DR. DODDRIDGE was born in London, June 26, 1709. He was of a consumptive habit from infancy, was brought up in the early knowledge of religion, and was left an orphan before he arrived at the age of 14. At 16 be made a profession of religion; at 20 commenced preaching the Gospel; and at 21 was settled over a small congregation, in an obscure village, where be devoted himself to the acquisition of useful knowledge with indefatigable zeal. At 27 he was removed to the pastoral care of the church in Northampton, where, for 22 years, amidst other diversified labors, he acted as an instructor of youth preparing for the ministry, having had under his charge, during that period, upwards of 200 young men. At the age of 37 and 38 he published two volumes of his Family Expositor; and about the age of 43 wrote “The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.” At 46 he published the third volume of the Family Expositor, and two Dissertations.—1. On Sir Isaac Newton's System of the Harmony. 2. On the Inspiration of the New Testament. In December, 1750, in the 49th year of his age, he went to St. Albans and preached the funeral sermon of his early patron and benefactor, Dr. Clark, in which journey he contracted a cold that laid the foundation for his death. In July, 1751, he addressed his flock for the last time from the pulpit; and having found all medical aid ineffectual, embarked, in October, for Lisbon, as the last resort in so threatening a disorder, at which place he died on the 26th of October, aged 49 years.

He was not handsome in person; was very thin and slender, in stature somewhat above the middle size, with a stoop in his shoulders; but when engaged in conversation, or employed in the pulpit, there was a remarkable sprightliness in his countenance and manner, which commanded general attention.

This volume is stereotyped and perpetuated, through the liberality of Col. Henry Rutgers and Col. Richard Varick, of New-York; Nicholas Brown, Esq. of Providence; and Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany.