of consulting books only to be met with here, has brought me to Cambridge; but my long nights in company make my mornings by myself so very short, that I am likely to return as wise as I came; which will be in a few days. Before I left the country, I had the pleasure of receiving your Family Expositor.' My Mother and I took it by turns. She, who is superior to me in every thing, aspired to the divine learning of the Improvements, while I kept groveling in the human learning in the Notes below. The result of all was, that she says she is sure you are a very good man, and I am sure you are a very learned one. I sat down to your Notes with a great deal of malice, and a determined resolution not to spare you; and, let me tell you, a man who comments on the Bible affords all the opportunity a caviler could wish for. But your judgment is always so true, and your decision so right, that I am as unprofitable a reader to you as the least of your flock. A friend of mine, Dr. Taylor of Newark, (M. D.) who has seen your book, desires to be a subscriber. If you will be so good to order a book to be left for him at Mr. Gyles's, he has orders to pay for it. I have taken the liberty to inclose two or three papers of Proposals, just now offered to the publick by my friend Dr. Middleton for his Life of Tully.' "I am, dear Sir, your very affectionate friend and brother, W. WARBURTON." "DEAR SIR, Brent-Broughton, Aug. 13, 1739. "I have the favour of yours of the 19th of May to acknow ledge. I will take it as Tully did the Roman History (who wanted to be at his dear Consulship) at the wrong end: and for Tully's reason, because there is something there more interesting; and that is the agreeable news you are so good as to give me of the birth of a son, and of good Mrs. Doddridge's being in a fine way of recovery. Providence blesses you, as it blessed its prime favourites the Patriarchs: for he knows' you, as he knew Abraham, that you will command your children and your household after you to keep the way of the Lord.' To such, and only to such, children are a blessing. I am sorry to hear you have been ill since I wrote my last; but am glad I heard not of it till I heard of your recovery along with it. What you say of your success in your ministry and academical capacity gives me infinite pleasure on your account. And it is impossible the Author of the "Free Thoughts," &c. should meet with less; or, he who observes the directions there laid down. As for that blasphemous fellow Morgan *, he is, I think, below my notice, any farther than to shew my great contempt of him occasionally. Besides, I ought to leave him to those who are paid for writing against him. "You judge right that the next volume of The Divine Legation' will not be the last. I thought I had told you, that I had divided the work into three parts. The first gives a view of Pa Author of "The Moral Philosopher." See the various passages referred to in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VII. p. 276. 3 G VOL. II. ganism; ganism; the second of Judaism; and the third of Christianity, You will wonder how this last inquiry can come into so simple an argument as that which I undertake to inforce. I have not room at present to tell you more than this-that, to leave neither doubt nor obscurity in the argument, after I have proved a future state not to be in fact in the Mosaic dispensation, I next shew that, if Christianity be true, it could not possibly be there. And this necessitates me to explain the nature of Christianity, with which the whole ends. But this inter nos. If it be known, I should possibly have somebody writing against this part too be fore it appears. "Your kind and friendly advice to mind my business is very seasonable, when one naturally grows tired of an old subject, and has not met with that return from one's friends which one might expect. But I would not have you think that any of the Letters against Crousaz cost me more than two or three hours in an evening. Mr. Pope has desired they may be collected, and printed together. I have therefore complied with the Bookseller, who is now reprinting them in the size of Mr. Pope's duodecimo volumes, and I suppose they will come out in Michaelmas Term. "I desire you would put down the Rev. Mr. Philip Yonge *, Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge, a subscriber to your Family Expositor; and to contrive that he may have the first volume sent him, either from Northampton or London. It need only be directed as above, for he is well known, being the principal Tutor in his College.-A passage in St. Luke comes into my head, which I hope will not come too late for your use; in which, I think, we have one of the most illustrious instances of the divine address of Jesus in his disputings with the Priests; and which I do not find the Commentators take notice of; (Chapter xx.) 