Portraits From The Past

Alright. So, today we are learning about this man called Philip Doddrich, and, he is a man who had direct links to Kingston. But, if you've ever been to weather spoons just down the road, the king's, the king's things ton, and you've ever sat in 1 of those booths. You may have noticed that there are some portraits that hang above the booths, and 1 of them is of Mr. Philip Doddridge.

Now you might see my reflection there, in the picture, and also a man. This is a strange thing that happened today. Basically, there was a very bright lamp blocking out my picture, and so he offered to hold his newspaper over the lamp so that I could take a picture of it, which was quite an interesting. They made for a good opportunity, good little conversation. But, there we go.

That's Philip Dodgers. So, that sort of proves his his Kinkster links. I've deliberately not shown you the text there because that would be a bit of a spoiler, because it covers most of his life. But, But there we go. Let's get that out of the way to stop distracting.

Okay. So as you can see there, Philip Dodge, lived from 17 o 2 to 17 51, which means he died at just 49 years old. And, it was an it was so, in many ways, it was quite short life, but it was incredibly full. And, we we haven't deliberately chosen people, this month who had short lives, but it just seems to be happening that way. And, as I say, he's a short life but very full, and, he did loads of stuff.

He was he was an evangelist. He was an academy tutor. He was an author. He was a philanthropist. He was a linguist.

He was very well versed fluent in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and French, and he was also a very, very musician, but above all else he was a pastor, and he considered being a pastor to be the most desirable employment in all the world. And tonight, I really want to convince you, that this is a man who is worth knowing about but he's often a man who is off, is is overlooked. So according to this, this biography, which I've read, I only read that some online stuff, and, this I obviously got all my information from here. He says that, Philip Doddridge is the forgotten fifth man of the eighteenth century. So you might, recognize some of these characters.

We've got Isaac Watts there on the left. We've got, mister George Whitfield, we've got John and Charles Wesley. All of those names are quite well known in terms of the eighteenth century evangelical awakening. But Philip Dodge, he he knew all of those men. He labored alongside them.

He was he was equally equally gifted, really. But his name is rarely mentioned in the same breath as, as these others. And so hopefully, we're going to we're gonna change that this evening. So let's start with, the beginning of his life and, the formation of his character and his roads is rolled into ministry. So on June 20 June 26, 17 o 2, somewhere in London, we're not actually sure where he was born, a lady called Monica, and a man called Daniel, who was a trader in oils and pickles.

That's what his father did. He was a trader in oils and pickles, gave birth to a son called Philip. And, get this. This this is just an interesting kind of fact, which I think shaped a lot of his life. He he was their twentieth child.

Monica and Daniel had 20 children, but only 2 of them survived. So that was Philip and his sister Elizabeth that his parents lost 18 babies, which which even in a time when infant mortality was high is is just shocking, isn't it? To lose 18 of your children year after year after year laying them into the dust. It it must be heartbreaking. So Philip Philip Dodge was born into a life of suffering and he was born into a home, which had shed many, many tears.

And I think that had a big impact on on his life. In his wider family though, Philip had some, some very exciting, exciting characters. So his, his grandfather John, was kicked out of the church of England in 16 62, when something called the act of uniformity was passed, and basically that required all church of England ministers to conform form to an order of service, which was compromised. And, so there was many people including Dodge's grandfather who refused to do that. They refused to compromise their gospel convictions in order to stay in the church of England, and, and so they were ejected in what is called the great ejection of 16 62.

And, those kind of people were called the nonconformists. And that is another word that we need to look out for. So there's 2 massive threads that run through Dodge's life. 1 is suffering, and the other is nonconformity. Now his other grandfather was just as interesting on his mother's side.

He was called John Baumann, and, he was originally from Prague but he was he was driven out of his homeland in 16 26 following the persecution of the lutheran pastors, during the 30 years war. And, eventually, he came to England, and he became the headmaster of the free school. At Kingston upon thames, which we now call KGS, Kingston grammar school, just down the road. So his grandfather was was the headmaster of that school at 1 time, this is where it gets very local because in 17 12, after attending a private school in London for some time, Doddridge actually became a pupil at Kingston grammar school, and, there's an old picture of it. I'm not sure what year that was taken in.

But you can still see that original archway. And, it's it's amazing really because we we still go in there on Tuesday and Friday to preach the gospel. To to the kids there. There's teachers there who are still Christians and trying to, evangelize the students there. So it's got it's got a good good heritage that school.

