LETTER LXIV. From the fame to the fame. Good Sir, SINCE Whitehall, Jan. 22, 1734-5 I received the favour of your prefent it has become part of my Sunday's exercife, and I have now read it over with pleasure, and I hope not without profit. The new notion that has prevailed availed among us of late years, that the Christian religion is little more than a good fyftem of morality, muft in courfe draw on a difregard to fpiritual exercises, which calls on all ferious Chriftians to do all that is in their power to raife and keep alive a fpirit of devotion and piety in this lukewarm and degenerate age. I pray God to give a bleffing to your labours in that way, and remain with great refpect, Sir, your, &c. LETTER LXV. From the fame to the fame. Good Sir, Whitehall, Jan. 19, 1735-6. I THANK you very heartily for the book I lately received, and which I have read with great fatisfaction and delight. The seeing fo fhameful a departure from true christianity on the two points which are the fubject of your book has long been a fenfible concern and grief to me, and especially when I fee it countenanced and propagated by many who call themselves chriftians, but are in reality little more than deifts; for if the great work of our redemption and the bleffed fruits of it are to be laid afide, I cannot fee that the name of chriftian fignifies mach. You have fet this matter in fo clear a light, and worked up the whole in fo agreeable a manner, that I hope, by the bleffing of God, it will have great effect; and it would have had greater if you had fet your name to it. To deal clearly with you, I have thought for fome time that thofe doctrines and others of the fame kind have received a grievous wound from the indifference about them (to fay no worfe) which fome dif Undoubtedly Dr. Watts's Redeemer and Sanctifier. fenting minifters have discovered of late; and the wound is the deeper because hitherto the diffenters were, without exception, zealous for them, and the prefent manifect abatement of that zeal in fome of their leading men will be reckoned an evidence of their prefent conviction, that their doctrines are either falfe, or at least of fmall moment. Forgive me if I add, that I think due care has not yet been taken to fatisfy the world that, notwithftanding the defection of fome diffenters, there are many among them, and those of great note, who are not in the leaft tainted with the modern notions, but adhere fted faftly to the true doctrines of the gofpel, as delivered to us by Christ and his apoftles. I am, with great truth and efteem, Sir, your, &c. I LETTER LXVI. From the fame to the fame. Good Sir, Whitehall, April 23, 1737. HAVE perufed your Difcourfe upon Humility + with much fatisfaction, and I hope, with profit to myfelf; if not, I am fure it is my own fault. There was no occafion to make the apology for defcending to the loweft fcenes of life. It is a fault both in preaching and writing upon practical fubjects, when we keep too much to general reasonings, and do not bring down our doctrines to common take the fafteft hold upon the minds and life, which are beft remembered, and confciences of our hearers and readers. I wish you a full enjoyment of health, that you may be able to proceed in your good defigns for the benefit of religion; and am, with great truth and esteem, Sir, your, &c. book *. It found me engaged in a particular bufinefs that has been upon my hands fome time, fo that I have not yet been at leifure to peruse it. But I have feen enough to fatisfy me of the ferviceablenefs of it towards replenishing the mind with ufeful knowledge and true wifdom, and how well the rules laid down for that end are calculated for the general improvement of all, whether learned or unlearned, who will attend to them, and be conducted by them. But while you are teaching others how to employ their thoughts wifely and ufefully, you must be so just to yourself, as not to ftretch your own beyond your ftrength, but to take the warning which age and infirmities give us, to flacken and moderate our pace. Under this reftraint I heartily with you a fuccefsful progrefs in your further defigns for the Tervice of religion, and remain with truth and efteem, Sir, your, &c. great LETTER LXVIII. Dr. Edmund Gibfon, Bishop of London, to Dr. Ifaac Watts. I Good Sir, Fulham, July 12, 1742. DESIRE you to accept my hearty thanks for your kind and valuable prefent †, which was part of my employment yesterday; and this day I am fetting out on my vifitation of Effex and Hertfordshire. It is written with