The life of the Rev.

Joseph Blanco White, written by himself;

with portions of his correspondence. Ed. by John Hamilton Thom.
... v. 2
White, Joseph Blanco, 1775-1841.
London, J. Chapman, 1845.

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THE LIFE

OF THE RET.

JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE,

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF;

PORTIONS -OF HIS CORRESPONDENCE.

EDITED BY

JOHN HAMILTON THOM.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

JOHN CHAPMAN, J21, NEWGATE STREET.

M.DCCC.XLV.

LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNI A
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 LONDON
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RICHARD K1NDEK, PRINTER,

GREEN ARBOUR COURT, OLD BAILEY.

THE

CONTENTS

OF

SECOND VOLUME.

PART III.

CHAPTER III.

1833.

He visits England; the Menai Bridge as the subject for a poem, 3—4 ;

Tunbridge Wells, 4 ; the Gospel as opposed to metaphysical no-

tions of the Deity, 4—8 ; Letter from Lord Holland, 8; Letter to

Lord Holland—the Archbishop of Dublin, 9 ; his desire of useful-

ness in the Archbishop's family, 10 ; the relations of the Scrip-

tures to Christianity, 10 ; the virtues of the Heathen world, 11—

12: Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise, 12; Christian Knowledge

and School Theology, 13 ; St. Paul's Views of Conscience, 14—15 ;

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What is an established Church, 15—17 ; the preparation for

Christianity at the time of its appearance, 17—18 ; the times of

the Reformation and the present, 18—22 ; the character of St.

Paul's instructions, 22—23; Christian worship, 24; "Moore's

Travels of an Irish Gentleman in search of a Religion," its cha-

racter, and tendency, 24—28 ; Mr. White's Answer, Second

Travels of an Irish Gentleman, &c, published in Dublin, 28 ;

Patriotism, 29.

CHAPTER IV.

1834.

Answer to Moore,—the British Magazine's charge that he is a Chris-

tian against his will, 31—32 ; Letter to J , 33 ; religion under

Christianity, 33—36 ; Letter to Lord Holland, 36 ; Letters from

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CONTENTS.

and to Lord Holland on the " Second Travels," 36—38 ; Nitssch

on the notion entertained by the Ancients of Religion, and the

Christian idea of it, 38—41 ; Letter to the Rev. George Arm-

strong, 41; Miracles, 43 ; the Authority of the Bible, 43 ; Tale of

the Family Ring, 43; Christianity addressed to the Reason, as

light to the eye, 44 ; the Second Travels, the Christian Examiner,

and the Bishop of Ferns, 44—47 ; publishes a Letter on the Law

of Anti-religious Libel, and an Answer to Strictures upon it, 46 ;

Catechistical, Liturgical, and Articular Christianity, 47; Letter to

the Rev. George Armstrong, 48 ; Letter to the Rev. George Arm-

strong,—his catholic Views of Christianity, and opposition to Dog-

matism, 49 ; Jonah and the gourd,—his misgivings of the Church

as a refuge for an independent mind ; the Archbishop of Dublin ;

the difference between prejudice, and confirmed experience, 53—

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55; his satisfaction in spiritual Christianity freed from theory, and

the doctrine of verbal inspiration, 55; his mental independence,

and personal relations to the Archbishop of Dublin, 56—57 ;

Letters to the Rev. George Armstrong ;—Christianity does not

consist in orthodoxy, 58 ; his avowal of Unitarianism, and con-

templation of the sacrifices demanded by Truth, 58—60 ; Jonah

and the gourd, the Protestant Establishment as a shelter for a

free mind, 61—65 ; his conviction of the necessity of openly se-

parating from the Church of England,—Endowed tenets; paid

Articles of Faith, 65—68 ; Letter to the Rev. George Armstrong,

—Heresy and the Inquisition ; Channing's Sermons; his attach-

ment to Christianity, apart from theories, 68—69.

CHAPTER V.

1835.

Letter to Dr. Whately ; his conviction of the injury to Christianity of

Trinitarianism ; his duty to declare himself against the Endow-

ment of Doctrines; his intention to remove to Liverpool, 71;

Letter to the Rev. George Armstrong, 72 ; Letter from the same,

73 i the system of orthodoxy necessarily injurious to the cause

of religious truth, 74—76; humility in the interpretation of the

Scriptures, 76—78; arrives in Liverpool,—his anguish, 78—79;

his restored courage, and confession of Faith, 79—81 ; pros-

pects of usefulness to the cause of religious truth, 81—82 ; attempt

to dissuade him from declaring his dissent from the Church, 82 ;

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the injury to Christianity of all dogmatic names,— Unitarianism

open to this objection, 82—84; Letter to the Rev. George Arm-

CONTENTS.

strong, 84; his first attendance at a dissenting place of worship,—

his impressions of the service, 86—88; Letter to Dr. Hawkins,

(Provost of Oriel), his conscientious convictions ; determination

not to put opinions upon the shelf; the withdrawal of his name

from the College books, 88—89 ; Syllogism on deception in re-

ligion, 90 ; Letter to the Provost of Oriel, 91 ; the Unitarian wor-

ship, the Rev. James Martineau, 92—94; conviction by reason-

ing,—miracles, 94—95 ; Letters on Heresy and the Inquisition,—

prayer written at Redesdale, 95—96 ; Letter to the Provost of

Oriel, 96—100 ; to the Rev. George Armstrong, 101—102 ; simple

submission to the Scriptures, 102—104; the Lord's Supper,

Reason and Revelation, 104; the twenty-fifth anniversary of his

arrival in England, his condition and state of mind, 105 ; Letter

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to J , account of his changed life, the bounty of the Arch-

bishop of Dublin, 106—107 ; Divinitarian and Humanitarian, 107 ;

Letter to C. L , 107—109; the servile fear of authority in

religion; Paulus' Leben Jesu ; the Son of God, 109—111; Letter

on the suppression of his religious views, 111—114; Letter to

Miss L ,—the social spirit of orthodoxy; the concentrative-

ness of the Archbishop of Dublin; Trust, 114—116; Unitarian

worship, 117 ; Letter to the Rev. John Henry Newman, 118 ; the

Rev. James Yates ; Dr. Williams' Library, 119—121; the Uni-

tarian Service, 121 ; Letter to John Stuart Mill, 121 ; to the Rev.

George Armstrong, 122—124: the increase of his faith in God,

by means of Christ, 124—126; Letter to John S. Mill, the London

Review, 126 ; to Lord Holland, his religious change; the state of

Spain, 127—129 ; from Lord Holland, his view of Mr. White's

religious opinions, 129 ; Letter to J. S. Mill, Article for the Lon-

don Review; Lord Brougham's Discourse on Paley; Guizot'i

Lectures, 130—132 ; to the same, false notions of Religion in

England, 132; Truth, objective and subjective, 133; Letter to

Miss L , 134—136; to the same, Bibliolatry ; Cousin's His-

toire de la Philosophic, 137 ; to the Rev. George Armstrong, Letters

on Heresy and Orthodoxy, 138 ; to Miss L , 139 ; from Lord

Holland, 140 ; to Lord Holland, 141; his feelings of pure happi-

ness at this period, 142; Letter to J. S. Mill, 143 ; cause, Mytho-

logy, the deification of Christ a return to the original form of a

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Supreme Cause, in the infancy of mankind, 143—145 ; Letter to

Neander, 145—147; large belief, 147; Marcus Antoninus; the

People's preservative against Superstition, 149—151; fortuity;

fetiche; idolatry, 151—154; political establishments of religion,

154; the Archbishop of Dublin ; Letter to Mrs. Whately, 155—

156 ; Idolatry, 157—158 ; Letter to the Provost of Oriel,—the

vi

CONTENTS.

removal of his name from the Oriel books, 160—161; sanctified

error and infirmity, its noxious nature, 161; Letter to Miss L ,

German Grammar; Logic, 162—164; the Life of Sir James

Mackintosh, 164—166; the asserted cruelty of disturbing the

foundations of mistaken religion, 167; Kant; Schon; Dupuis'

L'Origine des Cultes, 167, 168; Letter to J , his present

peaceful life, 169.

CHAPTER VI.

1836.

Retrospect of the Year, 171—2; the Corporate Spirit, 172—7; Mi-

racles, 177; Letter from Professor Norton, 177—180; Letter to

Lord Holland—the Prince of the Peace, 180—1; from Lord

Holland, 181—2 ; Letter to J. S. Mill—Lamb's Style ; Gil Bias;

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Godoy; Joanna Baillie ; English Literary Fashion, 182—5 ; the

Nature of Pain,—Fichte's Analysis of Sensation in his Facts of

Consciousness; Self or Will; Reason and Pleasure ; God within

us, 185—8; Letter to J. S. Mill, 188—9; to Professor Norton,

189—92 ; Letter from Dr. Channing—" Heresy and Orthodoxy;"

the Unfaithfulness of Christians ; Slavery, 192—3; Church Esta-

blishments Joint Stock Companies of error and deception, 193—

4 ; Letters from Lord Holland ;—Mr. Powell ; Dr. Hampden ;

the Prince of the Peace, his manners, talents ; his humanity in

the case of Mr. Powell; his reply to Lord Holland's assurance

that he would find an asylum in England, 194—7; Letter to

Lord Holland,—the Prince of the Peace ; the Oxford Persecution

against Dr. Hampden ; Pusey, Newman,—Oxford bigotry, 198—

9 ; the Political Economy of (he Gospels ; Monasticism; Apollo-

nius of Tyana, 199—202 ; Letter to Miss L , Hebrew points;

Parkhurst, Stuart, Gesenius, 202—3 ; true Virtue independent of

hopes or fears, or even the belief of immortality, 204—6 ; Minis-

try to the Poor, 206 ; Letter to Dr. Channing, Slavery ; his view

of his own Memoirs; the various classes of Christians in relation

to their respective faithfulness; the source of true faithfulness,

206—8 ; Letter to J. S. Mill, the mischievous religion of Eng-

land ; the law of landlord and tenant, 208—9; Letter to Miss

L , his health: Becker's German Grammar; his change of

house, 209—12 ; Volney ; secrecy as to religious convictions ; the

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influence of establishments in suppressing opinion; the Protes-

tant Priests of Oxford; religious tyranny supported by every

one who keeps silence on prevailing errors, 212—15; the limits

CONTENTS.

of human reason,—the danger of allowing constituted interest! to

determine what they are, 215—17; the original Quakers; George

Fox; individual inspiration, 217—22 ; the Oxford Party, Vaughan

Thomas, Pusey, Newman, Sewell, 222—3 ; Letters to Mrs. Law-

rence, the Celestina ; his solitary life; Spanish lounges; Walter

Scott's mistakes in German and Spanish; Drayton, Goethe, Bet-

tine, Madame de Stael, 223—7 ; Letter to Miss L , the Ger-

man Language ; Whately's Logic ; Christian superstition ; Chris-

tianity proved by the light within us, 227—30 ; Protestant bigots,

the Oxford persecution, Dr. Hampden, 230—2; Religious truth

tried by a thermometer of comfort, 232—3 ; Letter to Miss L ,

Dictionaries; Supernaturalism; George Fox and Barclay, 233—

6 ; Neander, 236—7 ; Letter to Mrs. Lawrence, his health ; the

confinement and slightness of English houses; the Ricoshombres

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of Castille ; Solaz; the power of etymology to give colouring to

language, 237—8 ; Letter to Miss L , Letter writing, Imagi-

nation and Sentiment; the supremacy of Reason ; going too far ;

increasing modesty the test of sincerity in the pursuit of Truth ;

filial trust, 238—40 ; Letter to Miss L , Ewald's Hebrew

Grammar ; German Universities; political freedom ; advice in

studies; Mr. James Mill, 240—2 ; Letter to John Stuart Mill,

the character of his father ; sympathy on the loss of friends ;

Schlosser, the historian, and Neander; German Literature, 242—

4 ; completion of his sixty-first year; the Character of Liverpool;

no further means of usefulness by writing open to him ; his regret

at having unintentionally helped the anti-Irish party; Ireland,

O'Connell; the Romanist system incapable of real reform; Pro-

testantism in Ireland only an engine of offensive ascendancy,

whilst in its own spirit it is a fragment of Popery, 244—48 ;

Letter from Professor Norton, Oxford; Bibliolatry ; the Old Tes-

tament ; the dependence of Christianity on historical documents,

249—51 ; Letter from Dr. Channing,—Slavery ; Mr. White's his-

tory of his mind; the probable increase of Catholicism; Protes-

tant alarm, lest between different assumers of infallibility the

world should choose the oldest; the great idea which each sect

expresses, 251—3; Letter to Miss L , Mendelssohn; Plato;

Socrates; advice in study; Mr. Migauld, 253—4 ; Letter to Mrs.

