Born in London, in the year 1702. His parents, who were persons of great worth, brought him up in an early [pg 421] knowledge of religion; but he had the misfortune to lose them before he was fourteen years old. This circumstance excited in his mind very serious reflections, which, however, were not wholly of a gloomy nature; for he expressed a devout, and even a cheerful trust in the protection of the God of mercies, the universal Parent of mankind.

He diligently improved his time, and was anxious to be daily advancing in knowledge, piety, virtue, and usefulness. He possessed strong powers of mind, and, by unwearied application, acquired a large fund of sound and elegant learning. His publications, which are chiefly on religious subjects, have been eminently useful to the world. By his literary acquisitions, his amiable disposition, and his desire to imbue the young mind with knowledge and virtue, he was qualified, in a peculiar manner, to become the instructor of youth; and for many years he superintended a very respectable academy. As the pastor of a congregation, he manifested a sincere and zealous regard for the happiness of the people under his care, by whom he was greatly honored and beloved.

He possessed many virtues; but the prime and leading feature of his soul was devotion. He was very solicitous to preserve and cultivate an habitual sense of the Supreme Being, to maintain and increase the ardor of religion in his heart, and to prepare himself, by devout exercises, for the important labors of his station. Nor was it to his secret retirements that his piety was limited; it was manifested in every part of the day, and appeared in his usual intercourse with men. In the little vacancies of time which occur to the busiest of mankind, he was frequently lifting up his soul to God. When he lectured on philosophy, history, anatomy, or other subjects not immediately theological, he would endeavor to graft some religious instructions upon them, that he might raise the minds of his pupils to devotion, as well as to knowledge; and, in his visits to his people, the Christian friend and minister were united.

The piety of Dr. Doddridge was accompanied with the [pg 422] warmest benevolence to his fellow-creatures. No one could more strongly feel that the love of God was to be united with love to man. Nor was this a principle that rested in kind wishes and pathetic feelings for the happiness of others, but it was manifested in the most active exertions for their welfare. No scheme of doing good was ever suggested to him into which he did not enter with ardor. But the generosity of his mind was most displayed when any plans of propagating religion, and of spreading the gospel among those who were strangers to it, were proposed. In every thing of this kind he was always ready to take the lead, and was ardent in endeavoring to inspire his friends with the same spirit.

He was of a weak and delicate bodily constitution; and a severe cold which he caught about the forty-eighth year of his age, brought on a consumption of the lungs. The nearer he approached to his dissolution, the more plainly was observed his continual improvement in a spiritual and heavenly temper. Indeed, he seemed to have risen above the world, and to be daily breathing after immortality. This disposition of his mind was ardently expressed in several of his letters, and is manifest from his will, which was made at this time, and is prefaced in the following language:—“Whereas it is customary, on these occasions, to begin with commending the soul into the hands of God, through Christ, I do it; not in mere form, but with sincerity and joy; esteeming it my greatest happiness, that I am taught and encouraged to do it, by that glorious gospel, which, having most assuredly believed, I have spent my life in preaching to others; and which I esteem an infinitely greater treasure than all my little worldly store, or possessions ten thousand times greater than mine.”

A short time before his death, he had been induced to try the mild air of the south; but change of climate did not produce the desired effect, and Dr. Doddridge continued gradually to weaken, till death put a period to his afflictions. In his last hours, he preserved the same calmness, vigor, and joy of mind, which he had felt and expressed through the [pg 423] whole of his illness. The only pain he had in the thought of dying, was the fear of that grief and distress which his wife would suffer from his removal. To his children, his congregation, and his friends in general, he desired to be remembered in the most affectionate manner; nor did he, in the effusions of his pious benevolence, forget the family where he lodged, or his own servant. Many devout sentiments and aspirations were uttered by him; but the heart of his wife was too much affected with his approaching change to be able to recollect them distinctly. Though he died in a foreign land, and, in a certain sense, among strangers, his decease was embalmed with many tears. His age was 49 years.