Now at the time, Philip Doddridge was there. His grandfather was no longer the headmaster. That belong that job belonged to chap called the Reverend Daniel Mayo, who was the son of Richard Mayo, who was another nonconformist in, in this area. And if you've ever walked through town, through the market square and passed the United Reform Church, you might have noticed that they have named a center after him. Just there on the left, and, I think the text is written on there somewhere that is called the Richard Mayo Center because that used to be a, a nonconformist church in Kingston.

So so you can see again, he he, you know, he's born, into this life of nonconformity. It was in his school. It was in his family. And so that was that was a big deal. Now sadly, he he actually was only at KGS for 3 years, because both of his parents died around this time.

So his mother died in 17 11 when he was just 9 years old, and then his father died in 17 15 while he was KGS. So that means he was he was an orphan by the time he was 13. Which is quite amazing, isn't are born into a home to parents who've lost 18 children. He himself becomes an orphan at the age of 30 nonconformity and suffering nonconformity. And suffering.

Now as to what happened next, we don't we don't we don't have too many details about it, but but at some point, he ended up here in the, in Saint Orban's, and he was actually taken in, kind of adopted by a respirian minister, called the Reverend Samuel Clark, and it was about this time that he really started to understand the gospel for himself. So he had been raised in a Christian home. His parents taught in the gospel, wonderfully. They used to have these tiles around their fireplace, and his mother had, painted, bible stories all over these tiles, and she used to sit with him around the fire and take him take up the paintings and teaching the bible stories. So he he was he was born into, Christian Christian belief and to Christian parents, but here, we we we know that he started to to get the gospel.

And again, sadly, we don't have an awful lot of information about his conversion. He doesn't sort of know when that was or how it happened. But we do know that he was received into church membership in 17 18. That's when he became an official member of a church in Saint Orban's, and that it was about this time. He was aged 16 at that point.

He really caught the ministry bug. So he was 16 years old, and he knew that he wanted to be a preacher of the gospel. He wanted to be a minister like his grandfather before him. And, his road into ministry is actually quite interesting. So Doddridge had an uncle who was once employed by the Duke of Bedford.

Now, the Duchess of Bedford heard about Philip's desire to enter the ministry And she thought that was a very noble thing for him to desire, and she wanted to support him, in his profession. And so she offered to fully finance his education to make sure he got the easiest road he could to becoming a pastor on the condition that he would conform to the Anglo pattern of ministry and go in through the church of England. And on that basis, he declined. Now we need to understand how difficult that must have been because for a non conformist to obtain a higher education, let alone an education for ministry at this time was extremely difficult. In fact, you you actually just could not attend, Oxford or Cambridge unless you were an anglican.

And so you can see how tempting this would have been for him. 16 years old, this is your dream full finance available with a duchess to back you. This was his ticket into ministry, and he turned it down. He made a convinced and deliberate choice at 16 years old that if he was to be a preacher of the gospel all, he would do so as a protestant dissenter as a nonconformist, and he would not go into the church of England. And I think that's quite a thing for a 16 year old to do at this time, isn't it?

And so I reckon this is kind of 1 of the first lessons of Dodge's life. And, it's this, it's the, I reckon it's the influence or the power of a gospel legacy, which is a challenge to us, isn't because it kind of gets us thinking, you know, in years to come, what are we gonna be remembered for? He was a good laugh. He loved his cricket. You know, he traveled.

He sourced so much of the world. He was a great success, great success at work, or will it be our faith in the lord Jesus Christ and our stand for him, which is the legacy that we pass on, which is the thing that inspires the next generation. I I really have no doubt that Philip's decision here was influenced by the way that his great his grandfather had stood for the gospel in his own time. And wonderfully, the lord, the lord actually honored that decision through Samuel Clark, who was his adopt father. And he said, look, I I I think I can get you into a non conformist academy.

Those that was really the only alternative for non conformists to go to these kind of academies. And, he managed it. And so in 17 19, At 17 years old, he entered the academy of the Reverend John Jennings at a Kidworth harcourt in, in Lester. And so it was here. This isn't much later than he was there, but it was in a building like that on that site where, where Dodge received his education.

And just to give you a bit of a flavor of the man, this is about the time he started to take a diary, And 1 of the things he did on entering this academy was he wrote down for himself a list of rules that he must abide by, during the course of his studies. And, let's let's have a look at them because they're quite interesting. His first rule was this, let my first thoughts be devout and thankful. Let me rise early, devote myself to god, and beg his assistance in the intended business of the day. Number 2, let me set myself to read the scriptures every morning.

In the first reading, let me endeavor to impress my heart with a practical sense of divine things. Number 3, never let me trifle with a book with which I have no present concern. Number 4, never let me lose 1 minute of time nor incur unnecessary expenses that I may have the more to spend for god. Number 5, let me use moderation at meals and see that I am not hypocritical in prayer and thanksgivings at them. Number 6, let me labor after habitual chewed and loved to God and the redeemer.