Lawrence, the Conde Lucanor; Mrs. Howard ; Extracts from the

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Conde, 255—7; the religious principle; originally directed by

the Imagination ; Fetiche ; Nature; fully developed humanity ;

the true Christian, 258—60 ; Letter to Miss L , Methodism ;

coteries of pietists, 260—2 ; to the same,—Prayer, its true nature;

Dorcas Societies; Silent social prayer; the Bible ; the Unitarians,

viii

CONTENTS.

262—4 ; the activity of the sesthetic parts of the mind on the first

freedom from great suffering, 264; a vision of the Life of Cer-

vantes, 264—5; Letter to Miss L , his health; what is Chris-

tianity—liberty under the acknowledgment of God as our Father,

266—8 ; to the Same,—the darkness of the present times in Eng-

land ; Devotion and Asceticism; Covenants and faith ; selfishness

in Religion, 268—70 ; Religion an habitual aspiration to the

Source of moral life ; Strauss's Leben Jem ; the historical element

of Christianity, 270—1.

CHAPTER VII.

1837.

Funeral of the Rev. Mr. Perry—the only funeral he had attended in

England; his own baffled affections ; contemplation of his own

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grave, and the rough path which human passions, disguised as

Religion, make men tread on their way to it; his disinclination

to controversial writing, and delight in Literature; Liverpool

Unitarians, 274—6 ; Letter to Miss L , Paulus' Leben Jesu

—Strauss's; Rationalists; the Trinity, 276—8 ; the Essence of

true Christianity, 278 ; the moral picture of Jesus of Nazareth, as

a vehicle for popular instruction, 279 ; Gil Bias, Le Sage, 279—

81 ; Fichte's Facts of Consciousness, 282 ; Bishop Butler's Ser-

mons on Human Nature, 282—3 ; the Mystery of Evil, 283—4 ;

a leap over the stream of Fashion, 284; external evils not to

be compared with the internal blessings derived from the course

through which Providence had led him, 284—5 ; New Testament

hints of the spirituality of true religion, 285—7 ; Asceticism,

287; personally divine authority, 288; Shakspeare; Euphuism,

a Guide for the Young in reading Shakspeare, 288—91; disturb-

ance of the timid, 291; Musical expression, 292; Hamlet, Laertes

and Ophelia, 292—4; Letter from Professor Norton, 294; Good

Society, 295; Supreme and finite Reason, 295 ; Letter to Miss

L , his health; Fichte; Philosophy of Logic, 295—7 ; Words-

worth's Poems, 297—9; Biondo Flavio, 299 ; Examples of true

virtue in the Mythic history of Rome, 299—301; Letter to the

Rev. George Armstrong, 301—2 ; the pains of life not too high a

price for rational convictions in Religion, 303 ; Letter to Profes-

sor Norton, his work on ' the Genuineness of the Gospels,' 303—5 ;
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Letter to Mrs. Lawrence, the Celestina, its authorship; the Italian

Academies, 307—9; Letter from Dr. Channing, Pamphlet on

CONTENTS.

ix

Catholicism, 309; to Dr. Channing, Catholicism and Protestan-

tism, 309—12; record of his delight in mental activity; French

and Italian writers, 312—13 ; Letter to Mrs. Lawrence, Roberts'

Views, 313—14; Extract from Fichte, and Comment, 315; the

denominational instruction in religion of Priests, 315—16 ; Letter

to Dr. Channing, 316—17; to Professor Norton, the evanescent

critical evidence of a religion made to rest on books, 317—18 ;

strong convictions mistaken by party men for strong prejudices,

319—20 ; fear to deny Doctrines mistaken for Belief in them,

320 ; a sentence from Goethe's Life, as a guide to the employ-

ment of time, 320—21 ; immortality, 321—3; Letter to the Rev.

J. J. Tayler, 324—5; Mrs. Whately, 325—28 ; Carlyle's French

Revolution, 328 ; Lines for an Album, 329; Proofs of Idleness,

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not of Conceit, under Suffering, 330; Civil Liberty, 330; Letter

from Dr. Channing, 331—2; Letter to Professor Powell, a

prescription for taming proud spirits at Oxford; Lines writ-

ten in an Album, 333—5 ; Letter from Dr. Tuckerman,—the

Slave question; Texas; the Poor, their vices and virtues, 335—8;

Letter from Professor Norton,—the importance of Opinions; Au-

thority; Schleiermacher, Spinoza, Fichte; German metaphysics,

338—40; Letter to J. S. Mill, 341—2; to Miss L , Virgil,

Lucan; in Hebrew, the historical books to be read before the

Prophets; Inspiration, 343—5; Letter to Dr. Channing, the

human Mind, the great proof of the existence and personality of

God; Texas; his own Memoirs; M. de Beaumont, 345—7 ; the

necessity for an Association to give moral and legal advice to the

working classes, 347—54; Letter to J. S. Mill, (Edipus Judaicus ;

the Tracts for the Times ; Mr. Seelman, 354—6 ; Domestic Mis-

sion Society, 356; Letter to William Rathbone,—the Ministry to

the Poor,—the qualifications of the Minister; mere animal sym-

pathy to be suppressed in a moral experiment; the evils of merely

external help ; self-respect the root of moral reform ; the Minister

to the poor as a friend to the unhappy ; a Chapel for the Poor ;

no miracles to be expected, 356—60; Archbishop of Dublin,

360 ; Letter to Professor Norton,—the state of his health; prac-

tical toleration; Pantheism; Idolatry ; the importance of a con-

viction of the separate personality of the Deity; Spinoza, 360—2.

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 B
PART III.

[Continued.]
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

JOSEPH BLANCO WHITE.

CHAPTER III.

[Continued.]

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1833.—JEtat. 58.

Jan. 15. Left Dublin at seven in the morning: at

Holyhead at half-past three in the afternoon.

Wednesday, 16th. Passed the Menai Bridge;

the weather beautiful, and the view glorious.

What a poem might be written! There was a day

when that disruption of the mountain was made.—

The state of the globe then;—the monument of

human ingenuity and wonderful mental powers now

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thrown over the chasm.—The seeds of every thing we

see now, were already living under the Divine Power.

Thus the wildest stages of nature were leading to those

of intellect and civilization. Are the contradictions

b2
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4

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

which we find in the moral world less likely to be

removed ? Will the two streams of good and evil

meet, and disorder be removed—will not death be

swallowed up in victory ?—Yes. (Inn at Bangor.)

Tunbridge Wells, March 12th, 1833.

What is the Gospel—the good tidings of great joy

to all people? Divest of theological language and

scholastic notions the answer of all true Christians,—

reduce it to spiritual practice, and you will be sur-

prised at the sublime simplicity of the Christian

Doctrine.

The answer is this—that men's sins are not to be

pardoned on account of any religious expiations, or

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difficult and painful acts; but simply by God's mercy,

as soon as the sinner is converted—i. e. repents what

he has done, and is determined to follow Christ as his

teacher, as his moral king, as his saviour from moral

evils, or spiritual fears—resting his belief of all this,

and his hopes for ever, on Christ himself—because

from what he knows of him, the sinner is convinced

Christ may be trusted; because he who died for

mankind would not deceive us; because he that rose

again by the special power of God, could not himself be

deceived.—This is certainly a Gospel—"good tidings"

to mankind.—But it is against the spirit of such a

Gospel to demand from the followers of Christ a

statement of the causes (the rationale) why the death

of Christ saves those who repent their sins, and obey

him. The scriptures do not explain this, nor could

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

human language convey such an information. The

physiology of the invisible world should never be

attempted by any Christian. It is that physiological

system which, forced upon the Christian world by the

false philosophy of Divines, discredits and ruins

Christianity.

One of the passages announcing the independence

of the true Christians from a priesthood is that quoted

by Peter in 2nd Acts, and taken from Joel. It is

extremely figurative. It nevertheless shows that

prophecy, i. e. the exposition of religious points, was,

under the Gospel, to belong to all who should have

the spirit of Christ in them. The spirit of Christ is

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promised to all true Christians. "Butye (all Chris-

tians) have an unction (xpfrr/xa, consecration as priests)

from the Holy One, and ye know all things," 1 John,

ii. 20. You are your own priests and prophets,

i. e. expounders. " Stop,"—says the frightened

Theologian—"are all Christians infallible?"—They

are infallible, i. e. each Christian is a sure guide to

himself—he cannot err in regard to his own salvation,

when he follows the spirit of Christ. But " who is

to ascertain that fact ? "—God alone.

All externals—Honours, Ceremonies, &c.—all poli-

tical and religious Bodies—are Figures, and Emblems,

Visible Forms, which may have an indwelling, an

animating spirit. That soul is opinion. When the

opinion dies (which takes place very gradually, and

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as imperceptibly as the hand of the clock moves) the

Forms become incumbrances, the weight of which,

society feels more and more grievously. They be-

come the dead bodies bound to the living.

When any natural propensity is consecrated into

a virtue, the greatest evils ensue. Patriotism is an

instance of this. We are naturally led to give un-

due importance to ourselves—this, when the indivi-

dual is clearly the object of his own feeling, is called

selfishness. But when, under the name of patriotism,

each individual indulges himself in vanity, in pride,

in ambition, in cruelty—and yet does it as an

Englishman, as a Frenchman, as a Spaniard—all

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these vices are reckoned virtues.

Tunbridge Wells, March 13, 1833.

One of the most beneficial consequences of

knowing God in Christ, is the exclusion which that

view gives to all metaphysical notions of the

Deity. The metaphysical definitions of God are

false, contradictory—they are the true source of

Atheism. To say that God is All-powerful, All-mer-

ciful, All-good, and yet that he allows such a mass of

misery as Divines make out, is revolting in the ex-

treme. It is an insult to every thinking mind.—

Omnipotent! What is the meaning of that word ? If

it is absolutely unlimited power, we are constantly

contradicting it.—God, says the Divine, cannot for-

give sin without atonement, &c. Oh! says our re-

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

verend philosopher, I mean that God's nature does

not allow it.—Well, then, God's nature, like my na-

ture, limits his power.—" But God's nature is not

like our nature."—" Then neither you nor I know

what we mean." Let Metaphysics alone. Study

the Manifestation of God to us in Christ; the man

who is one with God, striving, struggling against evil;

the living image of God, for a time, seemingly over-

come by evil—then rising triumphant—then disap-

pearing from the scene of his struggle, and allowing

his enemy to sow tares, &c, but not permitting him

totally to regain the ground obtained by the Divine

victory. No : the light of the Gospel may be ob-

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scured ; not extinguished.—God manifest in the flesh

will come again in glory—i. e. there will be a final

triumph of good against evil in regard to the sons of

men.—All this is intelligible—all this agrees with

the appearances of nature. The Creator himself

struggles; " My Father worketh hitherto." The Re-

deemer struggles; " and I work."—Do you mean,

says the Divine, to limit the power of God ?—I mean

no such thing. I only follow his revelations—the

natural and the supernatural—as far as they lead me

—and then stop, without attempting to draw con-

clusions as to the nature of God.

