tit MEMOIRS OF DR. WArrs:' him in a strain of peculiar admiration and thankfulness, on reading his Theo- logical Works. ' Almost all the hours I passed alone, I have employed in reading your works, which for ever represent to my imagination the idea of a ladder or flightof steps, since every volume seems to rise a step nearer to the language of heaven, and there is a visible progression toward that better country throughevery page, so that, though all breathe piety andjust reason, the last seems to crown the whole, till you shall again publish something to enlightena dark and obstinateage, for Imust believe that the manner inwhich you treat divine subjects, is more likely to reform andwork upon the affections of your readers, than that of any other writer now living. I hope Godwill, in mercy to many thousands, myself in particular, prolong your life many years. I own this does not seem a kind wish to you, but I think you will be content to bear the infirmities of the flesh some years longer, to be an instru- ment in the hands of God, toward the salvation of your weak and distressed brethren." Dr. Vicesimus Knox, in his Christian Philosophy, after a long citation from the Inward Witness to Christianity, concludes thus:°LFor my own part, I cannot but think this good man approached as nearly to christian per- fection as any mortal everdid in this sublunary state ; and therefore I consider isbn as a better interpreter of the christian doctrines than the most learned critics, who, proud of their reason and their learning, despised or neglected the very life and soul of christianity, the living, everlasting gospel, the super- natural operation of divine grace ; and he it ever remembered, that Dr.Watts was a man who cultivated his reason withparticular care, Who' studied the abstrusest sciences, andwas as well qualified to become a verbal critic, or a logical disputant on the scriptures, as the most learned among the doctors of Sorbonne, or the greatest proficients in polemical divinity. I mentioned this circumstance for the consideration ofthose who insinuate that the doctrines of grace cannot beentertained but by ignorant as well as fanatical persons ; by persons uninitiated in the mysteries of philosophy." His Theological Works are numerous, and none of them appear to have been hurried into the worldunder the impulse of a thoughtless vanity. The perspicuity and eleganceof his expression and the richness ofhis imagination, enliven the most common subjects, and add lustre to the most interesting. The multiplicity and diversity ,of his native and acquired talents are every where conspicuous ; and the application of these talents uniformly discovers an accurateknowledge of human nature, a high venerationof the gospel, an unshaken attachment to the cause of christian liberty, andanhabitual readi- ness for any sacrifice to the virtue and happiness of the world. While ex- ploring the most abstruse subjects of corporeal and spiritual nature, hebecame a teacherof babes ; and that wayfaring men, though almost ideots, might not err in the path of life, he laid aside the metaphysician and the philosopher, to explain the doctrines and familiarise the history. of the bible. " Whatever he took in handwas, by incessant solicitude for souls, converted to theology ; it is difficult to read a page without learning, or at least wishing, to be better. The attention is caught by indirect instruction, and he that sat down only to reason, is on a sudden compelled to pray." The Psalms andHymns of Dr. Watts, which have given his name a kind of imtnortality in our worshipping assemblies, deserve tobe mentioned,.inde- pendent of their intrinsicmerit, for the circumstance inwhich they originated.
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