Number 7, in all my studies, let me remember that the souls of men are immortal, and that Christ died to redeem them. 17 years old, sense the devotion and the seriousness about his faith. He wasn't planning just to sort of coast through life looking for opportunities to kill some time. You know, he he wanted to redeem the time to make the most of every opportunity and to plan and prepare and to pray for the best. That's how he approached his time while he studied.

But then in 17 22, things changed. Mister Jennings, had to move here to a place called Hinkley, to become a pastor. He'd been called to a pastor there. And because in these days, the non conformist academies were basically just centered around 1 man. If he moved, the whole academy had to move as well.

So all of John Jennings' pupils had to move to keep, to, to Hinkley, if they wanted to stay under his, under his tuition, which which they did. So that's what happened in 17 22. Now, by this point, Philip had finished his studies, and it was here in Hinkley that he was licensed to preach. And he was licensed to preach the gospel on July 20 second 17 22. And so this was a big deal for him because at the age of 20 years old, just just a fresh graduate, he began what was the fulfillment of his greatest desire.

Which was to be a preacher of the gospel. His very first son was preached at a church in Hinkley, and his text was this. Whoever does not love the lord a curse on him. Whoever does not love the lord a curse on him. He says in his diary, it was a plain and discourse, and it cost me but a few hours study.

But as I had the advantage of a very moving subject, and a good natured attentive people. It was received much better than I expected, and it turns out that there were 2 there were 2 people who were converted under that particular sermon, his first sermon. Now soon after this, in May 17 23, he received 2 job offers, his first kind of full time roles, they would be. 1 was from a large church in coventry, or he could return to Kidworth and to take up the pastor at a much smaller church. And, that's what he did.

He chose Kidworth. And, while he was there, he was he was surrounded by for countryside, which he loved. He used to wander in the gardens alone, wishing as an Adam, there was an Eve to be supplied to him. We're gonna hear a bit more about that in a minute. And, it's a very funny entry.

It didn't include him. And, it was here. He developed a real affection for the puritan Christians and, their writings. And, he particularly loved the puritans who wrote on the very practical matters of religion. So he loved a book called the reformed pastor by, by Richard Baxter.

That was probably 1 of his favorite He just he just loved it. He felt it to be a very practical, helpful book, which spelt out what he ought to do, as a pastor. He wasn't Matt keen on, people like John Owen. If you've ever heard of him, he, he found him very hard going, and he writes that his books were too mysterious. For him.

And, he he couldn't he couldn't really get a grip of those. So that's that's a little insight for, into Dodgers. He he loved practical Christianity. He really did. He wanted he wanted himself and others to know what they ought to do with the gospel and how it ought to change their lives.

And really it was that belief which shaped his next big decision. So at the age of 26 now, he began to develop a passion for training And he felt that even at the age of 26, he could be a theological tutor. And so at that at that age, he drew up what he thought would be a good syllabus for AF for a pastor's training course. He wrote a wrote a whole whole sort of several year program for them. And, in 17 29, few years later, after a number of meetings and consultations He, he received the support he needed.

And the academy, his first academy was started here just outside Lester in in Market Harbor with a handful of students. So 26 years old, he's head of a pastor's college, which is quite an amazing thing, isn't it? He's got a group of young people around him and he's teaching them all about ministry. But as soon as the doors opened, literally as soon as the doors opened, he was then invited by another church in order to come and be there, pastor. And at this moment, he was really torn because he he loved he loved the idea of training and running an academy, but he'd loved the experience that he'd had as a as a as a pastor.

And so he went back and forth. Shall I carry on with this? Should I go back in the ministry? What am I gonna do? And this church would just not give up on him.

So from what I can work out from the dates, they badgered him for over 3 years to come and take this job. And, eventually in 17 29, he thought, right? That's it. I've gotta make a decision. I'm going to do both.

So he decided that he would carry on being a full time tutor, and be a full time pastor. And, here's his letter to the church, which I think gives you an insight, quite a challenging insight because although he was still so young just in his twenties, it gives you an idea of his humility, he says this to the church. My dear friends after a serious and impartial consideration of your case. And repeated addresses to the great father of light for his guidance and direction, I cannot lend for sure you that I am determined by his permission to accept of your kind invitation and undertake the pastoral care of you with the most ardent feelings of sincere gratitude and affection. And I just love this bit.