My God—the God whom I know through Christ

and in Christ, is a struggling God—a God who wisely,

and powerfully, but not despotically, contends with

Evil. And how I do delight in the feeling that I may

be—nay, that I am called to be a Fellow-labourer with

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God! Oh, that I may make this feeling the very

soul of my existence ! That I may rise every day to

help my God, my Saviour, in the extension of good,

of virtue, of happiness. What an ennobling thought!

How perfectly adapted to the feelings of love and

sympathy—yes, that sympathy which he has given

me. "Thisman blasphemeth—sympathy with God !

how horrible \" Indeed! has he not called me fellow-

worker ! friend ! son !

Letter from Lord Holland.

17th March, 1833.

Dear Blanco,

I think a sense of what is due to the public interests

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of Ireland would check a Government in forming any project

that could retard or endanger the good which the Arch-

bishop of Dublin is rapidly effecting in Ireland, and which

no man but he can be expected to prosecute so successfully.

I dare say there are many annoyances which beset him, in

the prosecution of his great design of healing the invete-

rate religious animosities of that country, and I am well

aware that the profits or worldly advantages of his See are

very inadequate rewards for the trouble and anxiety such

heavy responsibility and so arduous a task imposes on

him ; but

" tenuis non gloria— "

and I much mistake the character of your great and amiable

friend, if a love of posthumous and well-earned fame, and,

yet more, a consciousness of doing real good in his genera-

tion, are not greater incentives and consolations to his

exertions, and in his difficulties, than either splendour or

ease. I think you are alarmed more than is reasonable at

the situation of Ireland. Time and the diffusion of know-

ledge are the true and specific cures, and it seems to roe
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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

that the protective law, combined with the existence of a

Government fundamentally liberal and just, secure time, and

the education under the auspices of the Archbishop and

Board of Commissioners, promises a diffusion of knowledge.

With these ingredients the medicine will be imperceptibly

compounded, and the patient gradually purged, if not of all

his peccant humours, at least of such as threaten dissolu-

tion or incapacity.

Yours,

Vassall Holland.

Letter to Lord Holland.

Tunbridge Wells, March 24, 1833.

My dear Lord Holland,

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I cannot abstain from giving you my most sincere thanks

for your letter on the success of my friend, the Archbishop

of Dublin. I did not hesitate to show him your letter, for

I knew he would be gratified. If all Churchmen were as

attached to Truth as my excellent friend is, the Church

would not be in danger ; for that danger is the result of the

encroaching and proud spirit with which Religion is fre-

quently put forward for political purposes. The Archbishop

knows too well what he has to expect from the falsely called

Religious party. But from his first appearance in public

life he deliberately devoted himself to the cause of Truth,

and made up his mind to the consequences. He was

courted, and he was attacked: but nothing could induce

him to enlist under the colours of any party. Those who

love reason and truth—the honest and upright of all deno-

minations—may depend on his assistance, when needed,

though secured by no previous engagement. I wish, with

all my heart, he had a permanent seat in the House of

Lords. He would keep many idle talkers in awe.

Believe me, dear Lord Holland,

Ever yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

b5
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Tunbridge Wells, April 9, 1833.

I feel happy in the conviction that every day my

means of usefulness in this family seem to increase.

* * * It is very desirable that a stranger, one not of the

family, (for family becomes an extension of self in

cases like the present,) should kindly yet firmly give

a specimen, a corrected foretaste of the rights and

power of public opinion—not the opinion of those

whom the child identifies with himself.—My dear

pupil—my boy—has been completely trained to this

moral discipline. His moral and intellectual powers

develop themselves beautifully, and he looks upon me

as if I were a second father. The blessing of God be

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upon him, and upon his family! and may a similar

blessing be upon me, that no selfish feeling of any

kind may interfere with my work—or defeat my

earnest desire of doing whatever good may be in my

power, thus quietly and privately, during the few

years of usefulness which may remain to me.*

Tunbridge Wells, April 13th, 1833.

D.D. The tendency of what you say about the

Scriptures is to destroy Christianity. B. W.—Why ?

• All my hopes have been disappointed—most lamentably disap-

pointed. After two years' hard working with my little pupil, it was

necessary to find another Tutor. He could not approach me for his

lessons without the most painful nervousness. Yet he loved me, and

I loved him. How much of this arose from some fault of mine, I know

not. The impatience of an old, nervous invalid, is very ungovernable.

Yet I tried to check it. But I am convinced (too late perhaps) that I

am the last man to teach children. All my attempts that way hare

failed.—Liverpool, February 18th, 1835.

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11

D.D.—Because a Christian must necessarily depend

upon a revelation from God. B. W.—Very true.

But there were many Christians before the existence

of the New Testament—and among the Gentile con-

verts few could read the Old. D.D.—That is the

Papists' argument in favour of the authority of the

Church. B. W.—The fact they allege is true; the

inference is false. D.D.—What could Christianity

be without the Scriptures ? B. W.—Christians

would be deprived of a very great advantage if they

had not the Scriptures. Yet Christianity does not

entirely depend on the Scriptures. Men might be

convinced that Christ is the Messiah, our Moral

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King; they might learn his precepts and obey them

—and all this might be obtained by oral instruc-

tion. D.D.—What! Traditions ! B. W.—Yes, but

traditions, which would not make a Pope, for they

are not infallible, since they are handed down by

Men.

Tunbridge Wells, April 18, 1833.

I have been reading in the Memorabilia, the only

classical book I have brought with me.

The narrow-mindedness which the Theological the-

ories have produced is astonishing.—As if Christianity

were not safe but by the complete denial of virtue,

except when the Gospel fosters it, mankind have

been studiously painted as consisting of Monsters.

The Christianity of Original Sin—the Christianity

which stands exclusively on the utter corruption of

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man—will not see virtue any where—and will posi-

tively libel human nature and its Author. The au-

thor however of the existing human nature—that is,

the human nature which was poisoned by the for-

bidden fruit—is (to these good people) the Devil. I

see it however in a very different light. Read the

description of. the good and virtuous of the times

of Xenophon, Mem., lib. ii. c. vi. It is refreshing to

find that such men as are there painted in the words

of Socrates, existed under the moral disadvantages of

the world before Christ. But virtue has always ex-

isted in the creation of God. That virtue, however,

has been exalted and ennobled,—it has also been

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wonderfully extended by adapting it to the poor and

humble. " To the poor the Gospel is preached."

Tunbridge Wells, April 22, 1833.

The whole of yesterday I passed in bed, trying to

stop a cold. I read the whole of Whewell's work,

The Bridgewater Treatise, without leaving the book

out of my hand except for half a hour. It is a most

admirable book.

It has occurred to me this morning that the

StiCTiSatjuovm of the ancients related to action; ours

to opinion. The one was physical; the other meta-

physical. The timid among the ancients were afraid

lest they had done or omitted something which

might endanger them with the invisible powers:

Our good people are afraid of holding or neglect-

ing some abstract tenet, which may endanger their

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13

salvation. Our StimSatfiovia belongs to a more re-

fined age.

April 25th, 1833.

I have not been able to leave my room since

Monday evening.* Nevertheless I thank God

that I suffer without despondency. I have been this

moment thinking of my dissolution. My feelings

are free from fear on that score, and I trust they will

be so when the last hour comes. I have not a sha-

dow of doubt that if I am to be preserved to eternal

life in Christ's keeping, it will be through pure be-

nevolence and mercy.—Away with School Theology.

I love the hand that brought me into existence. I

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love it in spite of suffering. I love him who having

taught me and mankind how to love, to obey, and to

trust in " his God and my God," gave himself up to

death on the Cross, confident that God " would not

leave his soul in Hades, nor allow his holy one to

see corruption." I do not know—I do not ask

" how can these things be;" but I trust that they

are indeed, that they exist, in some sense or other, for

my benefit and salvation.

Tunbridge Wells, Saturday,

April 27th, 1833.

The Influenza cold which attacked me last Sunday

has yielded under the skilful management of Dr.

Mayo. I have dressed this morning, intending to go

down to dinner in the afternoon. But I am very

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weak. On Thursday I was so ill that I could not

employ my thoughts in the usual way. Yesterday I

began to find them ready to run in the accustomed

channels. I was reading the Epistle to the Romans,

in order to collect Paul's views on Conscience.

When tired, I varied my occupation by reading the

first chapter of that epistle in Luther's translation.

I was surprised at the freedom of the version. In

two or three places it is rather a paraphrase than a

translation. One of Luther's renderings has set me

thinking in a direction which neither the reading of

the English translation, nor that of the original, ever

pointed out to me. Though my knowledge of German

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is still very imperfect, I shall venture to render Luther's

translation of the 4th verse, 1st chapter, literally.

"And (was) powerfully (h Swduu) shown as the

son of God after (or according to, secundum) the

Spirit which sanctifies, since the time that he rose

from the dead; namely, Jesus Christ our Lord."

When I compare this translation with the Greek,

I do not feel convinced that it conveys the same

meaning. The English is certainly more literal,

though less intelligible. The meaning of h Swa/xti

is very vague. But let us consider the relation in

which Svvafiig stands with irvevfia in the passage.

The Man Christ was the son of God through or by

means of the Spirit (Power) of God which was given

to him "not by measure." The clearest proof of

this gift was his resurrection, effected by the Spirit

(Power) of God; and Christ was thus declared (de-

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15

fined) the Son of God ev Swapu. " Stop ! stop !"

says D.D., " irveiifia is the Personal Spirit of God."

—B. W. Do you forget that Spirit means nineteen

different things ? Why should I be denied the right

of choosing one of them for this passage ? You,

D.D., may choose another, if you please; but do not

say that my sense is against Scripture. It is against

your sense of Scripture.

I believe I understood the force of another word

in the 15 th verse of the 2nd chapter. But this

meaning occurred to me independently of any trans-

lation.

Olnveg ivdeUvvvrai to epyov rov vofxov ypairrov iv

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raiQ icapSuue avTiov. The epyov, i.e. the result of

the contrivance; as the ipyov of an art.

Tunbridge Wells, April 30th, 1833.

Q. What is an established Church ?—A. A set of

religious teachers, who, by law, possess a certain por-

tion of national wealth set apart for them exclusively,

for no other reason but that they bind themselves to

teach and profess certain doctrines. Q. Is that a

good reason ?—A. It is a good one if the doctrines

are true. Q. Does not the law declare that ?—A. It

certainly implies it; but what does the law know

about the truth of theological doctrines ? Q. If the

ground on which an established church stands (in

Protestant countries) is so unsound, will the church

continue long to exist ?—A. I cannot give a definite

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answer to that question. A number of old establish-

ments continue long in existence. The numerous

interests concerned in the preservation of the Church

are likely to support it nearly as it is, till there is a

strong political change in this country: that there

will be a very strong one at no very distant period, I

have no doubt. Q. What do you think is the present

state of public opinion on the subject of the Church-

establishment ?—A. In a country where dissent is

allowed by Law, public opinion must always be

against it. Q. Do you think that in intolerant coun-

tries public opinion is not against the Church-esta-

blishment ?—A. Where dissent is not permitted, there

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are numbers who are strongly attached to the Church

from superstition; and, questions upon these subjects

being forbidden, the old feelings and habits remain

generally undisturbed. The small number of think-

ing men who disapprove of, and, perhaps, hate the

Roman Catholic establishment in those countries,

are frequently reconciled to its existence, as a neces-

sary contrivance to keep the mass of the people quiet.

As to the truth of the doctrines, there is no question

in those countries. The establishment, to some, is

of divine origin; to others, it is an imposture—but a

necessary one. The former approve it without hesi-

tation ; the latter have no preference for any other.

