Permit me to say, in reply to your letter, that you do not understand
the intention (I daresay the fault is mine) of that passage in the
"Pickwick Papers" which has given you offence. The design of "the
Shepherd" and of this and every other allusion to him is, to show how
sacred things are degraded, vulgarised, and rendered absurd when persons
who are utterly incompetent to teach the commonest things take upon
themselves to expound such mysteries, and how, in making mere cant
phrases of divine words, these persons miss the spirit in which they had
their origin. I have seen a great deal of this sort of thing in many
parts of England, and I never knew it lead to charity or good deeds.
Whether the great Creator of the world and the creature of his hands,
moulded in his own image, be quite so opposite in character as you
believe, is a question which it would profit us little to discuss. I
like the frankness and candour of your letter, and thank you for it.
That every man who seeks heaven must be born again, in good thoughts of
his Maker, I sincerely believe. That it is expedient for every hound to
say so in a certain snuffling form of words, to which he attaches no
good meaning, I do not believe. I take it there is no difference between
us.
Faithfully yours.
[Sidenote: Mr. Douglas Jerrold.]