Prepare yourselves, therefore, to cover my many infirmities with the mantle of your love. And so Christmas Eve 17 29, he moved to Northampton and, at the age of 29, he became the pastor of the Castle Hill Church and a tutor. So it was a busy life, him already. Now I want us to come back in a minute to have a think about what he was like as a tutor and a pastor and what it was like to be under him But the first thing I want us to do is to take a break and look at his family life because it was here he really started, to to to have a family. Now when when he when he moved to North Hampton in 17 29, Dodgeridge was still a bachelor.

But it's very obvious from his diary that he never felt called to be a bachelor. That wasn't the sort of life or the plan for his life that he imagined. And he while while he was at college, this is quite funny, he he really fancy a girl called Clorinda, while he was studying there. And and it actually he he actually became slightly obsessed with her, I think. It became all consuming.

Listen to what he writes in his diary about her. I dream of her in the night and I rave of her in the day. If my tutor asks me a question about predestination, I answer him that Clorinda is the prettiest creature in the world. Or if I sit down to make a sermon against transubstantiation, I cannot forbear cautioning my heroes against the excesses of love. You can imagine him.

You know, can't you? It's, it's quite quite funny. So there there we go. That's that's what it was like as a student. Now, unfortunately, Clorinda was was not gonna be the Eve that he dreamed for.

And, so he would have to content himself with the metaphysical delights of predestination for slightly longer. But it wasn't it wasn't too long. It wasn't too long. Before he, he met a girl called mercy Maris. Mercy Maris.

She was 22 years old. She was an orphan from Worcester, and, and I think she was in every respect, not only what he wanted, but what he, what he needed. He fell in love with her, and, and as he did with the number of other girls, it seems. And, and on December, December the 20 second, 17 30, they were married. And as was typical with Dodgers, he didn't want to waste this blessing or this gift of marriage.

And so he set himself some resolutions, for how he was going to act as a husband, and, I think this is, I think this Brilliant. As a husband, it shall be my daily care to keep up the spirit of religion in my conversation with my wife. To recommend her to the divine blessing, to manifest an obliging tender disposition towards her, and particularly to avoid everything which has the appearance of sulkiness to which amidst my various cares and labors I may in some unguarded moments be liable. 2 great lessons for husbands, isn't it? Encourage your wife with spiritual conversation and stop sulking when you don't get your way.

But marriage wasn't just, wasn't just gonna be a duty for him. It was also it was also a delight and apparently throughout their marriage, whenever they were parted for any length of time, they would always write to each other 2 3, sometimes more times per week. And there are far more letters, far more letters preserved between Philip and mercy. Than with any other person. So he he loved her.

Whenever he was separated from her, he just they just wrote to each other all the time, And that was a pattern that they continued right until till his dying day. So this is a quote from 17 50. This is a year before he died. And he's still writing in the same way he always did. I don't know where he is.

I saw the greatest number of fine young ladies that I ever met with in 1 place in my life, but I side for none but you. I think I think among other infirmities, my fondness for you grows upon me with age. Yeah. Because imagine you're writing those Rory, obviously. But it is it I I, you know, I think from everything that I read it read in there, I think they did they did adore each other right to the end, actually.

And it seems that, they had a very happy and, and loving time together. And soon after this, after they got married, the lord gave them a child, their first child. She was called Elizabeth, named after his sister. And, this child was born just 10 months after they were married. So they didn't waste, much time with that.

And it seems that Philip, really, really did enjoy fatherhood just as much as he enjoyed marriage. He spoke of a of Elizabeth as a particularly bright and precious child. And apparently, she was a very spiritual girl, even at a young age, so he tells a story in his diary. On 1 occasion, his daughter tried to teach their dog the catechism, which is a series of question answers in order to train people in the Christian faith. Little daughter was reading the catechism to the dog.

And, he writes in his diary that the poor creature placed its tail between its legs, and for that it was rebuked You are Doctor Dodge's dog, and you don't even know who made you. And he just loved that story. In fact, he used it in the academy quite a lot to, to encourage his students. So he would tell the story, and then I can imagine with a smile on his face. He said to them, and if so much is expected from my dog at home, what may be expected from you, my students.

So he had a good sense of humor, and enjoy enjoy life as a father. But sadly, and this is where the threads have suffering come in, tragedy was never far away from him. And despite all the joy that Elizabeth brought to their home, at age 4, caught tuberculosis, and she never made it to her fifth birthday. So just like his parents, he too was to feel the the agonizing sting of of a lost child. He writes in his diary.

I have now laid the delight of my eyes in the dust and she is forever hidden from them. Yet I bless God. I have my hopes that she is lodged safely in the arms of Christ. He insisted that he was going to, preach her, sir, her funeral, which he did do, and he called it, haven't taken written down it, but he called it something like the submission to the divine providence in the death of a child. And, he so he he spoke there.