Not so in Protestant countries. The great mass of

the people (if dissenters) disapprove the establishment

as religiously wrong; and each man knows what he

should substitute for it, if it were left to him. Every

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

17

disseiiter disapproves of the establishment on principle.

For the sake of that principle, if he is a minister, he

submits to the daily mortification of seeing others

take precedence of him; and is left to poverty and

obscurity, because they are wrong, (for so he believes,)

and for that very reason obtain all the advantages

from which he is precluded. This will not be tolera-

ted much longer. It would be safer for any esta-

blished Church, if Parliament were to say,—' Here is

property for teachers of religion—we are no judges

of which of the Christian sects is, theologically speak-

ing, the best,—but this, or that, seems to us the one

best fitted to assist the business of Government, whe-

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ther true or false. We appropriate, therefore, this pro-

perty to those who hold such and such doctrines.'

This would raise less opposition than the claim of

precedence on the plea of Truth, which implies an

insult.

Tunbridge Wells, 1st May, 1833.

How could Christianity have been received among

thousands of thousands so quickly, unless their minds

had been disposed as by a common impulse ? We

know such impulses for good and for evil. The

writings of the New Testament call it the Spirit,

the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. From Paul's

indirect account of the Corinthians, it appears that

enthusiasm broke out in many. This is natural. If

by the immediate operation of God, certain men re-

ceived a clear and simultaneous view of Christianity,

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accompanied with courage, zeal, and some superna-

tural gifts suited to the work of laying the founda-

tions of Christianity, it is almost an inevitable conse-

quence that the nervous and hysterical persons who

observed this should become morbidly affected by it.—

As to what in the New Testament is called the Spirit

of God—those holy desires, those high moral views,

which the most philosophical persons must acknow-

ledge (if they have experienced them) to come from

out of the mind itself—nothing is more reasonable

than that on such an occasion as that of the publica-

tion of Christianity, they should have been abun-

dantly given to the human agents of that great work.

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—1 cannot suppose my mind to be insulated away

from the infinite mind, from which I acknowledge it

to proceed. I feel it my duty—indeed, my want—to

approach the Father of my spirit; and, when I ap-

proach him, I doubt not he gives me more and more

of his Spirit.

The same day.

As the secret hand of Providence was, about the

end of the 15th century, preparing the open resist-

ance to the pretended living oracle of the Church,

which successfully established the Reformation, so, I

humbly believe, it is, at this time, preparing the

means of removing the evils which oppress Christian-

ity from the notion of a dead or verbal oracle.—No-

thing can be more anomalous than the state of the

Protestant Churches in regard to the Bible. Here

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19

we have a book, a translated book, which is identified

with God, with Christ, and with the very means

which are intended to save men. Is it the material

book—the figure of the letters—the sound of the

words, which are to perform this beneficial office for

man ? People are shocked at the supposition. Then

it must be the sense, i.e. one sense out of a multi-

tude which the words of the book may bear. Which ?

Here we split. Numerous answers are heard, all in

angry and uncharitable accents. Some one of these

interpretations may be true. It might happen, in-

deed, that all missed the true meaning. But what

has become of the oracle, on the certainty of which

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the salvation of men is believed to depend ? I know

that this will be met with the invidious observation—

" so there is no revelation from God ?" I answer, It

is a fact that there is no revelation of the kind which

you represent. When the Papists urge that the

Scripture is useless without an infallible interpreter,

do Protestants submit to the charge ? Why should

a similar inference be valid when I say that the letter

of the Scripture is not, and cannot be, an infallible

interpreter of the Spirit of Revelation? What I

deny is, that Revelation was granted with an inten-

tion of making saving faith depend on the sense of

figurative and notional words. In that case no one

can be saved but those who, in the Lottery of theo-

logical opinions, draw the right ticket. But what a

strange Revelation this is ! What a strange Gospel,

i.e. Good Tidings !

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What then is the Scripture ? A written collection

of Traditions and Speeches concerning Revelation,

collected and preserved under that Providence of

God which established, propagated, and preserves

Christianity ?—We have no higher source of informa-

tion upon religious points. But is it not inspired"?.—

I will not give an answer to this question till I am

told what the interrogator means by the inspiration

of a book.—I acknowledge that some of the authors

of the books of Scripture possessed supernatural gifts

for certain purposes. But that they were not totally

exempted from error as writers, I know as a fact

from their writings. That the writings themselves

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have not been preserved from interpolation, I know

as a fact. An error of the slightest description, an

interpolation of the most indifferent kind (that of

the three witnesses is not trifling),—if any such thing

is actually found in the Bible, the theory of plenary

inspiration is at an end.—" But how can it be sup-

posed that God would allow error in essentials V I

answer, " How can it be supposed that he would

allow three or four, perhaps twenty, meanings in the

words which were to convey those essentials V These

unquestionable facts, therefore, convince me that

those points cannot be essentials. " But (it is said)

even the Divinity of Christ is denied by Unitarians, as

not contained in the Scriptures according to their true

sense." Very true: and for that reason I conceive

that the acknowledgment of the Divinity of Christ

cannot be one of the essentials of Christianity.—

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AND CORRESPONDENCE. 21

" Horrible!" It may he so; but I see no alternative

between charging God with setting a trap for men,

and my conclusion that he does not demand from

them such an explicit acknowledgment.

But is there anything in the Scriptures upon which

Christians are agreed ?—A. great deal, and of the ut-

most importance.—All good men who acknowledge

Christ as their Divine Master, agree in the Spirit

of his doctrine. They all know what temper of

mind, what course of action, what views and hopes

the Spirit of Christ implies and teaches. This there-

fore, and nothing else, can be essential. The Gospel

contains no logical, no verbal questions. The Spirit

of God strengthened the apostles to preach the

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Spirit of the Gospel, and thereupon the revelation is

perfect.—The true Christians whom their preaching

formed were (as such Christians will always be) the

true record of the essentials of the Gospel. (2 Cor. iii.)

Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and

lead of all men . . . manifestly declared to be the

epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with

ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in

tables of stone (why should parchment be more

fit) but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such

trust have we through Christ to God-ward . . . who

also hath made us able ministers of the New Testa-

ment ; not of the letter; but of the spirit; for the let-

ter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

But what shall we say of the Old Testament ?—

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EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

The Old Testament is a collection of venerable records

of the peculiar government of God, in relation to that

people from which Christ was to come. It contains

the system of moral discipline under which the hopes

of the Messiah, and the worship of the one true God,

were preserved. It contains prophecies concerning

the Messiah which are very striking, and which were

much more so to the Jews, many of whom accepted

the Gospel on that ground. But why should an al-

ternative be made, either to believe that the writers

of those books never added the account of a miracle,

as an ornament,—or to reject Christ and his Gospel ?

—This is an outrageous spirit of theory !

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Tunbridge Wells, May 17th, 1833.

My illness has greatly increased for the last five or

six days. I feel better to-day, but very weak. I

have scarcely been able to look into a book, much

less to write.

I have been considering how little Theological

doctrine most of Paul's epistles contain.—I am

more and more convinced that the teaching of the

apostles (especially Paul's) consisted more in nega-

tive than in positive doctrines—more in declaring

what is not, than what is true religion. What

true religion is they announced in very few words.—

They taught men that the spiritual safety (salvation)

of men depends on the practice of virtue, as explained

by Christ, supported by trust in God's mercy, through

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

23

Christ.—But Paul's chief employment consisted in

dissuading men from the practice of other means of

eanctification.

I have been considering the general character of

Paul's 1st Ep. to Timothy, thinking, while I read it,

what a modern archbishop (say of Canterbury) would

write in similar circumstances to a young pupil who

had been appointed to a See in Ireland. What a

cloud of metaphysics would His Grace raise about

Unitarianism, Popery, Arianism, &c. St. Paul does

no such thing. He gives a good deal of advice in

regard to conduct: .and when he comes to the point

of persons who depart from the Faith, he does not

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mention a single point of abstract doctrine. Falling

from the Faith is, in Paul's language, to fall from the

assurance of the truth, that, in religion, nothing is

necessary but the practice of virtue, and trust in

Christ for pardon and salvation. How are those

heretics—those men expressly foretold by the spirit,

characterised ?—Are they described as teaching the

'Ofioiovma, instead of the 'Ofioovma—&c, &c. ? No.

Their fatal errors consist in teaching ascetism, or re-

ligious gymnastics : forbidding to marry, command-

ing to abstain from meats, &c. What does Paul de-

sire Timothy to do ? " Refuse profane and old wives'

fables, and exercise thyself (rather is improperly

added in the English translation) unto godliness;

for bodily exercise," o-wjuartKrj yvfivaola, (i. e. ascetic

practices in regard to the body,) " profiteth little, but

godliness is profitable unto all things."

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24 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

Tunbridge Wells, Sunday,

May 26th, 1833.

At Mr. Pope's—during the short visit of the Arch-

bishop and his family to St. Leonard's.

Having finished a Sermon, which if my friend

should like, he will preach at his chapel, I have

collected my mind in prayer.

I am struck with the idea of the many thousands,

or rather millions, who, on this day, meet for Chris-

tian worship. It is true that superstition mixes with

the devotion of most of these persons—that many

join the Christian congregations from worldly mo-

tives. Yet, what an acknowledgment this is of the

supremacy of virtue! Whoever kneels before God, in

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the name of Christ, attests, more or less, that man

has within him a witness to the existence of some-

thing beyond, and above, every object that affects the

senses. Whoever acknowledges that the Son of God

submitted to death on the Cross, in order to produce

this moral state (and its future consequences)

among mankind, will either perceive, or be ready to

acknowledge, that no great blessing—no important

good—can be obtained without a sacrifice. Why

this should be, we do not know. But this wonderful

and successful instance of self-devotion is the noblest

lesson which has been presented to the mind of man.

" He that taketh not his cross and followeth after

me, is not worthy of me," Matt. x. 38. A declara-

tion, as true as it is beautiful—morally beautiful!

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

25

May I be worthy of being found in the train of

Christ, bearing my cross, bearing my share in suffer-

ing, for the sake of promoting the cause for which

Christ died !

Tunbridge Wells, June 8th, 1833.

The attempt to write a continuation of Doblado's

Letters, which I put into practice for a few days at

the other end of this Book, has interrupted the grow-

ing habit of writing some of my thoughts here. I

much doubt that I shall have either time or spirit

for that kind of composition. If I were to make an

effort, it would now be for another purpose. I have

read " The Travels of an Irish Gentleman in search

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of a Religion"—a work lately published, from the

pen of the poet Moore. It is a book of very mis-

chievous tendency. Its object is to increase the ha-

tred of the Irish Catholics against the Protestants.

Strange to say, the professed partisan of Liberty has

been employing his powerful talents in the service of

the Irish Priests. Not satisfied with the power

which they have over the Catholic population of Ire-

land, Mr. Moore is contributing with all his might to

the more perfect subjection of the Irish to the inter-

preters of the only safe rule of Faith—Romish Tra-

dition. He displays a great deal of reading in Ec-

clesiastical and controversial Writers. But using

with great art the most popular weapons, he takes

for granted that if the principal tenets of Popery are

found in the Fathers of the first four centuries,

VOL. II. C
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EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

Popery and Christianity must be identical. The first

volume contains the passages so often repeated by

the Papists; without a particle of criticism, though

the writer is too well read not to know the doubts

which hang over the Patres Apostolici. He himself,

in the character of a German Professor, asserts in the

second volume the frequency of forgery and interpo-

lation which prevailed in the second century. But

authorities are all he cares for. He knows that, in

regard to a numerous class of people, the fact that

St. Augustine and St. Ambrose worshipped reliques

is enough to make such worship a part of the Gospel.

