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humble hope that, in consequence of it, I may glorify God, even when I am laid in the dust."

I hope, my friends, you will pay a serious and constant regard to this his last request, out of gratitude for his services, and veneration for his memory; from a concern for your own further credit and comfort, and a desire to increase his joy, and your own, at the day of the Lord.

As to you, my brethren and friends, who were more immediately under his eye and care; God has taken your master from your head: And you will naturally adopt the mournful words of Elisha, when he had lost his tutor Elijah, My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof * ! He was indeed a Father to you: And I believe there are few of us, who have had the advantage of being his pupils, have found more real affection and tenderness, and a warmer concern for our welfare, in our natural parents, than we have found in him. You remember his quickness of apprehension, and remarkable felicity in the dispatch of business, and yet his most exemplary improvement and redemption of time. You know, how faithfully he devoted his time and abilities to your service. How freely he communicated to you out of those large stores of knowledge with which God had furnished him: How fairly and candidly he proposed arguments and objections on every topic, on which he lectured. What pains he took to make you eminent christians, able ministers of the New Testament, and scribes well instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. You will, I am persuaded, join with me in acknowledging, to the praise of God, that our acquaintance with him, and relation to him, has been our honour and our happiness. May you and I remember his paternal counsels, prayers, and example, that, through a supply of the Spirit of Jesus, we may be fitted for eminent usefulness in the church, and may do honour to his memory and instructions!

It is but a just tribute to the worth of eminently wise and useful men, and of great advantage to survivors, to display at large the virtues of their character, and point out the means by which they became so eminent; and I am not without hope, that justice may hereafter be done, in some distinct account, to the distinguished abilities, eminent character, and extensive usefulness of the late reverend and learned Dr. Doddridge, who shone so conspicuously in the relations of a minister and a tutor, and whose writings are in such general esteem. In the mean

* 2 Kings ii. 12.

time what has been said concerning him, may serve to excite you all, to aspire after a temper and behaviour becoming your relation to him, whose removal, in the vigour of his faculties, we so justly, and shall so long lament; and, to add greater weight to the solemn exhortation of St. Paul to the Philippians, which, upon this occasion, I would address to you all: Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in him, do: and the God of peace shall be with you *.

To conclude: God has, seen fit to call home his good and faithful servant; and given him not only a calin, but a joyful dismission from the labours and sufferings of life, and enabled him thereby to triumph over death. And when we recollect the words we have been meditating upon, and this fresh seal to the truth and the comfort of them; and when by faith we look forward to that weight of glory reserved in heaven for us, and our pious friends; let us even now join in the apostle's triumphant song, and say, Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

*Phil, iv. 9.

+1 Cor. xv. 57.

HYMNS

FOUNDED ON VARIOUS TEXTS,

IN THE

HOLY SCRIPTURES.

I ESTEEM NEPOS FOR HIS FAITH AND DILIGENCE, HIS COMMENTS ON SCRIPTURE, AND MANY HYMNS, WITH WHICH THE BRETHREN ARE DELIGHTED.-EUSEB. ECCL. HIS. L. VII. c. 24.

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PREFACE.

THE author of the following hymns, well known to the world by many excellent and useful writings, was much solicited by his friends to print them in his life-time, from a hope they might be serviceable to the interest of religion, by assisting the devotion of christians in their social and secret worship; and, had God continued his life till his Family Expositor on the epistles had been published, it is probable he would have complied with their request: But this and many other pious and benevolent purposes were broken off by his much lamented death. During the last hour I spent with him, a few weeks before that mournful event, he honoured me with some particular directions about trauscribing and publishing them. I have at length, through the good hand of my God upon me, finished them, and present them to the world with a cheerful hope, that they will promote and diffuse a spirit of devotion, and, together with other assistances human and divine, prepare many to join with the devout author in the nobler and everlasting anthems of heaven.

These hymns being composed to be sung, after the author had been preaching on the texts prefixed to them, it was his design, that they should bring over again the leading thoughts in the sermon, and naturally express and warmly enforce those devout sentiments, which he hoped were then rising in the minds of his hearers, and help to fix them on the memory and heart: Accordingly the attentive reader will observe, that most of them illustrate such sentiments as a skilful preacher would principally insist upon, when discoursing from the texts on which they are founded. There is a great variety in the form of them: Some are devout paraphrases on the texts: Others expressive of lively acts of devotion, faith, and trust in God, love to Christ, desire of divine influences, and good resolutions of cultivating the temper and practising the duties recommended: Others proclaim an humble joy and triumph in the gracious promises and encouragements of scripture, particularly in the discovery and prospect of eternal life. The nature of the subjects will easily account for the difference of composure, why some are more plain and artless, others more lively, sublime, and full of poetic fire. If any of them should at first reading appear flat or obscure, it may well be supposed they would affect the mind in a stronger manner, when used in a religious assembly after sermons upon the texts, in which the context hath been considered (if that were necessary) parallel places compared, the design of the inspired writer judiciously opened, and the beauty, propriety, and emphasis of the several clauses of the text illustrated: They therefore who use them in their devout retirements, should first read and consider the text and contexts, and if they would consult some expositor upon them, particularly the authors on the subjects taken from the New Testament, they will see a spirit and elegance in these composures, which may otherwise be overlooked, and be more likely to reap real and lasting advantage by them.

In this collection there are many hymns formed upon passages in the Old Testament, particularly in the prophets, directly relating to the case of the Israelites, or some particular good man among them, which the author hath accommodated to the circumstances of christians, where he thought there was a just and natural resemblance; and he apprehended, that the practice of the inspired writers of the New Testament warranted such accommodations*. He experienced this to be a very acceptable and useful method of preaching on the Old Testament, and accordingly recommended it to his pupils, as what would afford them an opportunity of explaining the design of the prophecies, displaying the wisdom, faithfulness and * Compare Heb. xiii. 5, 6. and Family Expositor in Loc. Note (e). There are also some good remarks on this subject in Dr. Watts's holiness of times, places, &c. Dis. v. especially Prop. 15.

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