And mercy, what about his wife? How did she cope, with that? Well, Philip Philip tells us that she bore the affliction in the most glorious manner. I have discovered more wisdom and piety and steadiness of temper in a few days than I had ever in 6 years an opportunity. Of observing before.

And so together, you can imagine with with great sorrow, they laid their first born child into the dust submitting to the divine providence, and trusting that they were safe in the love of Jesus. Other children did come along. There was there was Mary Mercy, Philip, another daughter called Anna Cecilia, all born to them in the years to come. And, from what I can tell, they they all enjoyed a very happy life together just as Elizabeth had done. So there we go.

That that's something about his family. And, the reason I wanted to share that with you is is so that you can see what kind of man Philip was, really. He wasn't you you don't get the impression he was a hypocrite. He didn't have a kind of Sunday face and a mid week face. In fact, he was he was and this is the the point this this guy makes.

He was no less spiritual at home than he was in the pulpit. He loved, he loved Christ. He loved his children. He loved his wife. He loved his church.

He loved his students. In other words, he was just a sincere, wholehearted Christian, and he wanted to, to live it out in every area. So that's kind of a bit about his origins, his road into ministry, his family. We've had a glimpse behind his front door if you like, but, but what about his ministry? What like to be under Philip Dodge, pastor preacher, tutor, and that's that's the next thing I want us to look at.

So you might know that, the first half of the eighteenth century is often called the evangelical awakening, And, on the whole, it was a period of time where the horrors of sin and the amazing wonders of grace were side by side up and down the country. So for instance, you had you had the gin craze about this time, which which was just overwhelming. I mean, I didn't know much about it, but but everywhere people would would were were totally drunk and out control. So here's a picture by a chap called William hogarth who who painted it to describe the atmosphere. And, you know, you've got that bloke there sharing sharing a bone with a dog.

This woman here neglecting to feed her child because she's so drunk and I don't know if that's snuff in her hands or something. This guys just dead, I think, down here. And that that was that was a kind that was a kind of picture of what life was like. And apparently, this that this nearly Droid London, the gin craze. There were over 7000 gin shops in the streets of London, and those were just official ones.

There were thousands of unlicensed gin shops, and, they were distilling 10000000 gallons of gin every year. And so peep people were all over the place, really, with this. And actually the spiritual climate on the whole wasn't wasn't much better. Theologians at this time were starting to replace the authority of the Bible with natural authority claiming that everything that we need to know about god can be learned from the environment, and we can't trust a book. How could we trust a book?

And if that wasn't enough, the the eighteenth century saw an increase in hyper calvinistic theology, which claims that evangelism is not important and people shouldn't be encouraged to come to Jesus because God is gonna do the saving with or without us. So from 2 sides, really, to kind daism and a hyper calvinist side. You you had this cold, moralistic, graceless preaching, in many of the pulpits up and down the country. And for Dodgeridge, this was heartbreaking. He he believed in the absolute sufficiency of god's word.

That is all that we need for life and for faith but also he believed in a passionate plea to sinners that they could come to Jesus and be forgiven. He believed that people were responsible for sharing the gospel, like that. And so what he wanted to do alongside many of his contemporary like the Wesley's and George Whitfield, was to was to go out into the open air and to preach the gospel. So he really he was very inspired by Whitfield, And, he decided that he too was gonna go out into the fields of Northampton and to start sharing the gospel, and taking those opportunities where he could. But it was this it was this activity which caused his first major run-in with religious authorities.

And, the story goes that in 17 31, he was traveling around some of the villages, and he held an open air preaching meeting for non conformists in a field inside a barn. And, unfortunately, this particular incident came to the attention of the curate in charge of the local parish mister Reverend what Wells, who was who was furious that he was doing this inside his parish, And so he wrote to Philip condemning his behavior on the grounds that he alone was responsible for the spiritual welfare of people in that particular borough. And that was just the start of it. So in 17 33, he was then summoned by the religious authorities in order to answer for his actions. And this is the letter that turned up on his door 1 day.

I cite you to appear personally before the Reverend George Reynolds doctor of laws, Victor general, and official principle in spiritual matters in the Consistory Court on Tuesday, the sixth day of November 17 33, at the usual time of hearing causes there, and to answer to certain articles concerning your soul's health and the reformation and the correction of your manners and excess. Now has it happened? He never actually had to go to that meeting because his mate was the solicitor general, and, he went to the CTV and told them where they could stick their case. Effectively. And so the whole thing was thrown out and he didn't have to go.

But that gives you an idea of some of the hostility that gospel preachers were facing at this time from religious people who just assumed that they had the right to rule over everybody else. It's kinda weird, isn't it? So that was, that was his life. Now what about as a preacher, or rather, what about as a tutor? That's what we'll move on to, I think now.

