O spread Thy covering wings around, Till all our wanderings cease, And at our Father’s loved abode Our souls arrive in peace. Such blessings from Thy gracious hand, Our humble prayers implore; And Thou shalt be our chosen God And portion ever more. DODDRIDGE. O God of Jacob, by Whose hand Thine Israel still is fed, Who through this weary pilgrimage Hast all our fathers led; To Thee our humble vows we raise, To Thee address our prayer, And in Thy kind and faithful breast Deposit all our care. If Thou through each perplexing path, Wilt be our constant guide: If Thou wilt daily bread supply, And raiment will provide; If Thou wilt spread Thy shield around, Till these our wanderings cease, And at our Father’s loved abode Our souls arrive in peace; To Thee, as to our covenant-God, We’ll our whole selves resign; And count that not our tenth alone, But all we have is Thine. It is not generally known that Doddridge pursued for many years the practice of Watts—perhaps he derived it from him—of writing a hymn after each or many of his sermons, so that the volume of his hymns is a tolerably large one, numbering three hundred and forty-seven. Many of them have great evangelical tenderness and beauty; we do not remember that they ever depart from a good and correct taste; they never soar up to Watts’ daring heights, but they are often very sweet and exquisite; they are like the notes of a nightingale in the depths of evening shades, or sometimes like dove-like wings flashing near to the earth, but in the bright sunshine, “wings tipped with silver, or feathers of yellow gold.” And, perhaps, we appreciate rather more the frequent ecstasy of his hymns in the memory of the fact that the story of his own life shows him not to have been incapable of human passion. To Doddridge we are indebted for a pleasing illustration of the early reception of Watts’ sacred verses; Southey has quoted it in his life of Watts; the incident shows that the hymns, in spite of the sneers of Bradbury, were hailed with much delight, as supplying a very great want, not only in public but domestic service. The letter from Doddridge is dated 1731.