THEIR AUTHORS AND ORIGIN. 115
duties, he produced his voluminous works, and continued to meet his various claims as a stated minister, and the pastor of a large Christian Church.
Dr. Doddridge s Written works were numerous and valuable, and some of them have a world- wide celebrity. In 1730, he published "Free Thoughts on the Best Means of reviving the Dissenting Interest;" Dr. Watts wrote on a similar subject in the following year. In 1732, he published his " Sermons on the Education of Children," and in 1735, his " Sermons to Young People." Other sermons and volumes of sermons followed in 1736 and 1741. He was also the author of " Memoirs of Colonel Gardiner," and of a "Life of the Rev. Thomas Steffe," one of his pupils.
The " Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul" was written by Doddridge at the suggestion of Dr. Watts, whose enfeebled health did not admit of his carrying out his own design, but who was spared to revise a part of what Doddridge had written. This book was of the greatest spiritual service to William Wilberforce, prompting him to write his scarcely less useful work ; it has been widely circulated and translated into several languages, and it is singled out as the most useful Chris tian book of the eighteenth century. Doddridge was also the author of the "Principles of the Christian Religion in Plain and Easy Verse." This work was written at the suggestion of Mr. Clark, of St. Alban s, and was a favourite of Geo. III. when in his boyhood. It was very popular, and did much to convey evangelical principles to the minds of the young.
The " Family Expositor," Doddridge s greatest work, was published in 1739, after many years of study, during which his early hours in the morning, and all the moments he could snatch from his numerous occupations, were devoted to it. His pre mature death prevented the accomplishment of the similar work he had planned for the Old Testament. His letters in reply to "Christianity not founded on Argument," and his professorial lectures, are also found in his works.
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