"Birmingham, Jan. 1796.
My dear friend,
... My exertions have been incessant, for in whatever company I go, I am
obliged to be the figurante of the circle. Yesterday I preached twice,
and, indeed, performed the whole service, morning and afternoon. There
were about fourteen hundred persons present, and my sermons (great part
extempore) were _preciously peppered with Politics_. I have here, at
least, double the number of subscribers, I had expected...."
"Nottingham, Jan. 7, 1796.
My dear friend,
You will perceive by this letter I have changed my route. From
Birmingham, on Friday last, (four o'clock in the morning) I proceeded to
Derby, stayed there till Monday morning, and am now at Nottingham. From
Nottingham I go to Sheffield; from Sheffield to Manchester; from
Manchester to Liverpool? from Liverpool to London, from London to
Bristol. Ah, what a weary way! My poor crazy ark has been tossed to and
fro on an ocean of business, and I long for the Mount Ararat on which it
is to rest. At Birmingham I was extremely unwell; a violent cold in my
head and limbs confined me for two days. Business succeeded very well;
about a hundred subscribers, I think.
At Derby, also, I succeeded tolerably well. Mr. Strutt, the successor of
Sir Richard Arkwright, tells me, I may count on forty or fifty in Derby.
Derby is full of curiosities; the cotton and silk mills; Wright, the
painter, and Dr. Darwin, the every thing but Christian! Dr. Darwin
possesses, perhaps, a greater range of knowledge than any other man in
Europe, and is the most inventive of philosophical men. He thinks in a
new train on all subjects but religion. He bantered me on the subject of
religion. I heard all his arguments, and told him, it was infinitely
consoling to me--to find that the arguments of so great a man, adduced
against the existence of a God and the evidences of revealed religion,
were such as had startled me at fifteen, but had become the objects of my
smile at twenty. Not one new objection; not even an ingenious one! He
boasted 'that he had never read one book in favour of such stuff! but
that he had read all the works of infidels.'
What would you think, Mr. Wade, of a man, who having abused and ridiculed
you, should openly declare, that he had heard all that your enemies had
to say against you, but had scorned to inquire the truth from any one of
your friends? Would you think him an honest man? I am sure you would not.
Yet such are all the infidels whom I have known. They talk of a subject,
yet are proud to confess themselves profoundly ignorant of it. Dr. Darwin
would have been ashamed to reject 'Hutton's Theory of the Earth,' without
having minutely examined it: yet what is it to us, how the earth was
made, a thing impossible to be known. This system the Dr. did not reject
without having severely studied it; but all at once he makes up his mind
on such important subjects, as, whether we be the outcasts of a blind
idiot, called Nature, or, the children of an All-wise and Infinitely Good
God! Whether we spend a few miserable years on this earth, and then sink
into a clod of the valley; or, endure the anxieties of mortal life, only
to fit us for the enjoyment of immortal happiness. These subjects are
unworthy a philosopher's investigation! He deems that there is a certain
self-evidence in Infidelity, and becomes an Atheist by intuition! Well
did St. Paul say, 'Ye have an evil heart of unbelief.'
... What lovely children Mr. Barr, of Worcester has! After church, in the
evening, they sat round and sung hymns, so sweetly that they overpowered
me. It was with great difficulty that I abstained from weeping aloud! and
the infant, in Mrs. B.'s. arms, leant forward, and stretched his little
arms, and stared, and smiled! It seemed a picture of heaven, where the
different orders of the blessed, join different voices in one melodious
hallelulia! and the babe like a young spirit just that moment arrived in
heaven, startled at the seraphic songs, and seized at once with wonder
and rapture!...
From your affectionate friend,