'As Jesus taught in the Temple, the chief priests and the scribes came to him with their elders, and asked him by what authority he did those things?' To this Jesus replies by another question, Was the baptism of John of heaven, or of men?' They answered they could not tell whence it was. Neither,' says Jesus, tell I you by what authority I do these things' This is generally esteemed a mere evading the question, and taking advantage of their inability of answering him to refuse to answer them; a shift quite below the dignity of his divine character. It had been more decent to have denied answering at first. But the fine address seems not to be taken. The answer was a satisfactory one on the Chief Priest's own principles. Observe how the case stands: "The Chief Priests and the Scribes came to him as he was teaching in the Temple." They were, without all question, a deputation from the Sanhedrim, who either had, or were then universally allowed to have, the right of inquiring into the credentials of all who pretended to come from God: or, to try the spirits of the Prophets. Here then * Afterwards Bishop of Norwich. See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. IX. p. 487. was the dilemma. Jesus professed to submit to the established authority, and yet it was too early to own his Messiahship. What was to be done? Why, with an address and presence of mind altogether divine, he asked them about the authority of John, who pretended to be a messenger from God, and his forerunner. But they, not owning his authority, and yet, for fear of the people not daring expressly to disclaim it, they answered they could not tell whence his authority was.' This was the point Jesus watched for; and we are to suppose him answering them in this convincing manner: 'If you come from the Sanhedrim, whose authority I acknowledge, to inquire into my mission, I apprehend that there is no necessity, even on the principles of the Sanhedrim, for that body to come to a determination in the point; for the mission of John, who was before me, is, it seems, a question yet undetermined in that body; why then should not mine? Besides, John professed himself the forerunner of me. Order and equity therefore require, that his pretensions be first examined, if the examination be necessary; and till these two objections be removed, I may, without any disobedience to the authority of the Sanhedrim, decline telling you by what authority I do these things*." "I received your excellent Sermon on the Fire at Wellingborough.--With my humble service to Mrs. Doddridge, I am, dear Sir, your most affectionate friend and humble servant, W. WARBURTON." " DEAR SIR, "I have been long a debtor for your obliging favour of the 16th of February past. But I have been about two months in London since that time, where I was in a constant hurry; and this threw me so much back that I have been as busy since I came home. The truth is, you and I are not on the foot of ceremony; therefore I trespass upon you in a manner I would not do to a common acquaintance. I hold myself peculiarly unlucky. We were within a very little of one another this spring at Oakham ; where your person and talents drew the particular regard of strangers, and by that means I accidentally heard you had just then been there. But Mr. Pope and I have laid a kind of scheme for meeting at Oxford the latter end of the summer; and, if that holds, I shall be wise enough not to neglect taking Northampton in my way.-I should say, were I not part of the subject of the Epigram, that it was as good a one as ever was made ; and why may I not say it though I am? "The second volume of The Divine Legation' goes slowly on; but I hope to have it out next winter. I am impatient, and my Mother is more so, for the Second Volume of your Expositor.' She has read your first three or four times over; yet was very unwilling to lend it lately for a month to a gentleman, whom she thinks ought rather to have bought one. But those who take up their Religion on trust are generally for borrowing See Doddridge's "Family Expositor," note (f) on Luke xx. 8. T..S. their 3 G 2 their Learning. I have received the kind present of your Sermon on the Fast; and it is, what I am accustomed to find your things, an excellent one. The paragraph concerning the peculiar proridence of the Jews I particularly attended to. You are surely right. You speak with some diffidence. I hope to shew you might have spoke more positively. The circumstance of multiplying chariots and horses, the Bishop of Sarum* will be pleased with. It is a favourite point with him. "I am much obliged to you for the relation of Count Zinzendorf. I find he is a perfect enthusiast; so that I have very little farther curiosity about the Moravian Church. You can oblige me with a matter of infinitely more importance; and that is a Sketch of your method of Academical Education, which I know enough of you to be assured must be excellent. The studies of Humanity and Divinity, as I am sure you direct them, are the two barriers to Fanaticism and Irreligion. You may believe, therefore, I long much to have a particular account of them. And you do me but justice in considering me, as you say you do, when you write to me, as your entire friend. "That I consider you as such, you will