Isaac Watts, Stoke Newington, to Philip Doddridge, Northampton, 18 September 1740.

Stoke Newington

Septr 18. 1740

Revd and Dear Sir

         Your Letters overwhelm me with your Civility & Goodness, & I heartily desire that you may live long after I am laid in the Dust, to perform such Services of all kinds as God enables you to do in ye younger part of Life. I had your Letter at Mr Ashhursts at Hedingham Castle, and gave my sense of Things to Mr Coppleston, who said he would consult with you in due time & then I should know ye result.

         On Tuesday last I received a Letter from you by the hand of Mr Wm Johnson of Wisbeach dated Septr 4th which I believe should have come sooner to my Hand than the 16th, wherein you hope I had received your 2d Vol. whereas that very 16th day, Mr Hett made some Scruple of delivering it, not knowing that the Princess had received Hers; and I expected you every day in Town according to your first Design. Before I went to Newington that Evening, I heard that you were not Expected, and that ye Princess’s Book was presented, wch enclines ^me^ to write this day.

         Thank you for your kind remembrances of my Nephew the Bookseller; and I am not averse to see any Friends you think proper to recommend to me, especially if they have so much desire to see me, as will bring them over to Newington to converse one half hour with me there, any Wednesday, Thursday or Friday Mornings, at which times I am scarce ever absent from Home. But as I spend but 3 or 4 hours at London on a Tuesday, they are generally so filled with a hurry of Business that I can hardly read Letters without too much Interruption, & the trouble of my Spectacles in the middle of a Crouded Coffee house; for this reason I only received your two Letters from Mr Johnsons hand, but could not read them till I came home.

         One of those Letters gave me a particular account of your Representation of Things relating to Cowards Academy and the Congregational Fund: What you say of Cowards Academy, is strictly true, and the report you mention is both scandalous and silly.

         What you add with regard to the Fund has one mistake in it (viz) That tho the Methods we take for Satisfaction concerning any Person who is to receive a Supply from thence is as you Represent it, either to acknowledge the Doctrines taught in the Assemblys Catechism in general, or to give their Trinity, Election, Redemption, Vocation & Perseverance, or to ^be^ recommended by some Neighboring Minister, such as Mr Somes or Mr Sanders if they were living, &c who would vouch for their Orthodoxy in the mention’d Articles: But if they have tried the two or three first of those, & are not accepted, we then have too much reason to suspect them ^when they think^ to recommend themselves only by the last, that is, the Testimony of a Neighboring Minister; & therefore I have not shown your Paper to Dr Guyse, or he would have found fault with this.

         I rejoice with you, Sir, in ye Successful Conveyance of your Children by the Goodness of God, thro the Smallpox; & tho I know not whether Mrs Doddridge be still in London, or no, yet I heartily pray for your Peace in all Domestic Affairs, especially that your Mind may be at liberty full liberty for your great Services.

         Expecting you every Day in London, I wrote word to Mr Bulkley in answer to his Letter that we should consult with you in a few Days &c. But since that cannot be, I now ask you seriously these two Questions, Is he settled in such Sentiments as may make him sincerely fit for Welford? Is there no Danger of a former Amour by Settling in that Country? What is your best Judgements upon those points?

         With all due Salutations from our Family  I am Sir

                                 Yours Affectionately

                                             [signature cut out]

P.S. Since this ^was^ written this morning, I have see the 2 Mr Johnsons, & have talked with them every thing they wanted.

Address: none

Postmark: none

Endorsed: none

Text: MA 514.9, Isaac Watts Letters, The Morgan Library, New York. The MS of this letter was not known to Nuttall; he cites the printed version that appeared in J. D. Humphreys, ed., Correspondence and Diary of Philip Doddridge (1829-31), vol. 3, p. 514.