great clearness and ftrength, and whoever perufes and attends to it will find much light from it in reading feveral of the epiftles of St. Paul. I am glad to find that you have no difficulty in making him the writer of the epifle to the Hebrews (which I took fome pains to clear in my third paftoral letter), and that you carry on the gradual opening of the gofpel-difpenfation by him, and the other apoftles to the times after our Saviour's afcenfion. The method you take of reducing the matter to be treated of into chapters and paragraphs of no great length keeps every thing clear and diftinct, and I with it were obferved by all other writers. As I take it for granted you have by you other difcourfes unpublished, I hope God will give you health and Arength to revise them if needful, and then to publish Dr. Watts's Improvement of the Mind, or a Supplement to the Art of Logic. + Supposed to be Dr. Watts's Harmony of all the Religions which God ever prescribed. them for the fervice of religion, which is the fincere wifh of, Sir, your, &c. I LETTER LXIX. From the fame to the fame. Good Sir, Whitehall, March 2, 1744-5. SEND this with my fincere thanks for I have al the valuable prefent +, which I have lately received from you. ready perufed part of it, and find muci fatisfaction in obferving the true fpirit of piety and zealous concern for logis which appear in every page. God knows the prefent degeneracy and lakewarmness among chriftians stand in great need of fuch awakenings as to their fa ture ftate; and as it is the duty of us all, in our several stations, to use our beft endeavours for that end, fo I heartily with and pray that you in particular, whe have it fo greatly at heart, may be bleffed with health and ftrength to pur fue and perfect all your defigns in that way. I am, Sir, your, &c. ble Mr. Thynne, brother to the Lord Vifcoat Weymouth. She married Algernon, Earl of Hartford, fon of Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerfet, who fucceeded to the honour and estat This lady was the daughter of the Honours of his father on his demife December the 28, 174, by which event the became Dutchefs of Semerfe His Grace, her husband, died Feb. 9, 1750, the furvived him only till July 7, 1754, leaving an only daughter married to Sir Hugh Smithi Baronet, who fuccecded his father-in-law as Eat Baronet, fucceeded him as Duke of Somerlet. Het Grace appears to have been a truly pious, amiable, and accomplished lady. Mr. Thomfon in his poem entitled Spring thus addreffes her: of Northumberland, while Sir Edward Seymour, ing letter, had not my Lord Hartford's illnefs in a long and fevere fit of the gout confined me to a continual attendance in his chamber. He is now, I thank God, on the recovery, though not yet able to walk without the help of crutches. health for the future, that you may pass your pilgrimage here with as little uneafinefs as mortality will admit of. Governor Shute brought me your picture, which I fhall always fet an high value upon, as I fhall do on every thing that reminds me of fo worthy a friend. I will not trouble you any longer at prefent than to beg to be remembered in your prayers, that I may lead a life of holiness for the few remaining years that may yet be left me. I am with a fincere friendship, Sir, your, &c. Our human ftate is indeed liable to many inconveniencies: we are loaded with bodily infirmities, and tormented with paflions; but a few circling years will clear the profpect, and we fhall, through the grace of God, be relieved from all the pains and forrows which vex us here. My health has been very uncertain all this winter: at the beginning of it a violent rheumatim confined me to my bed and chamber for fome weeks, and I am at prefent very much disordered by a very fevere cold, which has lafted me more than a fortnight, and is rather worse than it was at first. My Lord and I my daughter affure you of their fincerest regards. I am truly concerned to hear you have been fo ill, but I hope you will enjoy a more confirmed ftate of With innocence and meditation join'd In a collection of felect letters, lately published by Mr. Hull in two volumes, from the Dutchefs of Somerfet, Lady Luxborough, Mifs Dolman, Mr. Whistler, Mr. R. Dodfley, William Shentone, Efq. and others, there are included eleven letters written by the Dutchefs, of which Mr. Shenftone has given the following character: "That there are difcernible in them a perfect rectitude of heart, delicacy of fentiment, and a truly claffic ❝eafe and elegance of style. There are