Messrs. Schultens, father and son, who are men of piety as well as learning, and who have expressed a very great and sincere regard for the Reverend Dr. Doddridge. By conversing with the young Mr. Schultens, who was lately Professor of Divinity and of the oriental languages at Herborn, in Nassaw, I understand that several of your sermons, &c. are translated into the German language ; and particularly I have the pleasure to inform you that your writings find acceptance with some of the most considerable of the Lutheran clergy. The Abbot of Sternmetz, in Magdeburg, who is a man of great piety and of considerable character among the Lutherans, proposed some time ago to translate the Family Expositor into High Dutch; upon which the Lutheran clergy were alarmed, and dreadfully afraid of your introducing the leaven of Calvinism into the Lutheran churches, which obliged the good Abbot to translate your sermons on the Nature and Efficacy of Grace, as a proof of your moderation in these points; which I believe by this time has had the desired effect. I am desired by the young Dr. Schultens to let you know that his brother-in-law, Mr. Valentine Arnoldi, * This gentleman was first a pupil, and then assistant in the Academy at Northampton; he afterwards held a professorship in the University of Edinburgh. VOL. V. L Pastor of Herborn intends to translate the Rise and Progress into the German language, and begs your approbation and a copy of the best edition. Since I came to Leyden I have been hurried pretty much, as I applied myself particularly to the study of the oriental languages, and attended not only the public lectures but the private lectures also of three of the most learned men in that way, I believe I may say with just grounds, in all Europe. I thought that, as in all probability, this was the last time I might have an opportunity, and the pleasure of residing in the seat of the eastern muses, that I should endeavour to gain such a knowledge of the eastern languages as might render me capable of teaching them with some credit, and at the same time of providing against any future disappointment I might meet with. And now, dear Sir, I heartily recommend you and your dear family to the divine blessing and protection, and pray that God may bless your labours in every respect. Believe me to be Your sincere Friend and humble Servant, J. ROBERTSON. FROM JOHN FERGUSSON, ESQ. REV. AND DEAR SIR, Edinburgh, Dec. 23, 1749. I HAVE waited for the post with the utmost impatience, that I might, with my own hand, give you some account of my health, for which you have been so much alarmed. You may remember that, in the summer of 1744, while I had the happiness to be under your direction, I was seized with a spitting of blood, at which time you sympathised with me in an extraordinary manner, so that to yours and Mistress Doddridge's care, joined with Doctor Stonehouse's skill, I in part owe my life; since that time I have had frequent returns of the same illness, though, till about this time twelvemonth, the cause remained undiscovered; and, as it is a thing not common, you will excuse my giving you a particular account of it. About a month before I paid my compliments to you last year I spit up a stone about the size of a small pea, this I showed to the surgeon of the place I was then in, but he persuaded me that I was mistaken, and that it must have got into my mouth some other way. I thought no more of this till last January, when, after riding very hard, I was taken with a violent fit of coughing, which brought up three or four pieces of ragged blue and white stone, so hard that they were broken with difficulty; I have since spit up a great number, though not so frequently of late. These small stones the physicians take to have been the cause of my illness, and have prescribed me the use of soap and oystershell lime-water, and sent me, for the sake of the air and goats' milk, to our Scot's Montpelier, the rugged Isle of Arran, where, by the goodness of God, my health, which had suffered much by the damps of Arundell, is so well recovered, that I think of setting out in a few days for Shrewsbury, where it would be the greatest pleasure that could fall in my way to hear that* * The termination of this letter is wanting. Mr. Fergusson died from consumption in the course of the following year. The singular secretions spoken of in this letter were probably formed by those glands of the lungs which are situated at the point where the air tube divides into its two first branches (i. e. bifurcation of the trachea). These glands are of a very dark colour, and their substance is sometimes found changed into a sac of inky-like fluid. |