What does he like as a tutor? Well, he he expected an awful lot from his students. So the average day at a Dodge Academy went like this. You would wake up at 6 AM in the summer or 7 AM in the winter. 10 minutes later, you would be summoned to register in the great parlor And then after registration, you would have to go away for 2 hours of private prayer and devotions.

You were then expected to come back into the great parlor where a chapter of Hebrew would be read, and then, Dodge would get up and expound it to everybody. You then had to go away and have community prayers, and then your lectures would begin. And the evening, you would have to come back for dinner where they would read a chapter of the new testament in Greek, Dodgeridge would then get up ex and expound that particular passage again, and then you would be expected to pray, before you went to bed. So this was it was quite a it was quite a full on pattern that he held there. And the students at the academy had to study a wide variety of subjects.

So they had to do Greek and Hebrew and church history, but also they had to do the philosophy, the classics, civil history, geography, and law, And, this was very important to fill it because he believed that all of his students needed a very thorough education He wanted them to have a gospel that they could connect with the world. He wanted them to get a full spectrum of learning so that they could give reasons for their hope. That was his big desire. He believed in a full and thorough Christian occasion so that his students, within your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and respect.

And that that still applies today, doesn't it? We need we need to be aware of how culture is changing so that we're always in the best place to apply the unchanging gospel to an ever changing world. That was Dodgers. He had this passion for practical practical Christianity. Now as a pastor, what was he like?

We're, we're gonna hurry on now. He he was he was obviously his records a very good he was a very good preacher. And part of the reason he was a good preacher is because he never confused preaching and lecturing. In fact, he was very, very concerned to make that distinction in his life. So he said in his diary, While I have any reverence for scripture or any knowledge of human nature, I shall never affect to speak of the glories of Christ and the and of the eternal interests of men as coldly as if I were reading a lecture on mathematics.

So he believed in a passionate Christ centered, always practical, never dull version of the gospel. That's what he wanted to do. Now, for those who are interested in this kind of stuff, he, he called himself a baxterian calvinist. In other words, he believed the calvinism of Richard Baxter, and that means he was a 4 point calvinist. So he did he didn't believe that Jesus only died for his people.

He believed that Jesus died sufficiently for the whole world so that the whole world, if they would, could come to him and be saved, but that he died in a special saving way for his people. And so although he did admire John Owen's work on this particular issue, which argues the other way, he he kind of disagreed with him. Screened with him there. But perhaps the most the most impressive thing for me was the ordinary struggles that he faced as a pastor. And I think often with characters in church history, we kind of get the impression that they never had any kind of battles that they just sort of strongly contended for the faith always and never wavered But Dodgeridge was not like that.

And just listen to this quote. I think this is 1 of 1 of the best, really, it's from his diary and just see whether you think this reflects your own experience. At all. Of late, the Bible has been to me as a sealed book. I have seen no beauty I have felt no energy in it, and all the respect I have paid to it has been a form rather than a reality.

I have been under the great temptation to down the truth of Christianity itself. The spirit of god seems to have deserted me and to have left me under blindness and hard I am like a block or a stone. Lord, I am weary of such a frame. Oh that my heart was enlarged Oh, that it were melted under a sense of sin, o that it would drawn out in desires after thee. Just think it's really honest, isn't it?

He he knew that above everything else, he was a sinner and that he was saved by grace and that he was in need of grace. And like all of us, I guess, there were seasons in his life when he was up and he was down. And in this sense, he in this way, he was very, very honest about that, which I think we we can relate to. So what about his relationship with other ministers? Well, he was not he was not a he was not a loner He didn't want to be an isolationist.

He want he wanted friends in ministry. And, in the end, he he wasn't too concerned with denominations. So he very rarely used labels like presbyterian or anglican or independent. He deliberately used gospel ministers That's what he wrote of people because he wanted to show that his main concern was not what denomination they belonged to, but whether they were faithful preachers of the gospel. And the other thing about him is he always wanted to see the best in people.

I think this is 1 of his most admirable qualities. He He never liked to view people with suspicion, or or wanting to divide from them. So John John Barker, a presbyterian minister wrote this to him, which I think is a good summary of his character. You think everybody else 10 times better than they are. See merit in the darkness of midnight cannot see faults without a noonday sun.

Forgive injuries before they are confirmed confer favors as a reward for insults. It's just a lovely it's just a lovely attitude and temperament to have, I think. But, of course, with every with every personality comes criticism, and, that's what he got. So in the academy and as a pastor, people thought that he lacked theological conviction and that in his effort to kind of champion togetherness, some people felt that actually he, in the end, compromised a little bit and went too far. And there might there might be something in this.

