“I think the gentlest methods will be the most effectual. Opposition will but give strength to the faction, if it be attended with violence and heat. Should Mr. Wesley come hither, as perhaps he may, and excite such a flame among the weaker part of my hearers, I would appoint some stated season for meeting once a week, with a few steady and experienced brethren of the church, that an hour or two might be spent in prayer and consultation, as new incidents might arise within the sphere of our personal observation. I would endeavour to renew my zeal in preaching the great truths of the gospel, and in visiting and exhorting my hearers. I would, with great meekness and compassion, and yet with great solemnity, admonish the persons attacked with the contagion, and lay open before them the absurd nature and tendency of the views they had rashly entertained;and I would, as God enabled me, pray earnestly for them.”[71]
Among others, who wrote to Doddridge, respecting Whitefield, was the Rev. Robert Blair, D.D., author of the well-known poem, “The Grave.” In a letter, dated July 28, 1743, he says:—
“I wish you would give me your opinion of Mr. Whitefield, a man who has made abundance of noise in the world.I never in my life knew any person so much idolized by some, and railed at by others.”[72]
Soon after this, during a visit to London, Doddridge seems to have attended Whitefield’s Tabernacle, and to have taken part in one or more of its services. Perhaps the influence of Colonel Gardiner, one of his correspondents, had induced him to do this. Whatever the inducement, however, the act itself created alarm among the London Dissenters. Hence the following, addressed to Doddridge, from Dr. Isaac Watts:—
“Stoke Newington, September 20, 1743.
“I am sorry that, since your departure, I have had many questions asked me about your preaching or praying at the Tabernacle, and of sinking the character of a minister, and especially of a tutor, among the Dissenters, so low thereby. I find many of your friends entertain thisidea; but I can give no answer, not knowing how much you have been engaged there. I pray God to guard us from every temptation.”[73]
This is mightily amusing. Dr. Doddridge, the theological tutor of the Dissenters’ College, daring to preach or pray in Whitefield’s Tabernacle! What a sin against all ecclesiastical and ministerial propriety! The poor Doctor, however, went further than even this. He allowed Whitefield to preach in his own pulpit at Northampton!This seemed to perfect the enormity. Among others who took the Northampton professor to task for his eccentric conduct, was the Rev. John Barker, an influential minister,[74] in London, who wrote as follows:—
“November 4, 1743.
“It is an honour to our interest that you stand so well with the sober and moderate clergy. For this reason, I was troubled to hear of the late intercourse between you and Mr. Whitefield, the consequence of which, with respect to the Church, it is easy to foresee. I was willing to think well of the Methodists; but, after a candid attention to them, their proceedings appear not to me to be wise and good. Their devotion is unseasonable, irregular, and injudicious. Their sermons are low and loose. Their spirit appears to me turbulent, unruly, and censorious. They practise upon weak people and poor people. They call them to pray and sing when they should be in their business or their beds. They disturb the peace and order of families, and give great uneasiness in them. What they pretend to above their neighbours appears to be mere enthusiasm. Their people are slothful, or mopish, or dejected, or pragmatical, rather than sober, discreet, judicious, exemplary, regular Christians; and I have no expectation but that Methodism, like any other enthusiasm, will promote infidelity, and turn out to the hurt and damage of religion, and the souls of men. Though I judge not their hearts, views, and motives, but admit those are secret things which belong to God, yet I thought it needful, very lately,to warn my hearers of these people’s errors, and advise them to avoid them.”[75]
Doddridge’s chief castigator, however, was Nathaniel Neal, Esq., son of the Rev. Daniel Neal, the historian of the Puritans. Nathaniel was an eminent attorney, secretary to the Million Bank,and author of “A Free and Serious Remonstrance to Protestant Dissenting Ministers, on occasion of the Decay of Religion.”[76] He wrote not fewer than three long letters to Doddridge, filling nine printed octavo pages, and dated respectively, Million Bank, October 11, October 15, and December 10, 1743. He addresses Doddridge with great deference and respect; but, evidently, in great alarm, lest Doddridge should irretrievably injure his position and character, as the chief of the Dissenters’ tutors, by countenancing the proceedings of the eccentric Methodist.