These people will certainly not go to the originals,

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and much less examine what sort of men those two

, bishops were.

The second volume is written with great ability.

Such, however, is Mr. Moore's confidence in the pas-

sions and party spirit which he wishes to strengthen,

that he takes very great liberties with the Fathers

themselves, and goes so far as to prove that some of

those pillars of the Church had a very knowing eye

in regard to female beauty. His German Professor

speaks con amove on the subject of Rationalism. It

is impossible for the author to disguise how fully he

feels the weight of what his imaginary German says.

His pictures of the Reformers are drawn with all the

malignity of deep-seated hatred. The living and the

dead are treated with the utmost unfairness and

petulance. But after all, what is the arguments It

is this, and no other.

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

27

Popery is very ancient. Those who attack Popery

do not agree among themselves. The Scriptures

cannot make them agree. Many have become Uni-

tarians, infidels, &c. &c.—Ergo, let us renounce rea-

son, and put ourselves under the guidance of Rome.—

But is Rome a good guide ?—Of course. Can Rome

keep people in unity of sentiment ?—She certainly

knows how to keep them silent.—Is there no ten-

dency in Popery to produce infidelity ?—At all events,

it will not make a noise.—The tone of hypocritical

devotion with which the author renounces Reason

and embraces Faith, is disgusting. But when he

asserts, with the Divines of his party, that there is no

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alternative between Popery and Infidelity, is he not

aware that he proves the direct tendency of that

system to produce complete unbelief? Suppose the

alleged tendency of the Protestant principle of pri-

vate judgment to create unbelief, does not the author

know, that while the Protestant who doubts has a

very great number of stages at which to stop, be-

tween the Athanasian Creed and the rejection of

Christ, the Roman Catholic is directly and irresisti-

bly carried to that point, the moment he convinces

himself that his Church has erred in any one doc-

trine?—If he does not jump into that conclusion, he

becomes a Protestant, in fact, whatever he may con-

tinue to be in name. Mr. Moore cannot be so blind

as not to perceive that the want of positive agreement

among Protestants does not prove the supernatural

claims of the Church of Rome. The name Protes-

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EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

taut does not imply agreement in doctrine—it only

expresses the rejection of a pretended authority;—in

this all Protestants are agreed. The fair and well-

meaning disputant should endeavour to show that

they are wrong on that point. I wish I could write

an Answer to the work in question.

Redesdale, Stillorgan, Sept. 26th, 1833.

The work mentioned in the preceding note was

finished in Dublin on the 29th of August, i. e. in

about eighty-one days, or less than twelve weeks. I

am now seeing it through the press, and have al-

ready prepared a good quantity of additional matter

as illustrations. The four weeks which I spent at

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the Palace in Dublin by myself, were very favourable

to the completion of the work. During that time I

wrote two-thirds of it.* I have shown several por-

tions of my manuscript to the Rev. C. Dickinson, f

whose judgment I value highly. The Archbishop

has read it all. Both speak very encouragingly of it.

But as I go on correcting the press, I grow more

and more dissatisfied with my performance—and

wish I had been able to bring the whole into better

keeping. It certainly wants finishing. But I can

neither delay the publication, nor bestow much more

time upon it. I commit it to Providence, without

• The eight preceding weeks were to me full of trouble and suffer-

ing, especially in the house at St. Mary Abbot's, Kensington. I could

scarcely get a night's rest. Parts of the work were written at two

o'clock in the morning.

f The late Bishop of Meath.

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

29 -

desiring to obtain any gratification by it.—Though I

should rejoice to see it succeed, yet I look upon it as

a service which I was called upon to render to Reli-

gion. " I have done what I could." The result is

not within my power.

Redesdale, Nov. 6, 1833.

We are Englishmen, and they are Frenchmen—a

set of rascally beggars.

We are Frenchmen and they are Englishmen—

Sacre !

We are Spaniards and they are Americans.

We are Mexicans and they are Spaniards.

We are Russians and they are Poles.

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We are Poles and they are Muscovites.

" Is it not curious that words so very different in

meaning as Englishman, Frenchman, Spaniard, Pole,

&c. have the same effect on the passions and feel-

ings of mankind V

" You are mistaken.—You attribute the effects in

question to the wrong word. It is the word we that

produces them."
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( 31 )

CHAPTER IV.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1834.—iEtat. 59.

Dublin, Jan. 5, 1834.

My answer to Moore has been before the public

long enough to show in what manner it has been

received by some parties. The Dublin Pietists, re-

presented, it seems, by the Christian Observer, de-

clare themselves against it: yet they grant some

merit to the work. Not so the Protestant party

lately formed in Oxford, who, by means of the Bri-

tish Magazine, (a satellite of the British Critic,) are

endeavouring to make the Church of England as like

as possible to that of Rome—except in having a

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Pope. In that Periodical my work is treated with

the utmost scorn;—the author of it is declared to be

one of those who are convinced of the truth of Chris-

tianity against their will, and by the overpowering

character of the evidences—meaning, of course, the

argumentative evidences; he is called unlearned and

arrogant, &c. &c. On the two latter epithets I have

nothing to say. I have not been, indeed, indolent

in regard to learning; nor am I conscious of that

proud confidence in myself which might make me

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EXTRACTS PKOM JOURNALS

arrogant. Perhaps the Keviewer considers every

dissent from himself and his party as a piece of arro-

gance, and every view of criticism, history, &c. with

which he is not familiar, as betraying the want of a

regular literary education. But I will not quarrel

with him on that account. It is, however, of some

importance to the cause of Christianity, that a posi-

tive denial of what he asserts in regard to my reli-

gious conviction be prepared by me, to be published

after my death, perhaps, with some portions of this

Book. I am (thanks be to God!) a sincere believer

in Christ, and am satisfied that my belief is founded

on rational grounds. But it is not true that the

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argumentative evidence has forced me to believe.

"Were it not for the internal evidence addressed to

my heart, were it not for the moral attraction of the

Gospel, (acting, of course, in conjunction with the

historical evidence,) I should not have returned to

Christianity. My practical belief has always been,

and continues at this moment, disproportionate to

my logical conviction; and, from the nature of the

subject, I conceive it ought to be so. As far as I

can judge, I am safer in this state than in that of

those who trust so much in argument. I repeat,

that my conviction is rational; but in estimating the

reasons which make me a Christian, I find that the

most powerful and effective is the love which Christ

has obtained in my heart, and which I trust his

Divine spirit will nourish and increase to the last

moment of my life.
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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

33

Palace, Dublin, Jan. 28th. 1834.

My dear J ,

I need not give you an account of myself. I am just

what I have been for many years—a helpless invalid, to

whom the approach of threescore years does not open a

very encouraging prospect. But old age does me good. I

am happier than at any previous period of my life, because

I am more tranquil under the influence of religious hope.

Controversial points have ceased to harrass my mind, and I

see my end approaching under a calm conviction that death

will be a transition to a higher and infinitely more happy

condition, than the best which is allotted to man in this life.

When I look back to the agitated, dangerous, and uncer-

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tain course which I have been carried through, the protec-

tion which I have experienced at the hands of Providence is

to me a most certain pledge of final success. I trust I

shall die happy.—But I do not mean to write a sermon;—

this was only by the way, and unintended. •

Dublin, Jan. 31, 1834.

Religion, under the Christian system, is neither an

occupation, nor a science. All errors among Chris-

tians, as Christians, (both theoretical and practical

errors,) have arisen from misconceptions on this

point. First, in regard to the fact that religion,

under the Christian dispensation, is not an occupation

or employment, such as the Jewish and Pagan Opr\-

oKtta or devotion was. Had Christ intended that the

spiritual progress of his disciples should be in pro-

portion to the number and length of their religious

exercises, either he or his apostles would have given

some instructions concerning the character of these

c5
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devout practices. But we find nothing of this kind.

On the contrary, when James gives a description of

the Christian substitute for Op^aKeia, he reduces the

whole to works of benevolence. And let it be ob-

served that this comes from that apostle who (as we

may find by a comparison of all we know of him

from the Acts and his own Epistle, with what we

know of Peter and Paul,) had preserved as much of

the spirit of Judaism, as was not actually destructive

of the Gospel. There is nothing in the New Testa-

ment, regarding Christians, which can make us sup-

pose that piety consists in any thing like the piety of

those who, under the former dispensation, departed

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not from the Temple, fasting and praying. It is

curious (and to me an additional proof of what I am

stating) that if we admit the principle that Christian

piety consists in devotional practices, there is no

sound reason to object to Monachism. This is to me

a most powerful argumentum ad absurdum. And

there is no possibility of avoiding it. Allow the

piety which Keble and Newman wish to introduce;—

lay it down that having service at church three times

a-week is desirable for the promotion of Christian

piety, and then exert your ingenuity to discover why

we should wish for so much and no more. Of course,

cathedral service every day must be still more desire

able. Still more desirable would it be to have

Monasteries, where Christians should pass their lives

in singing psalms, in meditation, in pious reading—

to which if they added preaching, and visiting the

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

35

poor and sick, and fasting, and some other means

which their desire of keeping the body under would

easily suggest—we should have Monasteries among

Protestants, exactly upon the plan of the Popish Or-

ders.—I conceive, however, that this prospect would

not deter my friends. Nor do I indeed mean that

there is any thing positively wrong in all this. My

objection arises from the circumstance that it is not

Christianity.

But it will be said, are not such things means of

gracel—'Means of grace' is a favourite expression

with Protestant Pietists. But where are any means of

grace recommended in the New Testament ? Prayer

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and the Lord's Supper are certainly recommended to

the Christian, and both are of the greatest conse-

quence in supporting and increasing the spirit of

Christ in us. But neither Prayer nor the Lord's

Supper can be supposed to act by a kind of Rule of

Three. Now this is the kind of ratio between the

length of Prayer (which by the by is disapproved by

our Saviour) which the Oxford High Church Pietists

and many others seem to suppose. But if Prayer

must be incessant, (as St. Paul recommends,) it can-

not be formal—it cannot be external. It must con-

sist chiefly in the desire of the heart; it must be a

habitual longing to live unto Christ, to do every thing

for his sake. Living by Faith is not an occupation.

The beauty of this principle consists in converting

the commonest occupations of life into prayer and

adoration. The life of the most industrious man, if

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EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

he is a true Christian, becomes an uninterrupted

exercise of piety.

Letter to Lord Holland.

Palace, Dublin, Feb. 20th, 1834.

My dear Lord Holland,

The Archbishop has given me the agreeable commission

of writing to you in his name, to thank yo» for your letter

concerning his second Letter to Lord Grey. •

I need not say much about myself, for invalids at my

time of life do not commonly mend. I seldom venture out,

but as I can employ myself without much fatigue at homer

I do not regret the want of bodily strength to move about.

I have lately taken a fancy to German, and have succeeded

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in reading it with tolerable ease. It is to me the most in-

teresting of living languages. Its copiousness makes it

very difficult. I admire the learning, as well as the mode-

ration, of some of their Divines. There is- one Neander,

Professor of Divinity at Berlin, whose Ecclesiastical History

I have lately read with very great interest. My admiration

of the writer induced me to write to him a long Latin letter,

to which I yesterday received a very kind answer in the

same language. This is something like the literary corre-

spondence of former times.

My best regards to Lady Holland and Mr. Allen.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

Letter from Lord Holland.

6th March, 1834.

Dear Blanco,

I believe you to be the author and editor of the Second

Travels of an Irishman in search of a Religion ; if you are,

accept my best and warmest thanks for the delight and ia-
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AND CORRESPONDENCE. 87

struction I have derived from the perusal of that lively,

acute, and in many particulars, original work. The banter

is good, and the argument most powerful.

Yours ever,

Vassall Holland.

