Dawlish, near Exeter, Aug. 12th, 1809.
My dear Sister,
You are, no doubt, returned from Broadstairs, and enjoying the pleasures
arising from quiet and regular movements, and now and then, perhaps, in
the midst of your retirement a thought wanders towards Devon, and you
begin to wonder “what has taken the little fellow that he does not
write.” I confess, time has glided on so insensibly, that I was not
aware how long I had been here; I shall really feel sorry to leave my
present situation, for I never spent five weeks so agreeably before. I
lodge with good people, who do all they can to accommodate me. I make
progress in my studies, which is another source of gratification, and I
am situated in the midst of a country the most diversified and beautiful.
As it is quite new to me, and I may probably never visit it again, I
avail myself of the present opportunity of seeing everything worthy of
notice, and since my purse will not allow me to enjoy any “leathern
convenience,” I have commenced pedestrian, and frequently walk from
fourteen to eighteen miles a day. I take a syllabus with me, and go over
my subject in my mind, so that a peep now and then is all I require: by
this method I lose no time, and combine profit with amusement. My stated
walks, however, are much shorter, and devoted to relaxation only. But
there is another source of gratification which I must mention, and which
far exceeds all the rest; it is this, I feel I am advancing in the best
of things; religion has an increasing and diffusive influence over my
mind; it seems more and more my element, and I am enabled to live in that
spirit which a friend of ours on a late occasion attempted to ridicule—I
mean a spirit of recollection and prayer; not, indeed, so much so as I
could wish, or as I ought to do, but still much more so than formerly.
When my time for devotional exercises comes round, it is welcomed as the
happiest of the whole day, and my Sabbaths are days of real pleasure and
permanent good. May such in kind, though greater in degree, be the happy
experience of my dear sister, and may no studies, no employments
whatever, be prosecuted, but in subordination to those of a spiritual
nature. Religion, I am persuaded, should be everything or nothing; here
only a middle course is dangerous. If we profess to admire and to be
influenced by heavenly objects, we should prize them above everything;
and yet, alas! (O shame to our Christian profession!) to what poor and
paltry considerations are they not daily sacrificed! Adieu, my dearest
sister; may God preserve you pure and unspotted from the world until the
day of his appearing!
Yours, most affectionately and sincerely,
Both in Christian and fraternal bonds,