At the time above mentioned, I took a review of the number of Church members, which I found more decreased since Michaelmas, 1745, than I ever knew it to be in double that time; for I found that since that time we have received only 15 members, and have lost 17; 12 have died or removed the last year, and only 8 of the 15 have been admitted this year; so that our decrease since Michaelmas, 1745, is 2, and since this time twelve-months, on the whole, 4—a very discouraging circumstance, especially considering how much I have abounded in exhortations to the Lord's table during the last year.
N.B.—The omission of the names of three, since recollected, who were admitted in 1745, made the state of affairs appear more melancholy than I afterwards found it to be.
His last statement is—"In looking over the account for the year 1749, I find that 22 had been admitted, and 22 removed by death or otherwise; so that we were just as at the beginning of the year—in all, 239."
These statements rather surprise us; considering what the writer of them had devolving upon him in the care of his academy, in his extensive correspondence, in his numerous and valuable publications, that he should, amidst all this, pay so particular and minute attention to the state of the Church of which he was pastor. It shows strikingly the activity, ardour, and entire devotedness of his spirit. But, alas! it was too active and ardent for the material framework long to sustain the efforts to which it was impelled. Hence the very next entry we meet with is, "That the Rev. Philip Doddridge, Doctor of Divinity, after being twenty-one years pastor of this Church, died at Lisbon, to which place he had resorted for the recovery of his health, on the 26th of October, 1751, we may truly say, to the unspeakable loss of this Church."
How he lived and how he died is very extensively known, by the Memoir published by Orton—the "Centenary Memorial" of him recently sent forth by Stoughton; so that, though we would fain linger over his memory, yet anything further respecting him would seem to be out of place here.
We happen to have in our possession a copy of the poem sacred to the memory of Doddridge, as it was first published by its author, Mr. Henry Moore, who had been one of the Doctor's students, and was afterwards settled as a minister in Devonshire. It is the same poem in substance as is given by Orton at the close of his 'Memoirs of Doddridge'; but it is there considerably altered from this first copy. It is thus inscribed to Mrs. Doddridge:—
Permit me, Madam, to present to you the following poem, as a testimony of my high veneration for the memory of my deceased tutor, and my tender sympathy with his afflicted family.
I am, Madam, your most obliged humble servant,
H—— M——.
Northampton, February, 1st, 1752.
We extract the following lines from pages 7-9:—
O, snatch'd for ever, ever from our view,
Thou best, thou greatest of thy kind, adieu!
Thou, in whose ample, comprehensive mind,
All the ten thousand streams of science join'd;—
All the fair train of social virtues smil'd,
And bright religion beam'd divinely mild.
Ah, love shall listen with delight no more,
While from thy lips Truth pours her sacred store;—
No more, while studious to instruct and please,
You temper serious sense with graceful ease;—
No more, with zeal for God and virtue fired,
By reason govern'd, and by heaven inspired,
Thy various eloquence our ears shall charm,
Command our passions, and our bosoms warm;
Bid in our breast seraphic raptures roll,
And spread the generous flame from soul to soul;
While sinners start, by conscious terror stung,
And tremble at the thunder of thy tongue.
Once more, adieu! O friend, instructor, guide,
With whom our hopes, our fairest prospects died.
With what fond zeal we press'd the throne divine,
To rescue from the grave a life like thine!
If ardent prayers—if streaming sorrows, shed
In all the bitterness of soul—could plead,
Our prayers, O Doddridge! had revers'd thy doom,
And tens of thousands wept thee from the tomb.
But cease, rash Muse—oh, tremble to repine!
'Tis heaven demands him, and we must resign.
All-perfect Goodness ever wills the best:
Then bow submissive to the high behest,
And silent drop the tributary tear
That nature's forced to pay to friendship dear.
Though heaven forbids us to indulge our grief,
A tear it will allow—the soul's relief.
Yet who would wish him still confin'd below,
Struggling with dire disease, or loads of woe?
Then dry the tear, suppress the rising sigh,
Weep not for him who could rejoice to die.
E'en when the quiv'ring pulse, the panting breath,
And clay-cold sweat, presag'd th' approach of death,
His steady soul, by conscious virtue arm'd,
No inward stings or gathering clouds alarm'd.
Calm as the silent surface of the sea,
When ev'n the gentle breeze has ceased to play,
Fair hope, strong faith, his sinking soul sustain'd,
In smiling peace each rising care seren'd;
Heav'n on the saint shed down her cheering ray,
And open'd on his mind her dawning day.
Then his warm breast with bliss ecstatic glow'd,
Fir'd with th' approaching vision of his God.
Impatient of his soul-confining chains,
Eager he welcom'd the dissolving pains;
Already seem'd on seraphs' wings to rise,
Already spurn'd his dust, and tower'd into the skies.
Methought I saw him mount the starry way,
His temples beaming with celestial day.
Rapt in a flamy car, sublime he flew—
The flamy car fire-breathing coursers drew;
Swift as the lightning glimpse he flash'd along;
While, waiting for his flight, a white-rob'd throng
(Once wretched souls, enslaved by Satan's yoke,
Whose painful bonds his arduous labours broke),
Grateful and happy, smile to see him rise,
And hail him welcome to th' applauding skies;
Ten thousand harps, harmonious as the spheres,
Proclaim their joy, and charm his ravish'd ears.
In proceeding with the Memorials of this Church, now bereft of its beloved and honoured Doddridge, we find that the Rev. Robert Gilbert was called to be the pastor, and entered upon the pastoral charge at Lady-day, 1753. This worthy man died December 28th, 1760. We are unable to ascertain what was the condition of the Church during the ministry of Mr. Gilbert; but have some reason to conclude that it was not in a united or prosperous state. Considerable difficulty might be expected to attend the choice of a successor to such a pastor as the one that had immediately preceded; and this more fully appeared after Mr. Gilbert's short course of labour had closed.