When you write, tell me of the health and well-being

and doing of your Archbishop. I wish to God we had him

permanently in the House of Lords. Well could we spare

for him enow of such as, for their bellies' sake, creep, and

intrude, and climb into the fold.

Palace, Dublin, March 8th, 1834.

My dear Lord Holland,

I write in bed, where I have been these last three days

with a severe bilious fever. I hope I am now recovering.

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Many thanks for your kind expressions in regard to the

Second Travels. The work is mine, and I have no particular

desire to preserve the incog. I published it anonymously

because I was answering an anonymous work, and because

the tone and character I wished to give it was totally re-

moved from theological and controversial gravity. It cer-

tainly gives me the highest satisfaction to have your appro-

bation of it.

My Archbishop is tolerably well; but his incessant acti-

vity is I fear too much even for his constitutional strength,

which is certainly considerable. I am sure that if you had

him in the House of Lords he would keep many of the

Members in better order than they are at present. The

manner in which he is attacked by the Standard shows how

much they are afraid of him. He is certainly afraid of no

man. He is a sensible and refined John Knox.

My best regards to Lady Holland and Allen. I feel

fatigued, and must finish this scrawl.

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.
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Redesdale, April 1st, 1834.

I have been lately reading part of a German

pamphlet by Nitssch, Professor of Theology at Bonn,

entitled, Uber den Religionsbegriff der Alten—i. e.

On the Notion which the Ancients expressed by the

word Religion. The German treatise is very learned

and instructive. The philological disquisition by

which the author wishes to prove that Cicero's deri-

vation a relegendo is better than that of Lactantius'

a religando, is beautiful.—But I do not mean to settle

that question. To me, this point has appeared in

connection with a more important one—Is Christi-

anity properly called the Christian Religion ?—Is

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the Gospel a Religion ?—We do not find any word

equivalent to Religion applied to the Gospel in the

New Testament. Appellations of that kind originated

with the Christian writers, as soon as the true cha-

racter of Christianity began to be obscured in the

minds of those who professed it. Evatfitta, Opt)<TKua,

would be ill adapted to a revelation the very object

of which is, to remove all notions of means by which

men may worship well and properly, or become dp rj-

<tkm, according to a regular method. The Christian

6pr\<jKtia is benevolence and purity according to the

apostle James; and true worshippers, according to

Christ, are those who worship in spirit, i. e. mentally,

not according to worldly or fleshly elements, (direc-

tions, instructions,) and in truth, i. e. without sym-

bols and emblems.—In my opinion, Christ came to

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39

liberate mankind from all religion, that great source

of the worst human evils;

" Tantum Religio potuit auadere malorum !"

All men devoted to a religion are slaves, servants,

Optical.—Christ came to make us free. " Then said

Jesus to those Jews who believed in him, If ye con-

tinue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed,

and ye will know the truth, (the Truth into which

those who continued his disciples were led by the

Holy Spirit, i. e. the saving truth of the Gospel,)

and the truth mil make you free." John viii. 31, 32.

There are two kinds of slavery in this matter. One

is slavery to sin—to which Christ alludes in verse

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34; the other is slavery to superstition—Opijcncem.

Christ did not allude to this last, because not even

his apostles were able to understand the true spiritual

freedom which the Gospel was to give those who

should believe in him. Freedom from sin is the na-

tural consequence of that Spirit of God which makes

us free from all Law, and consequently from all Re-

ligion.—The evils which oppress Christianity will

disappear, in proportion as Christians can read this

statement without being shocked. Yet St. Paul

teaches nothing so repeatedly, so clearly as this.

Redesdale, April 14th, 1834.

Religion—i. e. the method of pleasing the Deity—

may be, 1st. external, ceremonial, addressed to the

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senses, and using the body as an instrument of devo-

tion.—Hence Paul calls it carnal, i. e. confined chiefly

to the flesh, the body, the animal part of man—and to

the i/w^i}, the seat of sentiment or feeling.—(It is a pity

that English should be so poor in philosophical terms.

Sensual has been irrecoverably degraded to express

gross pleasure. Sensuous, which has been proposed,

is disagreeable, and has some secret association in

the mind with something like sensual. I wish it

were possible to introduce sensive or sentitive.—The

termination ive forms a very numerous family of what

might be called active adjectives. Sensive or sentitive

would express, by analogy, that which makes us feel.

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But the thing is hopeless. Words must be adopted

by the multitude, and where the multitude feel no

want of a word, they will not put themselves to the

trouble of understanding it; they will set their faces

against it in the most resolute manner.)

2nd. Religion may be verbal, i.e. consisting in

the belief that the sense of certain words or combina-

tion of words is rightly expressed by certain other

words or combinations of words, and not by any other.

—Christianity has been reduced to this state by

Churches and Divines.

3rd. Religion may be spiritual, i. e. consisting in a

certain state of the spirit or mind of man, for the go-

vernment of the whole man. Such is genuine Chris-

tianity.—That state of mind is called Faith.

It is not to be supposed that, in reality, any one

of these species can exist purely by themselves, and

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41

without running more or less into each other. Even

the grossest idolatry is intended to produce a certain

state of mind, for the moral government of man.—The

verbal religion of the Christian churches, i. e. of the

different bodies of clergy, (for soon after the death of

the apostles, Church began to confine its signification

more and more to that sense,) allows more or less

true faith to exist in individuals.—Finally, the spiritual

religion does not necessarily exclude externals: it

only demands that the externals shall be considered

as mere expressions of the state of the mind which has

true faith. Spiritual religion rejects everything ex-

ternal which is proposed as a means of salvation, that

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is, a method to obtain the favour of the Deity.

To the Rev. George Armstrong, Kihharvan, Drogheda.

Palace, Dublin, May 1st, 1834.

Dear Sir,

The letters which you had the goodness to address me,

while I was residing at Oxford, the ability and love of

truth which the pamphlets accompanying them display, and

the goodnatured alacrity with which you appeared in my

defence, when I was grossly abused and calumniated in the

Irish papers, do not allow me to forget you, though I have

not the pleasure of knowing you personally. Ever since,

two years ago, I came to reside in this country, invited by

my kind friend the Archbishop of Dublin, (not to hold pre-

ferment, for that would be against a most solemn determi-

nation taken by me long since; but to live under his roof

as a favoured friend,) I began to make inquiries as to your

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residence, that I might have the pleasure of expressing to

you the sentiments which I have stated already. Many

(unfortunately enough !) would interpret this feeling by sup-

posing a tendency on my mind towards the theological

principles which you have publicly embraced. But they

would be very much mistaken. I am very far from approv-

ing the definite denials of the Trinitarian doctrines, and the

definite assertions which some Unitarians substitute for those

doctrines; though I regret the existence of too much defi-

niteness of metaphysical language, on the side to which I

belong. The two little works which I take the liberty to

send for your acceptance (especially that which is published

without my name) will show you in what spirit I would (if

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I had power) endeavour to conciliate Christians (who are

worthy of that name) on points where human language can-

not convey any definite notion, and is constantly exposed to

contradict itself. The day, I trust, will come, though, es-

pecially in this country, it will not dawn till some genera-

tions have passed away, when, whatever may be the dif-

ference of what may be called the technical language of

theology, all who believe in God, the Father of Christ, all

who love God in Christ, all who trust, for life and eternity,

in God through Christ, will recognize each other as heirs

of salvation. Would that Christians had never attempted

to explain what no created mind can grasp—and that such

analyses (as they may well be called,) of the Divine nature,

which are the chief cause of the prevalent Unbelief in Eu-

rope, had never been attempted, in the rash spirit of con-

troversial zeal. As long as I considered such theories as

essential points, my Christianity was in danger. I thank

God that since I learnt to give them their proper value, not

only my trust in Christ, in his unity with God, has become

a part I may say of my moral being, but my love of Him,

and my wish to obey Him, have increased. I do not attempt

to understand the physiology of that union; neither is it

necessary to my Faith.
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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

43

With earnest prayer for your spiritual welfare, and such

temporal blessings as may contribute to it, I am,

Dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

P.S. I could not procure your address till two days ago.

—I am in the country at a short distance from Dublin, but

letters directed to the Palace will reach me.

May 1st, 1834.

Never establish the Existence of a Miracle, on the

ground that it is wanted.

According to the established notions about faith,

no miracle could be conceived more absolutely wanted

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than that which would afford an infallible expounder

of the Scriptures.—But we are no judges of what is

a real want in the eyes of God. We certainly want

many things which he has not given us.

May 5th, 1834.

If ever I find myself ready to write on that most

important point—the authority of the Bible, in con-

tradistinction of what is called the inspiration of the

Bible—I wish to introduce an illustration by means

of a German tale, which I have in Bernay's Antho-

logy. It is the tale of the Family ring, which was to

be possessed by the representative of the family, so

that every one should transmit it to him who was to

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EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

succeed him in that representation. One of the pos-

sessors of the ring had three sons, whom he loved

equally. To each of them he secretly promised the

ring. He had two other rings made, which could not

be distinguished from the old one, and gave one to

each of his sons. When the man died, each con-

tended that he was Lord of the others by virtue of

the true ring. The Judge declared that it was evi-

dently the intention of their father to make them all

equal; and that since the peculiar property of the

ring had always been believed to be, the power of

making the possessor particularly amiable, each

should strive to prove himself the possessor of the true

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ring, by showing his superiority in that quality.

Redesdale, May 20th, 1834.

As the light of this world is addressed to the eye,

so every information, instruction, revelation, is ad-

dressed to the Understanding. As closing, injuring

or destroying our own eyes would be a strange mark

of respect to the material Sun—the source of mate-

rial light—so it must be most outrageous to para-

lyse our Understanding in honour of the Sun of

Righteousness, the source of Christian revelation or

spiritual light.

Redesdale, May 25th, 1834.

A note which I have just received is very valuable

to me. The instance which my dear friend William

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

45

Pope mentions in it, of a London physician, danger-

ously ill, who has strengthened his wavering Chris-

tian faith by means of my " Second Travels," is ex-

tremely satisfactory. My chief aim in that work

was to assist persons in that situation; and I thank

God that I have not entirely missed that aim. The

freedom with which, for several years, I have followed

the " light that is in me" in the study of Christianity,

has at times raised an apprehension that I might be

a dangerous writer, and a dangerous speaker or con-

verser on those subjects. Yet I have followed " my

light," I believe, humbly and conscientiously. I have

kept back every view which I could not myself dis-

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cover clearly. But I could never compromise truth,

i. e. my conviction, the only truth to which I owe my

moral and intellectual homage. Divine truth cannot

reach man except through the mirror of his under-

standing.* Beyond that reflection no mortal can go;

and therefore that reflection, corrected from every

distorting, self-seeking medium (to the utmost of each

man's power, and of course with prayer to God)

must be the truth which every one is bound to

present and offer in language, for acceptance or re-

jection, to others. In having acted according to this

rule, I cannot at all accuse or reproach myself. But

nevertheless, it is very gratifying to one who knows

his own weakness and liability to error, to possess

• Let reflecting Christians meditate on 1 Cor. xiii. 12, remembering

to put " by means of a mirror," instead of " through a glass;" and " in

hints or enigmas," instead of " darkly." See " Second Travels."

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facts which prove that he has not been deceived in

his hopes, or frustrated in his efforts.

