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,

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 happier 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.

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 enjoyment 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 DR PHILIP DODDRIDGE. AN Account of the Life and Death of the illustrious Author of the "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul" cannot but be interesting to those who are at all

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 whom died young, except one daughter, and the subject of our narrative. Throughout life he was always of a very infirm constitution, and of a very consumptive habit of body," and, therefore," says his Biographer, "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 instructions which he had received in the Christian religion: "God," said he, " is an immortal Father, my He has hitherto helped me and soul rejoiceth in him. May it be my study to approve myprovided for me. self a more affectionate, grateful, dutiful child!" 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.o waich he devoted his time, a custom which in atter life At this school, he not only, by proved very useful. every means in his power, assisted his school-fellows in their studies, but likewise, as often as he could, introduced 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, supplying them with what money he could spare out of his own small allowance, and in these visits he not unfrequently 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,

amiability of his manners, for he possessed none of that repulsive coldness which is too frequently to be found in men who have devoted much attention to study and to business. "He esteemed it the duty of friends daily to pray for one another, as a proper expression and the firmest support of their friendship; and be counted the prayers of his friends among his most valuable treasures." Their reproofs and admonitions he always received as a favour, and esteemed them only the more on that account, as will be seen from the following extract from one of his letters: "I thank God, I have not that delicacy of temper, that a friend should need to make an apology for saying and doing a kind and proper thing, when there is what the foolish taste of the present age may sometimes call a freedom taken in it.

Freedom

in friendship is the very soul of it, and its necessary test and support." No person relished more the company and conversation of his friends than did Doddridge. So much did he enjoy their society that he sometimes remarked, that it gave him a foretaste of the happiness of the heavenly world.

There are few traits in the character of Doddridge more characteristic of the man than the way in which he spent and improved his time. He never suffered an hour to pass without some suitable employment; and little time as he did lose or mispend, the following is one of his mournful reflections on this subject:Upon reviewing the last year, I find that I have trifled away a great deal of time. Not to speak of that which hath been lost in formal devotion, and an indolent temper in the dispatch of business, I find, upon computation, that I have lost some hundred hours by unnecessary sleep. I have lost many in unnecessary visits, journeys of pleasure, or business prolonged to an unseasonable length, and by indulging vain roving thoughts while travelling. A multitude of precious hours have been lost in unprofitable discourse, when I have been necessarily engaged in company; for want of taking care to furnish myself with proper subjects of conversation, or not making use of them, or not attending to opportunities of introducing profitable discourse." He rose early, sat up late, and considered the smallest portions of time too valuable to be lost. Doing nothing was his greatest fatigue, and he used to say to his pupils, that one good work was the best relaxation from another. The work of every day he was desirous of performing in its day, and he could never brook the thought of delaying it till to-morrow, knowing well that there was sufficient business for that day, and all the days and hours of his life, as he himself remarked. It is even narrated of him, that when dressing and shaving, one of his pupils was wont to read to him. Amid all his studies, and other varied and engrossing employments, his Master's work was never neglected; all that he had in view was the good of his own soul, of the souls of his people, and the good of the world at large. During the year he is said to have preached one hundred and forty times, and in some years even oftener. 66 Well might he address his brethren on evil and danger of neglecting the souls of men." Well might he entreat them to be faithful ministers of Christ; for if ever there was a faithful, aye and a successful servant of God, it was Philip Doddridge. He improved every opportunity of doing good, not only to his own congregation, but to his brethren of mankind. Often when he accidentally met with strangers, he turned their conversation to religious topics, and he had every reason to hope that serious and lasting impressions were made upon the hearts of some. If his zeal was excessive in any thing, it was in admonishing his younger brethren, when he saw them indolent; on which occasions he used every argument, every consideration, and every motive to increase their diligence. But above all other things, he was sincerely desirous to see the Gospel propagated abroad. His generous heart

The

turned within him when he thought of so many thousands of his fellow-creatures living without the knowledge of a Redeemer, and he exerted all the force of his persuasion and entreaty to engage others in the cause of spreading the "glad tidings of great joy" through heathen lands. Speaking of Missionaries, he says, I hope I can truly say, that, if God would put it into the heart of my only son to go under this character, I could willingly part with him, though I were to see him no more. What are views of a family and a name, when compared with a regard to extending my Redeemer's kingdom, and gaining souls to Christ?"— And in a letter to a friend he says, "It is much better and more delightful to do a little for our Redeemer than to do nothing. Who that considers what a precious jewel he possesseth in that best of Friends, would not wish that all the world shared with him in it? What is our time, or what our money worth, but that some considerable part of both may be employed for him? O, when shall his knowledge cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea, and carry along with it richer treasures and blessings than the sea ever bore! May it in the meantime rule in our hearts; and may we have the pleasure of wishing, praying and labouring for the spread of his kingdom, though we cannot advance it as we would!"

Dr Doddridge had always the case of the poor man at heart, and to them he was always easy of access. He treated the poor with compassion and tenderness, and yet he did not lessen his influence by unbecoming fa iniliarity. He encouraged his people, rich and poor, to be free in their conversations with him, especially about their religious concerns. He opened his mouth with wisdom, and in his tongue was the law of kindness." He was always free from a covetous disposition, and was often accustomed to quote that saying of his Divine Master's, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He sought out and relieved distressed objects; and in his sermons and among his friends, he pleaded the cause of the poor and needy. In one of his annual reflections upon the providences of God to him, his views, resolutions, &c., he writes: "I have this day, in secret devotion, made a vow, that I would consecrate a tenth part of my estate and income to charitable uses, and an eighth part of all that shall this year come in from my books or occasional contributions; unless any circumstances arise, which lead me to believe that it will be injurious to others to do it." At the beginning of the following year he thus writes: " Having fully discharged the charitable account last year, I renew the like resolution for this; and desire to observe how God prospers me, that I may do in proportion to it." The industrious poor claimed his especial compassion, and he was in the habit of visiting their families, enquiring into their circumstances, and procuring for them Bibles and practical religious books.

In addition to all his other excellencies Doddridge was truly humble. He never sought the esteem of any one by disparaging the reputation of others, nor by any mean compliances, but by a friendly and condescending behaviour to all, and faithful endeavours to serve them. He looked upon reputation as a great instrument for doing good to the world, knowing that unless a man's character be esteemed, his most generous and praiseworthy designs will often be censured, and his advices misconstrued and slighted. Few men enjoyed more of the public esteem, and few there were whose writings have been held in such repute. But yet he never was vain, he never boasted of himself, but considered every thing as proceeding from the hand of God; and the questions which most engrossed his attention were, how can I best show my gratitude to God, and how can I be most serviceable to my brethren of mankind? The esteem of the world, instead of elating his mind, always produced deeper humiliation before God,