So Charles spurgeon, who was no stranger to theological battles, and is pretty wise in his considerations of people I he wrote this in 18 87 about Doddridge. Doctor Doddridge was as sound as he was amiable. But his amiable disposition permitted him to do what men made of sterner's stuff would not have done. He sometimes mingled in a fraternal manner even exchanging pulpits with men whose orthodoxy was called into question. No 1, however, could.

And certainly the present writer will not insinuate even the suspicion of heresy against the author of Jesus. I love thy charming name. So it seems that Dodge himself was clear on the truth, but maybe in his desire to do away with separations, he communicated something something less than that to other people. I don't know. It's a it's a difficult 1, I think, because there are different personalities, and it's very hard for us to sit in judgment on any character of history, but I just wanted to include it because I think it's helpful so that, so that we at least know kind of the dangers or the potential errors of particular personalities, and that might have been 1 of his, when he had that particular disposition.

So outside of the pulpit, with his pen in his hand, and we're drawing towards the end now. Dodge was, was also very useful to the Christian world. And, 1 of his main projects was called the family expositor. There it is. That's the family expositor.

This this book actually occupied more time than anything else he put himself into, and, it was basically a paraphrase of the whole new testament including a new translation of the Greek, with a family devotion at the end of each chapter, which he called the improvement, which I just sort of love. I think great name for devotion, the improvement. But as I say, although the, although the family expositor took most of his time, his most significant project was a book called the rise and the progress of religion in the soul. The rise and the progress of religion in the soul. It was actually interestingly.

It was actually Isaac Watts, who, who first had the idea for this book. And he wanted to write it, but he became sick. And, so what he had to do was to give the project to Doddridge who was who was absolutely clear about what he hoped for the book. Just listen to this, what he writes about it. Let not my lord be angry if I presume to ask that however we can contemptible this work may seem in the eyes of the children of the world, and however imperfect it really be, as well as the author of it unworthy, that it may nevertheless live before thee and through a divine power, being mighty to produce the rise and the progress of religion in the minds of multitudes in distant places and in the generations yet to come.

And as it turns out that prayer was answered in some amazing ways in the generations yet to come. His book is still in print. The rise in the progress of religion and soul. You can buy it for a fairly good, good price of Amazon. So his prayer was answered.

It's still here. But also it had some amazing effects even in its own time. So for instance, and this is this is a really cool little work of providence. In the winter of 17 84, there was a called Isaac Milner. And him and his mate were on this continental tour of Europe.

And just before they set out from nice, his mate picked up this little book, which was the rise and progress of religion and the soul, and said, what is this book? And Isaac Milner said, well, that is 1 of the best books ever written. Let us take it with us, and we will read it on the way. Now that friend was William Wilberforce. And apparently, this was the book that god used to awaken William Wilberforce.

And to bring him to faith in Christ. And of course, Wilberforce, went on to be a chief, mover in the abolition of the slave trade. It's just amazing stuff, isn't it? The influence that god, used that book for. And even that, really, those books, what, you know, wasn't his only contribution with the pen.

He also wrote many hymns, and, I think his hymns are probably more commonly known than anything else he wrote. So if you've ever been, a member or to a church where they use a hymnbook of some kind, you will definitely find Dodd hymns in the book. His most famous ones were O Happy Day that fixed my choice, which Lord willing, we're gonna sing this evening. Oh god of Bethel by whose hand, heart the glad sound, the savior comes. Those were some of his most famous, rich, and, and well loved songs.

And what is quite interesting here is that he really believed that a him should be a response to the word of god. That was a real belief of his. And so his normal practice, which it seems that he stained throughout his ministry was to finish his sermon preparation during the week and then draft up a hymn based on the sermon he was preaching, we just write to him every week, you know, get a new 1 out. He wrote hundreds, hundreds of hymns in his life and so that they could then be kind of printed out and distributed on that Sunday. So as soon as he'd finished his sermon, they would then all be singing his hymn, which was written in order to to bring life and, an application and meditation on the things that he had, he had written.

So he wanted, he wanted word and worship to go together. Remember he's a man. Yeah. He wants religion to be understood, and he wants it to be lived out and enjoyed, in the best, in the best way that it can be. Now, for those interested in the music, and I'm afraid I don't particularly understand this, but hopefully it means something to some of you.

Apparently, he was very different to Charles Wesley who who employed endless variations of meter, uh-uh, apparently, you know, the the, you know, he had all kinds of things going on there. But Doddridge on the whole stuck to the common, the short, and the long meters. That's what he did. And he did that largely because he wanted it to be sung that Sunday. And so he didn't want people to have to pick up some complicated new tune.