This letter happened to come yesterday from Dub-

lin, together with a printed proof (privately commu-

nicated) of a forthcoming answer, in the Christian

Examiner, to my 'Letter on the Law of Anti-Religious

Libel.'* The article itself is a very feeble produc-

tion ; but it shows badly-suppressed indignation

raised by the lecture which I gave a man, unknown

to me, but evidently ignorant and superficial, who

conceals his mental deficiencies by a verbose style,

and gives to his followers the notion of cleverness by

the want of logical accuracy, which involves him in

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verbal fallacies, which, among weak minds, are readily

mistaken for delicate and quick ingenuity. I find

also by the same conveyance, that the Bishop of

Ferns, who, under the signature S. N., wrote a very

unmeaning pamphlet against John Search, has written

an answer to my observations, which is to appear in

the same periodical next month. This answer I ex-

pect to be still more assuming and contemptuous than

the above-mentioned article. Though I can bear

this and more in defence of what I think right, yet

to such an invalid as I am, these attacks are unplea-

sant, because the public exhibition of personal dislike

must always be painful, but especially to a man who

has no external dignity to protect him, or advantages

to make compensation for these disagreeables. But

[• Published in 1834.—8vo. pp. 106. An answer to some strictures

upon it appeared in the same year.—8vo. pp. 36.]

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47

to me it is more than compensation to have received,

on the very day I wanted it most, such a proof as

Pope's letter, of my having been useful to one, at

least, of my fellow Christians, or fellow-men.

In regard to the Bishop of Ferns, I shall take this

opportunity of recording that I endeavoured to treat

him with all the respect due to his age, though, ap-

pearing as he did in a disguise, he had no right to

expect the same tone of deference which I would

have used if he had shown himself in propria persona.

As it was, I had to answer, not an argument, but

what might be called the peevish and peremptory dis-

approbation of a very old man, who is accustomed to

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send away what and whom he dislikes with that gut-

tural sound which has unfortunately no better name

than a grunt.

Redesdale, June 14th, 1834.

Seldom are truly Christian views proposed to the

few who can or will perceive their superiority over

the strange medley of false philosophy and supersti-

tion which makes up the Catechistical, Liturgical,

and Articular Christianity of the great mass of pro-

fessors of the Gospel, without even the most liberal

and enlightened exclaiming,—Oh! but would you

unsettle people's minds, and expose them to become

infidels! Now to whom did Christ declare the most

pure and elevated principle of religion which was

ever expressed in human language ?—To a poor Sa-

maritan woman.—" Woman, believe me, that neither

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in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem," &c. He

was not afraid of removing at once all externals from

the notion of divine worship.—But our wise men of

the Church know better.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Redesdale, Aug. 7th, 1834.

My dear Sir,

I have this morning received your very kind and inter-

esting letter of the 26th last; and, though it is impossible

for me at this moment to take its contents into due consi-

deration, I wish to acknowledge the receipt of your valuable

observations without delay, in order to avoid even a tempo-

rary misunderstanding of my silence. In hearing the opi-

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nions of a candid man concerning my works and myself, I

take a particular delight even when they tend to show that

I am wrong. Even if your judgment were not so generally

favourable to my works, I would heartily thank you for

your remarks. For the present, however, I shall only say

that I am not at all inclined to defend every incidental sen-

timent expressed in my Evidence against Catholicism. My

love of truth, I trust, has been the same at all periods of

my life ; but my knowledge and experience must naturally

have been less ten years ago, than I hope they are now. I

never at any time believed that I had fully "attained" that

Truth for which my heart will never cease to pant till it

ceases to beat. On the contrary, I am sometimes sur-

prised, when I remember the circumstances in which I

wrote, when I first appeared before the English public as a

Divine, that I did not take up much more from established

opinions. I believe I said somewhere (you must know that

I dislike looking into my own works) that when I returned

to Faith in Christ, the Church of England appeared to me

like the renovated house of my youth. It is unfortunately

too true. The scholastic system to which that name of the

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

49

Church of England is usually given, is too similar indeed to

that in which I was brought up. It was therefore natural

that, when I found my trust in Christ revived, I should

glide into that scholastic superstructure which for many

years had been familiar to my mind. Much, indeed, of the

Priest revived in me; I feel thankful to the guiding hand

of Providence that it was not more. But I must stop for

the present.

Nothing hut the absolute impossibility of accepting your

kind invitation to your house, would induce me to send an

excuse. But you must know that the state of my health is

such as to prevent my dining with my domestic friends,

when they have a party. An internal complaint, from

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which I have suffered very much for many years, has reduced

me to such a debility, that even conversation exhausts me.

I cannot travel even a few miles without inconvenience ;

and when the Archbishop and all his family went over to

Wales a few weeks ago, for the sake of the children's

health, I was obliged to remain in solitude, though the

greatest comfort I have in life is the company of these dear

friends. Many, many thanks for your kindness.

I am engaged in a work entitled Heresy and the Inquisi-

tion. I doubt whether my remaining strength is equal to

the labour of such an undertaking. But I shall leave the

event to Providence.

Believe me, with feelings of sincere respect and Christian

love,

My dear Sir,

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Redesdale, Aug. 31st, 1834.

My dear Sir,

Increased bodily indisposition has hitherto prevented my

reconsidering the interesting contents of your eloquent and

VOL. II. D
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powerful letter of July 26th last: and I much regret that

the difficulty in which I find myself here of getting a frank,

and still more the state of my health, will not allow me to

give anything approaching to a detailed answer to every

one of your observations which might seem to require it.

I must therefore content myself with giving you this proof

that your letter has deeply engaged my attention, and that

by the short and hurried acknowledgment which I made of

it, I did not intend to put the subject aside. I must begin

by apologising for having given you the name of Unitarian,

though, I can assure you, that name was never used by me

as a reproach. Even under the return of that portion of

the priestly spirit which I suffered when, with the purest in-
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tentions, I took the pen against Catholicism, I could not

acquiesce in the theological opinion of those who deny to

Unitarians the name of Christians. I am not aware that

any expression in my controversial writings contradicts this

sentiment. If it should be otherwise, I must have been

betrayed into language which had not its source in myself:

it must have been an unintentional adoption of that esta-

blished phraseology of the generality of Divines, against

which a man in my peculiar circumstances could not well

be upon his guard. Aware of this danger (though too late

to have avoided it) I lately published a corrected edition of

my Poor Man's Preservative, and if my life and remaining

strength are spared for some time, it is my intention to ex-

amine The Evidence against Catholicism, and leave behind

me such notes, as, at a future time, (if ever another edition

should appear,) may be necessary to retract and efface

whatever traces of my original school of theology shall be

found in the work. I feel a particular reluctance to read

my published works over again ; but I will not spare myself

whatever trouble and discomfort may be necessary for my

Rbtractationes.

I must, in the next place, acknowledge that my words,

" the side to which I belong," are naturally open to tbe

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friendly censure you have passed upon them. But all I

meant by that unmeasured expression was, that I do not

belong to that class of Divines who are commonly called

Unitarians. To the Church of England, as a political body,

I certainly do not belong : much less do I belong to that

numerous portion of her clergy, who, under the name of

Orthodoxy, cherish a most intolerant and bigoted spirit. In

the preface to the " Second Travels," I have stated in what

sense I belong to the Church of England. Of the intole-

rant spirit which prevails among many of its members, I

had no idea, when I first appeared as a theological writer.

Experience—bitter experience—made me gradually ac-

quainted with the real state of things in the Church; and

my residence in this country has finally disclosed the whole

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of the evil before my eyes. Under the impressions which

my mind has lately received, I would not continue my con-

nection, slight as it is, with the Church, if I knew any other

to which I could find no serious objection. It is true (as I

have more than once declared to my friends) that my theo-

logical studies have been for several years carried on in the

spirit of the Divines commonly called Unitarians and Ra-

tionalists. But though my independence of mind is equal

to theirs, my conclusions differ from those which are

avowed in their congregations (as far as I know them), very

substantially. I believe that if I were twenty years younger,

I should be very much inclined to open a chapel of my own,

and avoid the giving it any denomination, besides that of

Christian. But it is evident that my course cannot be far

from its end. Whatever powers are left me, I am, however,

determined to employ in writing against the Spirit of Ortho-

dory—that bane of the Christian Church, which began to

corrupt it almost in the time of the Apostles themselves. I

cannot conclude without suggesting to you how desirable it

would be that the Ministers of the Gospel, called Unitarians,

should avoid Dogmatism, or positive doctrines about the

Tnere humanity of Christ, leaving the subject in the state in

D2
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which it is unquestionably found in the Scriptures. I say

unquestionably, though I imply a doubt which many Unita-

rians do not entertain, because it cannot be denied that to

settle the question of the nature of Christ by setting texts

against texts is utterly impracticable in regard to the mass

of Christians. That Providence intended to leave the sub-

ject in that undefinable state, is to me a fact, proved by the

balancing tendency (if I may use the expression) which I

observe in the New Testament. Why should we not leave

it so ? There is another point of the utmost importance to

the progress of truly liberal Christian theology : the acqui-

escence of Unitarians in the practice of worshipping the One

God in Christ. This I conceive to be independent of the

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metaphysical questions on the two Natures. To me it is

enough to hear Christ say that men should worship him as

they worshipped the Father : and that he and his Father are

one. I say that this is enough to justify the practice of

addressing ourselves to God incarnate—by which I under-

stand God united with Christ in regard to us, without de-

fining the manner of the Union. If to do this were un-

christian, I cannot conceive that the Scriptures of the New

Testament would leave such an opening to the practice.

I have written in a state of great weakness, and I beg you

to make allowances accordingly. It is at all times most

difficult to make oneself understood upon these subjects ;

but much more so when deep attention is painful, and when

what would require a volume must be reduced to the limits

of one sheet of paper.

With earnest prayer for light from above to you and to

me, and in the spirit of Christian fellowship, I remain,

My dear Sir,

Very sincerely yours,

J. Blanco White.

P.S.—I have never read anything of Dr. Channing, ex-

cept his Sermon on the Christian Evidence, which has been

published in Spanish at my suggestion. We go to Dublin

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53

in November. If during the winter you should happen to

be in town, it would give me great pleasure to see you at

the Palace.

Redesdale, September 23rd, 1834.

I feel like Jonah under the withered gourd. I am

very near the end of my life's day—and what have I

done ? What have my endeavours to oppose corrupt

Christianity produced ? Nothing that I can perceive,

but my own weariness of spirit, and my mental soli-

tude—for I have no one with me. Yet God knows

what is best. I place my poor exertions and the

sorrows which have attended them in his hands. I

do not regret the origin of all—my determination to

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quit my country. I approve that resolution more

and more; the consciousness of having loved truth,

and detested dissimulation, is worth what I have en-

dured, what I endure, and much more.

My excellent friend, the Archbishop, probably

from having heard that my fifth Letter on Heresy

and the Inquisition is too violent against Priesthoods,

has endeavoured to give me advice on this point, and

has done it with every possible precaution not to ap-

pear to do so. He was mentioning this morning how

necessary it is to be on one's guard against reviving

early prejudices; and instanced this in my own case,

who having conceived a great horror of Bishops and

Priests in my youth, am apt to give way to the same

feeling when anything calls it forth in my old age.

That such a feeling has revived in me very actively,

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is certain. But is this the effect of prejudice or of

experience? I became thoroughly acquainted with

the original priesthood who raised their authority

upon Christianity. This familiar and most accurate

knowledge made me abhor an institution, which con-

verts men into instruments of the greatest evils with

which my life has made me acquainted. I fled from

that Priesthood; came to England; found another

Priesthood, which appeared to me to have succeeded

in avoiding whatever is odious and fatal in the Romish

Clergy. The deep impressions which I had derived

from my experience in regard to the Eomish Priest-

hood were softened by this more recent impression.

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I considered my horror of all Priests in the light of a

prejudice, and took my place among the Protestant

Clergy. Here a second course of experience has

made me perceive that the Protestant Priesthood is

very far from being free from the mischievous ten-

dencies which made me quit my country; that in

spite of the principles which alone could justify the

Reformation, in spite of political freedom, the Protes-

tant Clergy, as a Priesthood, are (I do not speak of

every individual) bigoted, intolerant, jealous of men-

tal progress, and deliberately opposed to every thing

which is not calculated to keep the mass of the people

in a state of pupilage to the Church, that is, a union

of Priests. I have seen this clearer and clearer every

day, and my residence in Ireland has shown to me

the whole extent of the evil. Now, are my present

feelings revived prejudice, or confirmed experience ?

