As to the other, I am now sending out circular letters to engage all the ministers in the country in this scheme, and by their assistance the people of their several congregations. This will occasion an association among us, which is a thing I have long wished; and I enclose in my circular the plan of their associations in Norfolk and Suffolk, in consequence of which six very promising youths are now being educated. But here now is a work for prayer, to entreat that God would touch their hearts with a right sense of things, that they may see of how great importance the scheme is, and what a crisis we are now come to with regard to it. I trust in God, that he will appear, but then we must seek it in a way of humble prayer. I am getting all the assistance for this purpose I can, and I bless God my mouth is often opened and my heart enlarged, when I am endeavouring to plead his cause; and I see souls hanging on my lips, and drinking in the truth as it is in Jesus. Indeed, my dear friend, I have lately been not only praying for you, but solemnly blessing God upon your account; that there is such a minister, that I have such a friend, that I have been the honoured instrument of training up such a pupil, and that I have such a joyful hope, though separated from him now, of dwelling with him for ever, and of seeing him with the angels of God. I have a thousand things to write, but have no time. I received eleven letters yesterday, and am so covered with cares, that they almost bear me down; but if they may but be cares for God, they are welcome. I bless God dear Mr. Taylor goes on excellently well, he has much more prudence than many ministers; and improves his time and opportunities, so that I have very high expectations from him.* *Those persons who have the advantage of knowing the Rev. Thomas Taylor are perfectly aware that his future reputation realized the high opinion expressed by his tutor, and will read with pleasure the following extracts: "This venerable minister," says Mr. Wilson, “was born in the neigh I beseech you to present my kind salutations to all my Kidderminster friends, and particularly to Mr. Williams. Grace and peace be ever with you. I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate Friend, and humble Servant, P. DODDRIDGE. SIR, FROM THE DUCHESS OF SOMERSET.* Percy Lodge, Sept. 15, 1750. I was yesterday very agreeably surprised with the favour of your letter, and had purposed writing to you by this post, whether I had received it or not, to return you my sincere thanks for the valuable present which our last bourhood of Kidderminster, in Worcestershire; and was a great-grandson of the Rev. Richard Sergeant, who was ejected by the Bartholomy Act, 1662, from the living of Stone, in that county. Of Mr. Sergeant, the famous Mr. Richard Baxter, to whom he was many years an assistant, has left behind him this testimony: That he was a man of such extraordinary prudence, humility, sincerity, and self-denial, and of such an unblamable life, that, during all the years he was his assistant, no one person was against him, or even accused him of saying or doing any thing amiss.'" Mr. Wilson adds, that Mr. Taylor "inherits the distinguished virtues of his ancestor ;" and in so saying has given an estimate of his character as appropriate as language could convey. During his long services as pastor of the Presbyterian Church, at Carter Lane, Mr. Taylor was remarkable "for the affectionate and serious style of his preaching." Some other particulars relative to Mr. Taylor may be met with by consulting that truly excellent work, "The History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches and Meeting Houses in London, Westminster, and Southwark, including the Lives of their Ministers, from the Rise of Nonconformity to the present Time; with an Appendix on the Origin, Progress, and Present State of Christianity in Britain; in four volumes, by Walter Wilson, of the Inner Temple." "This lady, as eminent for her virtues as her rank, was the eldest daughter of the honourable Henry Thynne, only son of Thomas, Lord Viscount Weymouth. She married Algernoon, Earl of Hartford, son of waggon brought me. I had not the pleasure of being acquainted with any of your writings till I was at Bath, three years ago, with my poor Lord, when an old acquaintance of mine, the Dowager Lady Hyndford, recommended me to read the Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul; and I may with great truth assure you that I never was so deeply affected with any thing I ever met with as with that book, and I could not be easy till I had given one to every servant in my house who appeared to be of a serious turn of mind. I immediately sent for the two first volumes of your Family Expositor, which were the only ones out at that time; since I have got that upon the Acts, your Sermons upon Regeneration, those preached for the peculiar use of young people, and in short every thing of your writing which I could meet with. It is with great pleasure that I hear you are going on with the rest of the New Testament, and must beg that you will give me leave to add my name to the list of your subscribers. My dear Lord read your former volumes with great attention and satisfaction, and frequently spoke of them as the best books he had ever seen upon the subject. I must now come to the most mortifying and difficult part of my letter, which is to give you some account of myself. And I must begin by entreating you not to ascribe to modesty or humility what is extorted from met Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who succeeded to the title and estate of his father, December 2, 1748. She died July 7, 1754, leaving an only daughter, who was Duchess of Northumberland. Her Grace, as one observes, appears to have been a truly pious, amiable, and accomplished lady. Mr. Thomson, in his poem entitled the Spring, thus addresses her:" "O Hartford, fitted or to shine in courts by the force of truth. I dare not, I would not deceive you, by pretending to deserve any part of the character which the partiality of my friends has inclined them to give me. Nay, I am conscious that even that partiality proceeds from a natural flexibility in my temper, which I sorrowfully experience to be one of my greatest hindrances in the pursuit of the one thing needful. An over great anxiety for the welfare of my friends has too much occupied both my time and thoughts; and the afflictions with which it hath pleased God to visit me have, I fear, been too bitterly regretted by me, and have made me often incapable of addressing myself as I ought to the only fountain of comfort. Yet I trust I do not deceive myself, when I think I never once murmured against the Almighty power who deprived me of those blessings which I was unworthy of; but who has still spared to me great comforts in a most affectionate and dutiful daughter, whose choice in her marriage he has mercifully directed to one of the most worthy men I ever knew, and whose kindness to me does not fall short of that of the best of sons, whose loss he repairs to the utmost of his power by every mark of duty and affection. I think myself happy in the offer of your prayers, and will beg you in a most particular manner to present them at the throne of Grace, that I may obtain fortitude to struggle with the great enemy of souls, and receive sanctification through the merits of our ever blessed Redeemer, and faith in his sufferings and promises; for I extremely need it, and extremely desire it. It is now time for me to put an end to this long letter, by assuring you that I am, with the greatest esteem, Sir, Your most obliged and faithful humble Servant, F. SOMERSET. TO THE REV. MR. TOMS. Northampton, Feb. 2, 1751. MY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIEND, YOUR letter, received in a chamber of illness, has revived my heart, and awakened my joy and thankfulness. Blessed be you of the Lord, and blessed be your counsels; and may he, in whose cause you have exerted a zeal so truly Christian, not only accept it, as undoubtedly he will, but anticipate the reward that awaits you above, by giving you to see the happy success of your scheme. I remember my fault this day ;—I have read and heard a great deal of the sufferings of our Protestant brethren in France; I have conversed with those who saw their assemblies dissolved, their temples ruined, and their dead torn out of the graves and given to the fowls of the air. I have read the letters of their pastors, and their martyrs; and the incomparable discourses of Superville and Saurin, which so pathetically represent their sufferings; and one of the last was before me when your letter came; and yet, alas! I have in a great measure forgotten the afflictions of Joseph; now and then a transient prayer for them, or the telling of their sad sorrows (with a few tears) to my pupils, children, and friends, has been all the fruit of my compassion ; while you-but I will say no more of that, by the God you are what you are, and I hope his grace will be abundant to you to preserve this matter upon the imagination of your heart, and to guide your counsel, with regard to it. I trust your letter to me will not be entirely in vain; it has, in some measure, awakened my compassion and my prayers, and you will find me ready to act in my little sphere to promote the good end you propose. I have considered of the matter seriously, and I have looked up to God for direction, and the result is this:-I cannot take grace of |