THE Theological Seminary which, on its recent removal from Wymondley to London, has paid a just tribute to the memory of its munificent founder, by assuming his name, ranks with the most ancient of our academical institutions. No precise date can be fixed upon as the era of its first establishment, as it seems rather to have arisen gradually, and almost imperceptibly, out of existing circumstances and events, than to have resulted from any concerted plan of co-operation.

In the earlier period of the History of Nonconformity in this country, the Dissenters being excluded, as they still are, by unjust and intolerant regulations, from participating in the literary advantages of our national universities, were thrown upon their own resources for the education of their rising ministry. Nor could they pursue this object, though carried on entirely at their own charges, VOL. XVIII, N. S. NO. 109.

without many and serious obstructions, and the risk of ruinous prosecutions in the Spiritual Courts, as they are most inaptly termed. In this state of things many of the most eminent Dissenting Ministers of that age, eminent no less for their sound learning and distinguished talents than for their humble and devoted piety, undertook, either as an act of private benevolence, or aided by the liberality of others, to train up pious youths for the pastoral office and other public stations in the Church of God. These more private seminaries were widely dispersed over the face of the country, and their location was unusually determined by the official duties and residence of the individuals who conducted them. Such were the academies of Messrs. Frankland, Timothy Jollie, and Wadsworth, at Attercliffe; of Messrs. Warren, James, and Grove, at Taunton; of Messrs.' Tallents, Owen, and Benion, at

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Shrewsbury; of Messrs. Grew, Shewell, Oldfield, &c. at Coventry; and among the last of these, in order of time, though certainly not in its efficiency, and the benefits conferred by it on the Church of Christ, may be mentioned (as more immediately connected with the circumstances about to be detailed;) that of the Rev. John Jennings, first established at Kibworth, and removed in 1722 to Hinckley, in Leicestershire. The celebrity of this private seminary is not attributable to the number of Dissenting Pastors educated there, but partly to the reputation subsequently acquired by his beloved pupil and successor, the excellent Doddridge, and partly to the full development of the mode of academical instruction pursued by him, which was drawn up by his affectionate pupil, at the special request of his brethren, and evidently prepared the way for his own appointment to office.

When Mr. Jennings was called from his labours on earth to his reward in heaven, the state of the dissenting interest in this kingdom was peculiarly critical. Parties ran high in the different sections of the Christian Church. A very large proportion of the churches of one denomination (the Presbyterian,) had lapsed into Arianism. Those which continued stedfast in the faith, blended with the orthodoxy of their creed too much of the polemic spirit of the age, and were sometimes wanting in the exercise of Christian charity. "Subscription, or non-subscription," to articles of human invention, was magnified into a test of orthodoxy, and proved a fruitful source of strife and division. At such a crisis, it was felt by the friends of evangelical truth, to be an object of great importance, that individuals should be selected to occupy

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the more prominent station of theological tutors in the dissenting seminaries, who combined firmness with moderation—a cordial attachment to the truths of the Gospel, with a truly Catholic spirit. Such the amiable and pious Doddridge, (at that time quite a youth, having but recently entered upon the pastoral work,) was well known to be by his most intimate friends and patrons. When, therefore, the vacancy occurred Hinckley, by Mr. Jennings's death, they exerted themselves not only to persuade him to enter on the work of tuition, but also to establish the seminary on a more enlarged and permanent basis, by calling in the aid of associate churches, and obtaining benefactions from the metropolis. With this view, application was made by Mr. Some, of Market Harbro', and Mr. Saunders, of Kettering, to Dr. Watts, who, at that time, enjoyed the highest reputation,, and possessed the greatest degree of influence among the orthodox Dissenters of London. The project was cordially approved by him, and under his express sanction, in concurrence with that of the associated Pastors of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, Dr. Doddridge's seminary was opened at Harborough, at Midsummer, 1729, and thence moved to Northampton in the close of the following year.*

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*The following extract, containing the remarks made by Dr. Watts on the occasion referred to above, has been re

cently published in " Doddridge's Diary and Correspondence," a work which contains a mass of valuable materials for the future historians of that period, to which

we should have referred our for the flippant and anti evangelical readers with greater pleasure, were it not effusions of the editor, which could have been well spared, and which certainly