many of "them (he then adds) tinged with an air of me"lancholy through the lofs of her only fon Lord "Beauchamp." Thus the writes to Lady Luxborough, in retrospect no doubt of the death of her fon, and more recently that of her husband (Sept. 9, 1750): "You are very obliging in the concern you exprefs for the fcenes of forrow I have "paffed through. I have indeed fuffered deeply, "but when I confider it is the will of God, who never chaftifes his poor creatures but for their "good, and reflect at the fame time how unwor"thy I was of thefe bleffings, which I now lament the lofs of, I lay my hand upon my mouth, "and dare not repine, but hope I can with truth appeal to him in the following words: Quefto affano ei fu che, non fi oppone al fuo fanto voler: ❝chio gemo e gli aftro tutti il gemiti miei chio rango et in tanto benedico il fuo nome in mezzo al pian"to" The English of which is, "Such for"row is fent that none may oppofe his holy will. "Let me figh, and offer up all my fighs to him! "Let me mourn, and in the mean time blefs his "name in the midst of my ferrow!" " Sir, LETTER LXXI. If From the fame to the fame. May 17, 1731. AM afraid you will think me very ungrateful for the favour you have done me in fending me your excellent book*, for fuch I may juftly call it, fince I never read any thing written with more piety, or founded upon jufter principles. you defign one for Mrs. Rowe, be fo good as to fend it to me, and I will convey it to her as foon as I get to Marlborough, which I hope to do next week. I fhould not have been filent thus long, but I have been of late a perfect nurfe; for the old fervant who bred me up, and whom I now look on as a mother, was fo ill about a fortnight fince that the was given over for many days together; and, however it might found to the fashionable part of the world, I dare own to you, that it was a great affliction to me, and hindered me from doing every thing but trying to contribute what lay in my power (by my care and prayers) to her recovery. As foon as fhe grew a little better, my Lord fell into a fevere fit of the gout, and is not yet able to fet his feet to the ground, and I can feldom be long enough out of his room to write a letter: this I hope will plead my excufe, fince whatever I may appear to be, you may be affured I am in reality with the fincereft efteem, your, &c. • Supposed to be the Doctor's "Humble At"tempt towards the Revival of practical Religion among Chriftians, by a ferious Addrefs to Mi"nifters and People;" dated April 2, 1731 Sir, Marlborough, Aug. 3, 1731. I HOPE you have before this time heard that Mrs. Rowe has received your book, which I took care to have fafely delivered to her. I affure you it has been my companion in many of my evening walks, and the moderation with which you treat our way of worship ought in my opinion to engage the leading people of our church to judge with equal candour of yours, and then methinks there would be little caufe for feparation, fince we all acknowledge one Shepherd. The fummer is almoft paft, and we have feen very little of it, fince I think we have fcarce been able to leave off fires for above three days together. I have a cough which still hangs upon me, but I hope air and exercife, with the bleffing of God, will foon remove it. I am with a very fincere eftcem, Sir, your, &c. My Lord and my young people fend their fervices to you. I affure you my little boy is grown a great proficient in your Songs for Children, and fings them with great pleasure. LETTER LXXIII. From the jame to the jume. Sir, Grofvenor-Street, Feb. 9, 1-34. HE fresh proof of friendship you deT fign to give me is as agreeable to me as it must be to receive any inftance of kindness and approbation from thofe we fincerely esteem. Since you allow me to object to any thing in the dedication, I will trefpafs fo far upon your good-nature as to beg you will leave out whatever may imply my attempting to write poctry; but if there be any among the things you have of mine which you think worth placing among yours, I fhall have juft caufe to be pleafed at feeing them come abroad in fuch company, if That of the Doctor's dedication of his Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe to her Ladyship. you will have the goodness to conceal my name either under that of Eufebia, or A Friend; a title which I fhall think my felf happy to deferve. My Lord and the children affure you of their fervices and kind withes; and I am with great truth and regard, your, &c. LETTER LXXIV. had the partiality to prefix