Isaac Watts, Stoke Newington, to Philip Doddridge, Northampton, 24 December 1741.

Newington Decr 24th 1741.

Dear Sir

         I cannot sufficiently Express the gratitude that is due to you for that tenderness of Friendship & kind concern for me which appears in all your Letters; May the great God abundantly reward into your own Bosom, and to your Friends there, those many Petitions that you have put up for me to the Throne of Grace.

         I suppose next week we shall send the first Books to you ^or rather to Mr Brabant^ for the catechizing of 40 Children according to our Rules, but we neither desire their Ages at all, nor their Names till next Midsummer, when you will receive Directions and a Scheme how to send up ye Account of them.

         Your Last Letter supposes Mr Neal & I to have been at ye Fund. Alas, Sir, we have neither of us been there those many Months, and therefore I have transmitted to Mr Jennings that part of your Letter which related to ye Persons you there mention’d, for I know nothing of it.

         I thank God I was in ye Pulpit last Lords day, but 32 Minutes have almost oversett me: So that my Capacitys of that Service kind run exceeding low still: may they be increased thro your prayers, if God please to hear and answer them.

         I sincerely join with you in your Requests for ye Life and Recovery of your Dear Partner Mrs Doddridge, for I easily suppose a great part of your Comfort in Life is bound up with hers.

         I should tell you also, that as I am much pleased so far as I can go onward in your Book of Regeneration, so we have begun it as the Evening Exercise on ye Lords day in our Family, and may our Lord Jesus pronounce a word of blessing on all that you write & speak. [next line cut and not readable]

                 Your very Affectionate Brother

                                             And Humble Servt

                                                         [signature cut out]

P. S. I have received several Letters from New England this Autumn & Winter, wherein they give me an Account of a great Work of Conviction and Conversion going on both at Boston & many other Towns in those plantations ever since the Preaching of Mr Whitfield there last Septr or Octr was twelve Months. God has certainly own’d & bless’d that Mans zeal, Piety & Itinerant Labors, howsoever he may have fallen into some Weaknesses & Imprudences. I hope his Spirit will grow in Wisdom & Charity, as well as in all other Graces, That his Good may not be evill spoken of.

Address: To | The Revd Doddridge | at | Northamton [sic]

Postmark:  24 DE

Endorsed: Dr Watts | 24 Dec. 41.  

Text: MA 514.10, 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. 4, p. 61.