ページの画像
PDF
ePub

At the age of twenty he left the academy, and spent two years in study and devotion at the house of his father, who treated him with great tenderness; and had the happiness, indulged to few parents, of living to see his son eminent for literature, and venerable for piety.

He was then entertained by Sir John Hartopp five years, as a domestic tutor to his son: and in that time particularly devoted himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures; and, being chosen assistant to Dr. Chauncey, preached the first time on the birth-day that completed his twenty-fourth year; probably considering that as the day of a second nativity, by which he entered on a new period of existence.

In about three years he succeeded Dr. Chauncey; but, soon after his entrance on his charge, he was seized by a dangerous illness, which sunk him to such weakness, that the congregation thought an assistant necessary, and appointed Mr. Price. His health then returned gradually; and he performed his duty till (1712) he was seized by a fever of such violence and continuance, that from the feebleness which it brought upon him he never perfectly recovered.

This calamitous state made the compassion of his friends necessary, and drew upon him the attention of Sir Thomas Abney, who received him into his house; where with a constancy of friendship and uniformity of conduct not often to be found, he was treated for thirty-six years with all the kindness that friendship could prompt, and all the attention that respect could dictate. Sir Thomas died about eight years afterwards; but he continued with the lady

considered that it comprises an account of six-andthirty years, and those the years of Dr. Watts.

From the time of his reception into this family, his life was no otherwise diversified than by successive publications. The series of his works I am not able to deduce; their number and their variety shew the intenseness of his industry, and the extent of his capacity.

He was one of the first authors that taught the Dissenters to court attention by the graces of language. Whatever they had among them before, whether of learning or acuteness, was commonly obscured and blunted by coarseness and inelegance of style. He shewed them, that zeal and purity might be expressed and enforced by polished diction.

He continued to the end of his life the teacher of a congregation; and no reader of his works can doubt his fidelity or diligence. In the pulpit, though his low stature, which very little exceeded five feet, graced him with no advantages of appearance, yet the gravity and propriety of his utterance made his discourses very efficacious. I once mentioned the reputation which Mr. Foster gained by his proper delivery to my friend Dr. Hawkesworth, who told me, that in the art of pronunciation he was far inferior to Dr. Watts.

Such was his flow of thoughts, and such his promptitude of language, that in the latter part of his life he did not precompose his cursory sermons, but having adjusted the heads, and sketched out some particulars, trusted for success to his extemporary powers.

He did not endeavour to assist his eloquence by

R

any gesticulations; for, as no corporeal actions have any correspondence with theological truth, he did not see how they could enforce it.

At the conclusion of weighty sentences he gave time, by a short pause, for the proper impression.

To stated and public instruction he added familiar visits and personal application, and was careful to improve the opportunities which conversation offered of diffusing and increasing the influence of religion.

By his natural temper he was quick of resentment; but by his established and habitual practice he was gentle, modest, and inoffensive. His tenderness appeared in his attention to children and to the poor. To the poor, while he lived in the family of his friend, he allowed the third part of his annual revenue, though the whole was not a hundred a year; and for children he condescended to lay aside the scholar, the philosopher, and the wit, to write little poems of devotion, and systems of instruction, adapted to their wants and capacities, from the dawn of reason, through its gradations of advance in the morning of life. Every man acquainted with the common principles of human action, will look with veneration on, the writer, who is at one time combating Locke, and at another making a catechism for children in their fourth year. A voluntary descent from the dignity of science is perhaps the hardest lesson that humility can teach.

As his mind was capacious, his curiosity excursive, and his industry continual, his writings are very numerous, and his subjects various. With his

and her daughters to the end of his life. The lady died about a year after him.

A coalition like this, a state in which the notions of patronage and dependence were overpowered by the perception of reciprocal benefits, deserves a particular memorial; and I will not withhold from the reader Dr. Gibbon's representation; to which regard is to be paid, as to the narrative of one who writes what he knows, and what is known likewise to multitudes besides.

"Our next observation shall be made upon that "remarkably kind Providence which brought the "Doctor into Sir Thomas Abney's family, and "continued him there till his death, a period 'no "less than thirty-six years. In the midst of his "sacred labours for the glory of God, and good of "his generation, he is seized with a most violent " and threatening fever, which leaves him oppressed “with great weakness, and puts a stop at least to "his public services for four years. In this distressing season, doubly so to his active and pious spirit, he is invited to Sir Thomas Abney's family, "nor ever removes from it till he had finished his

66

66

66

days. Here he enjoyed the uninterrupted de"monstrations of the truest friendship. Here, with❝out any care of his own, he had every thing which "could contribute to the enjoyment of life, and "favour the unwearied pursuits of his studies. "Here he dwelt in a family, which for piety, or"der, harmony, and every virtue, was an house “of God. Here he had the privilege of a country "recess, the fragrant bower, the spreading lawn, "the flowery garden, and other advantages, to

[blocks in formation]

"sooth his mind and aid his restoration to health; "to yield him, whenever he chose them, most "grateful intervals from his laborious studies, and "enabled him to return to them with redoubled

66

vigour and delight. Had it not been for this "most happy event, he might, as to outward "view, have feebly, it may be painfully, dragged "on through many more years of languor, and "inability for public service, and even for profit"able study, or perhaps might have sunk into his 66 grave under the overwhelming load of infirmities "in the midst of his days; and thus the church "and world would have been deprived of those

66

many excellent sermons and works, which he "drew up and published during his long residence "in this family. In a few years after his coming

hither, Sir Thomas Abney dies; but his amiable ❝ consort survives, who shews the Doctor the same "respect and friendship as before, and most hap"pily for him and great numbers besides; for, as "her riches were great, her generosity and muni"ficence were in full proportion; her thread of "life was drawn out to a great age, even beyond "that of the Doctor's; and thus this excellent "man, through her kindness, and that of her daugh"ter, the present Mrs. Elizabeth Abney, who in a "like degree esteemed and honoured him, enjoyed "all the benefits and felicities he experienced at his "first entrance into this family, till his days were "numbered and finished; and, like a shock of corn "in its season, he ascended into the regions of per"fect and immortal life and joy."

If this quotation has appeared long, let it be

« 前へ次へ »