perceive by what I am going to tell you. Young Mr. Fordyce, whom you mentioned to me once in a letter, came to me two years ago in London, as from Professor Blackwell, whom I think he called his relation †; on which account I received him with great civility and openness; introduced him into good company; and he was by no means backward in making acquaintance. But I was no sooner gone, than he used me in a very indecent manner before this very company, to which on my score he had been welcome: who therefore withdrew their countenance and acquaintance from him. When Dr. Middleton came to town the year after, this gentleman came to him, as he had done to me, and was received in the same manner; when my friends told him how he had used me, and how they resented it. The Doctor therefore withdrew himself from him likewise. This time I was in town, I met the young gentleman accidentally in the street, who accosted me in the free manner I had indulged him in. But then, having been informed of his behaviour, I treated him with great coldness; and, after walking with him the length of the street, parted from him. A year and half ago, I received a kind but complaining letter from Professor Blackwell, that he heard not from me, and that he feared I had forgot him: which letter I immediately answered in the friendly manner it deserved. Since that time I have never heard from him; so am a little suspicious of his pupil's having done some ill office between us; for, if he would use me thus freely with my intimate acquaintance in London, what might one not expect from his representation at so great a distance, where his falsehoods could not be easily detected? If you hold any correspondence with Professor Blackwell, I should * Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, translated shortly after to Winchester. + Professor Blackwell was his uncle. be be much obliged to you to give him a representation of this case; not by way of complaint from a friend, but caution to one*. "I am, dear Sir, with my own and my Mother's best respects to you and Mrs. Doddridge, your most affectionate friend, brother, and faithful humble servant, W. WARBURTON." Feb. 2, 1740-1. "DEAR SIR, "I had the pleasure of yours of the 22d past, after a very long and unkind silence. I did not hear of your illness, and am glad I did not till now the same news brought me an account of your recovery. I will, in my turn, force you to a speedy answer; for I desire the favour of you, that you would send me all the texts both in the Old and New Testament, that you know, either to be urged by others, or that you yourself think have any weight, towards proving that a future state was taught in the Mosaic dispensation. It will be necessary for me to examine those texts; and I myself can find so few in the Bible, that I suspect the point I have to maintain prejudices me so as to hinder my discernment. This therefore will be of great use to me; and I do not know any one more capable of giving me this assistance. But, to shorten the trouble I give you, you need only mark the texts in a list, except where the inference from the texts is so fine, that you may reasonably suspect I cannot see it, The sooner you do this, the greater will be the favour. Nor need you mark who it is that employs each text in this argument, for I do not intend to take any particular notice of any one on this head. You are the first that gives me the agreeable news of your Second Volume. But that it has not yet been delivered to my Bookseller is very certain. Now I know it is published, I shall take care to send for it; and make no doubt but it will afford us as much delight and instruction as we received from the First. The regard you shewed to my Mother in her favourite part of the work is very obliging. She had been often enquiring after the Second Volume with great impatience, so that the news was received with great pleasure, and she charges me to make her compliments on this occasion. "I am glad you think any hints I gave you worthy of appearing in so valuable a work. You were master of them in what manner you thought fit, and you used me with too much ceremony and deference. I have reason to ask your pardon for being freer with your name than you would choose to be with * Dr. Doddridge in answer to the above; taken from his short hand on the back of Mr. Warburton's letter: "I saw Mr. Fordyce the very day after I received your account. And though I did not think it proper to read him your letter, I could not forbear hinting what related to him in it. He assured me, that the gentleman who represented what he said of you after you left the company, must have misunderstood him. And indeed he has always spoke of you in so respectful a manner to me and every body else, where I could trace the conversation, that I hope it was a mistake. But, if it were not, I beg you would forgive him, and place it to my account. And though I shall never have an opportunity of forgiving you any thing, I will endeavour to make it out another way, by loving you, if I can, so much the better." T. S. |