He wanted them just to be able to hear it and get it and so that they could then sing it out and respond to the sermon, which which, as I say, again, is his character. He he wasn't a hymn writer for the sake of himself, He he he knew it was a gift and he wanted to use it to help people just to understand the sermon and to worship Christ and to and to live it out. And I think again, that is a great lesson for us, isn't it? You know, what whatever gifts that we have, and we all have them, let's put them to use for the church. If you can write, write for the church, if you can write hymns, write hymns for the church.

If you can teach something, let's try to use it for the church. Whatever we've got, let's put it to work in the local church in order to help each other to, to grow. That is the principle I think that the Doddridge really lived by to teach and to preach and to write for the church. And therefore, I think he is a superb example of a Christian to us. His biographer says that he probably didn't have the brain of somebody like John Owen or the preaching gifts of a George Whitfield or the lyrical genius of an Isaac Watts, but he was wonderfully faithful, and he used his gifts for the ordinary folks at church and in the academy to help them in their lives.

That was him. That was his joy. That was his life to help other people come to know Christ. Now very briefly, what about his final days? Well, in December 17 50, he started to go downhill very quickly.

He decided to preach at a friend's funeral, and that meant he had to ride through a winter storm, much like the 1 this evening, no doubt. And, he rode all day up the country on on horseback through this winter storm. And on that trip, he caught a terrible cold, which, which he never recovered from. He, he, it just it was just this chill that clung to him. And, by 17 51, it developed into tuberculosis.

Which was the disease that had, had killed his daughter. And from then on, he just got weaker and weaker. Until in August 17 51, he preached his very last sermon on Romans 14 verse 8. For what if we live, it is for the lord that we live. And if we die, it is for the lord that we die.

So whether we live or die, we belong to the lord. Was his final sermon. Shortly after that, he wrote 1 of his last ever letters to a close friend, and he says, he says this of himself. I now see no hope of recovery, yet my heart rejoiceth in my god and in my saviour. God have indeed been wonderfully good to me.

Though I am the least of his children. He was then advised to head south in search of warmer climates. And so on September the twentieth him and his wife set sail for Lisbon. And, there's not much information about that trip, but apparently they had a they had a they had a happy journey it seems, and he seemed to be doing a lot better when he got to Lisbon. But but as is often the case with these things, you know, he had a quick recovery, but that was actually the start of the end.

So he he got better, but then he got worse very, very quickly. And, just over a month later, by 3 AM, October the 20 sixth, Philip Dodgeridge was in heaven. How did his wife cope? Well, she was to live another 39 years after him. And, from this letter, I guess those years were a mixture of sorrow and joy.

She wrote this from Portugal, and I wanted to end with this quote because I think I think it just wraps it up beautifully and applies it for us. This what his wife wrote, grieving wife to their children back home. Oh, my dear children help me to praise him. Such supports such consolations, such comforts as he granted to the meanest of creatures that my mind at times is held in perfect astonishment and is ready to burst into songs of praise. I mourn the best of husbands and of friends.

Removed from this world of sin and sorrow to the regions of immortal bliss and light. What a glory. What a mercy is that I am enabled with my thoughts to pursue him there. My children you have lost the dearest and best of parents the guide of your youth, our loss is great and indeed, yet let us be thankful that god ever gave us such a friend. That he had continued him so long with us and let us remember that the best respect we can pay to his memory is to endeavor as far as we can, to follow his example, to cultivate those amiable qualities that rendered him so justly dear to us, and so greatly esteemed by the world.

That I think is a magnificent summary, a short life, but not wasted, dearly loved, gospel hearted, brilliant. So let's tie all these threads together. What can we learn? Well, I've got 6 bullet points here just to take away. He was deeply influenced by godly family members, and it's worth asking, isn't it what legacy are we gonna leave to the next generation?

He was a wholehearted Christian in the corporate in the academy and behind his front door. He believed in a practical life changing gospel, which must be applied to an ever changing culture. He believed that the word of god ought to be central to our worship and our evangelism. He endeavored to maintain unity with gospel brothers and sisters. He adored Jesus Christ, his greatest treasure.

Those I think are the lessons that we can learn. And so as his wife said, Let us remember that the best respect that we can pay to his memory is to endeavor as far as we can to follow his example. Now in a minute, we're gonna sing 1 of his famous songs. We're aiming to finish back quarter past. But first, it would be good on our tables just to turn and to discuss for a few minutes, anything that struck you, and then to spend some time praying about the things that you've learned.

And, and then we're gonna we're gonna have a go. I don't know what it's gonna be like, but we're gonna have a go. Let's sing 1 of his hymns. Okay. Just discuss a couple of minutes, pray, and then we'll do that.