my name: This public mark of your friendship, and the kind opinion you exprefs of would be in danger of giving me a fe fatisfaction which I have no title to, if 1 crowd of frailties and defects, which a too frequently reminding how far I from meriting your esteem, did not hir der me from giving way to a compla cence which would be criminal mis my life were more perfect. I have gone almoft half through the book, from which I have received the pleafure which your writings never £ to give me, a pleasure attended by profit and reafon. I am, Sir, with the truett friendship, your, &c. My Lord and our young people fet fervices to you. I LETTER LXXV. From the fame to the fami§. Sir, AM extremely concerned that I c not have the pleafure of feeing you Thursday, fince I think it very long fro I had that fatisfaction, which I al you I wish for much oftener than! No doubt therefore can be made but the im poetical pieces, entitled "A Rural Meditative, Penitential Thought, A Midnight Hym, è « "The Dying Chriftian's Hope," inlerted in fixty-third number of his Mifcellanies, attribuzi to Eufebia, and infcribed to Philomela, a num which Mrs. Rowe, her Ladyship's intimate fath was diftinguifhed, are the compofitions of t Ladyfhip. 1 The Doctor's Mifcellanies. There is no date to this letter, but Da Watts has written on the back of it, April 1730* enjoy, 10 up, enjoy, but it is my lot at prefent to be in waiting; and befides, my Lord has been laid and still is fo, with a most severe fit of the gout; fo that what time I can fpare from my attendance on the Queen is paffed by his bed's fide. If he is able to be lifted into the coach he talks of leaving London next week. We have had an unpleasant winter, for betwixt illnefs and accidents there has fcarce been a week in which the whole family was well enough to go out. I have for my own particular fuffered extremely, first from an intermitting fever, which lafted 1 long time, and fince that from a bruife I got on horfe-back by a waggon which rufhed my ftirrup-leg in fo fad a maner that, though it is more than feven veeks ago, I have ftill great trouble with . My Lord and my young people afare you of their hearty compliments. hope you will be fo good as to rememer me in your prayers, and believe me, I am with great truth and esteem, our, &c. LETTER LXXVI. From the fame to the fame. Sir, April 13, 1737. WOULD fooner have thanked you for the favour of your letter, and the ok which I received juft after, but layed it till I could get time to finish e inclofed lines, which I began foon afMrs. Rowe's death †, but had not fure to proceed with them till after my ord's return to London, whither he d my daughter went last week. He is taken, while he was here t, with a lent pain in the ftomach and bowels, ich, whether it were gout or colic, luced him very low, and alarmed me tremely; but I blefs God, he is now perfect health again, and I hear has covered his good looks entirely. I am felf much better than I was in the nter, bating a fhortnefs of breath, ich makes them judge my continuance the country abfolutely neceffary. I aft now thank you for your excellent fcourfe on Humility, which I have read great pleasure, and I hope I fhall Lady of the Bed-chamber to Queen Caroline. + Verfes on Mrs. Rowe's death. Suppofed at Marlborough. receive profit from the just manner in which you have treated fo useful a fub ject. I muft alfo repeat my gratitude for your book "On the Strength and Weak"nefs of human Reafon." I never read any thing more entertaining and inftructive. I fhould be very happy if I could flatter myself that I had goodness enough to make my life as ufeful as the benevolence and charity of your temper incline you to think it may. I beg the favour of you not to give any copy of the inclosed verses, for I would with my excurfions of this kind to be a fecret from every body but you, and a friend or two more, who know that I do not aim at the character of a genius by any attempts of this nature, but am led to them merely to amufe a leisure hour, and speak the fentiments of my heart. I have no company at prefent but my fon, his tutor being gone to London about business, but I do not mention this as a mortification. I am afraid the decline of years, and the languishing ftate of health I have laboured under for fome time, make it rather neceffary for me to endeavour to find arguments to reconcile myfelf to the variety of company to which my station and the occupation I am attached to in a court require me to accommodate myself. I am, Sir, your, &c. |