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55

My impressions of the character of the Priesthood

among Roman Catholics were certainly not prejudices.

Did not I, on the contrary, prejudge, when I per-

suaded myself that a Priesthood did not contain the

same seeds of evil under the form of a Protestant

Church ? Experience tells me, I did.

Redesdale, Oct. 8, 1834.

I cannot omit, what I think a duty,—entering here

a most important testimony of my experience.

Never before, during the course of my life, have I

felt anything approaching to the heartfelt conviction

which I now have, especially at certain times, that

the spirit of Christ is " poured abroad in my heart."

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Never was I more certain of the fact that I am no-

thing without the assistance of that divine spirit—

that moral influence (of its physiology I know nothing)

which Christ has promised to those who give them-

selves up to him by Trust (Faith). Never did I

value so much the comfort which may be derived

from those passages of Scripture, to which that Spirit

bears witness in my spirit, that they are his own.

And when does all this happen ?—When after a long

and painful struggle with the formidable difficulties

of the theological theory of Inspiration, I have totally

rejected that theory. It is the work of the spirit of

God, that that theory has not made me a more settled

unbeliever than I was in my younger days. Oh that

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I could convey to the Christian world the truth of

Christianity as it is now impressed upon my mind.

But I am nothing,—I wish to be nothing but what

God's Providence has intended me for. May that

good Providence lead me, during this latter portion

of my life, so that I may not seek myself, but the

glory of God, and the good of my fellow Christians—

nay, of all mankind—if not in action, in patience and

prayer. Amen.

Dublin, Dec. 1, 1834.

I enter this Memorandum with much pain. *

I had given to my MS. translation of

Neander's Pamphlet on the Free Teaching of Theo-

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logy, and it lay this morning on the breakfast table.

When the Archbishop came in, I expressed my sincere

regret that, owing to the desire of putting it in his

power, when I publish anything, to say that he had

not read it, and consequently is not answerable for

any opinions expressed by me, I could not avail

myself of his judgment, as I used to do formerly.

He answered, " that there was no reason why I should

keep my MSS. from him, for he had always main-

tained that the person who consults is not bound to

follow the advice given to him." And then he added,

"But, of course, I should not like you to publish

anything too radical." These were nearly the words

—of the sense I am certain.

Now, in this answer there was nothing but what I

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57

myself had constantly before my own mind: and

yet when I heard the very idea which has been for a

long time giving me a secret uneasiness, it seemed

as if what had been only a dream, had suddenly be-

come a reality. And what a heart-breaking reality

it is to me!—Must I then reduce myself to publish

only what may be allowed (with the utmost latitude

of clerical liberality) to come out of an Archbishop's

Palace ? This is my present condition. My friend's

liberality of principle exceeds very much the limits

which his brother bishops can possibly allow. But

must I spend the last days of a life devoted to mental

independence, under any such restraint? Am I

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doing my Duty ? Am I not concealing the ultimate

results of my studies and experience, just when they

may be supposed to have arrived at the utmost ma-

turity of which they may be capable ? It is true that

all may be error and delusion: but can I help it ?

Have I not employed every means in my power to

arrive at Truth, according to the extent of my

abilities ? Is it not my duty to lay that Result of my

whole existence before my fellow men, and let them

judge ? But, alas ! must I quit such dear friends as

the Whatelys ? Must I tear myself even from this

circle of more than relatives,—from the Archbishop

himself, who is more kind than any brother could

be to me ?

Such is the moral, practical problem which I have

now to solve,—unless death comes in time to cut the

knot. May God assist me ! Amen.

d5
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-To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Palace, Dublin, Dec. 8th, 1834.

My dear Sir,

Your manuscript will be welcome whenever it arrives.

I am now constantly in the Palace, Stephen's Green, and I

repeat what I said in my last letter—if you should happen

to be in Dublin I shall be happy to see you. As my bodily

weakness prevents my being out any considerable time, you

may be almost sure that you. will find me at home.

I had some time ago written an account of myself till

my arrival in England, with an intention that it should be

published after my death. I am now compiling a history

of my mind, which, if I live to finish it, will complete my

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Memoirs.

I do not know whether it is in our power (I believe it

is not) to express ourselves dogmatically, i. e. positively,

upon the person of our Saviour, so as to be able to agree.

But there are a number of negative points, i. e. points

respecting which our duty seems to be to declare our

ignorance, on which our opinions evidently do not differ.

I have a little work in MS. to prove that Christianity does

not consist in Orthodoxy—but I am doubtful whether to

publish it by itself or to wait till I can compile the History

of the Inquisition, to which it is the introduction.

I thank you for the truly Christian prayer with which

your letter concludes. With similar good wishes in regard

to yourself, I remain,

My dear Sir,

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Palace, Dublin, Dec. 21st, 1834.

My dear Sir,

In proportion as your mind unfolds itself before me in

your letters, my own feels an irresistible tendency to hold

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59

communion with you. I was going to say-»-to open itself •

to you—but as I never wear a disguise or withhold my con-

victions in regard to those truths which are of the first im-

portance to mankind, I cannot use that expression. In

your excellent letter, dated Nov. 25-30, 183-1, I find that

you, very naturally, suppose me to hold certain doctrines—

such as the distinction of Persons in the Deity—which I

have long discarded. I have not had an opportunity of

expressing this conviction in the few and short letters which

I have had the pleasure of addressing to you. No man

can be more thoroughly convinced than I am of the perfect

Unity of God, as well as of the absurdity of maintaining

that Unity, together with the assertion that the Deity con-
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sists of three distinct minds; for the notion of Person es-

sentially implies an acting mental principle. Having spent,

or rather Mis-spent, a great part of my early life in the study

of that original system of Theology from which the Pro-

testants have borrowed the established doctrine of the Tri-

nity, I know (perhaps better than most of those who in

this country profess to teach that doctrine) all the logical

quibbles by means of which the clearest dictates of Reason

are obscured and evaded. But God forbid I should use such

means of troubling or bewildering others, or myself. You

may, and probably will ask why I have not spoken more

openly in my printed works. I ask indeed myself that

question every hour; and I cannot say that I can give a

satisfactory answer. All I know is, that my conscience,

though not quite at rest, does not yet reproach me. The

problem, as a practical one, as one in which every circum-

stance peculiar to my case is to be considered, is attended

with great difficulty and obscurity. I believe that no worldly

fear or interest perplexes me. My fear is that of doing

mischief by the very attempt to do service to the cause of

Christianity. My convictions in regard to the positive side

of the theological question are not clear or decided enough

to urge me to an open declaration, which, besides the pain

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it would give to the few who sti'l love me, and supply the

place of those friends from whom I separated myself in

youth, would stamp me as an ill-disguised infidel, and

afford a triumph to the supporters of Popery. If a second

sacrifice is still demanded by Truth, my heart (I trust in

God) will not shrink from it. I shall tear myself from

those whose affection has struck roots in my heart.—I

shall tear myself from them—and drop into my grave.

But, as I do not close my eyes, or turn away from con-

viction, I consider myself, bound to wait till that conviction

becomes imperative. What I have already published, and

the conduct I observe, prevent the supposition of my coun-

tenancing the errors which my judgment rejects. I must

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pray and wait for more light.—The observations which

I made in a former letter—those on which your last chiefly

dwells—are certainly of no great weight.

Your answer to what I said in regard to the contending

texts is perfectly satisfactory. But I do not feel equally

satisfied on the point of addressing Christ in prayer. I

conceive my state of mind on that point is very much like

that of Socinus and the Polish Brethren.

Would you allow me to send you, by coach, the original

manuscript of my letters on Heresy and the Inquisition ?

You would find some difficulty in reading them with all the

corrections which I was obliged to make. But it would

give me great satisfaction to know your opinion, and to

have your observations. I have a better copy of the first

four, but it is in the hand of the friend to whom they are

addressed. Let me have a line to say whether you will

undertake the labour I propose to you.

May God assist your and my endeavours to know him,

as he is revealed to us in Christ, and to devote ourselves

heart and soul to him, in unity with his Son.

Ever, my dear Sir, yours sincerely,

J. Blanco White.
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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

Gl

Palace, Dublin, December 22nd, 1834.

I yesterday wrote a letter, declaring that my views

in regard to the Scripture Doctrine respecting our

Saviour, have gradually become Unitarian. The

struggles which my mind has, for many years, gone

through upon this point are indescribable. The final

resolution as to a public declaration before my death,

if after due consideration I should find the duty of

such a declaration imperative, will be the most severe

sacrifice to which the present state of Christianity has

doomed me. The expressive and affecting allegori-

cal picture of Jonah under the withered gourd pre-

sents itself repeatedly to my mind. I threw myself

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into a sea of troubles (not indeed to escape from a

painful duty, but to perform that which I owed to

truth and honesty), and I saw the Protestant Gourd

rapidly growing over me as a shelter. In vain have

I tended it with incessant care: it has withered, and

though I do not feel "angry," I do certainly feel

dejected even unto death. I ask myself, "Doest

thou well to be grieved for the gourd ? " Having found

the unsubstantial nature of the showy gourd which

the Protestant principle applied to rear up a Church

Establishment which grew up " in a night" of imper-

fect knowledge and inherited prejudice, do I do well

to be grieved because I must not enjoy its shelter—

though it still appears luxuriant and vigorous in the

eyes of the world ? Should I not consider it as a

privilege that I am enabled to see the worm at its

root, and that, if my conviction of duty increases—

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I shall probably bear witness to the world what I

have seen, that they may look for a more enduring

and fructifying plant under which to rest ? Certainly.

I do not indeed shrink from the additional external

evils which a public declaration would bring upon

me. That, in leaving the Archbishop's house, I shall

find myself reduced as to every means of comfort

which an infirm old man requires, I well know. But

remove from that evil the pain of tearing myself

asunder from the hearts which, in this family, have

every day approached closer and closer to mine, and

the renewed pressure of poverty, the newly to be

felt narrowness of my means, will hardly give me a

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moment's uneasiness. Among the evils which Reli-

gion, represented as a Sect held together by the pos-

session of certain metaphysical Doctrines, has so long

inflicted on mankind, none is equal to that of the

disturbance of friendship and affection. I have suf-

fered more from that fatal power of what is called

faith and piety than words can express. And yet

how incurable that evil appears in spite of the mon-

strous unreasonableness by which it is supported and

fed! If kind-hearted and truly friendly persons,

whose affections are poisoned by intolerance, could

bring themselves to consider the real state of things

in such cases as mine, how easily they might avoid

inflicting the most cruel distress! Alas, though I

have never dissembled on religious points, I cannot

conceal from myself that my horror of losing the

affections of those who were well disposed in my

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63

favour, has more than once enabled my feelings to

disturb my judgment. A desire to requite kindness,

by the gratification of the greedy appetite for con-

formity which exists in all religious people, has on

several occasions made me turn away from strict rea-

son, and give myself up to the guidance of that merely

devotional feeling which has its main source in sym-

pathy with others. If you once give yourself up,

even in a slight degree, to mere sentiment, you put

yourself in the power of every person who is a greater

enthusiast than yourself. These surrenders, it is

true, were never either complete or permanent. Rea-

son which I never deposed from its Sovereignty over

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me, soon recalled me. Still these aberrations are a

subject of regret to me, and have increased my pain

whenever I found myself obliged, as it were, to dis-

appoint those who had some ground to believe that

I had been permanently gained over to their religious

views. But what a blind unreasonable feeling is that

in which this mass of suffering and error originates !

Why should people consider themselves aggrieved

and hurt, because my mind (even when I have tried

my utmost) cannot agree with their opinions ? Do not

we agree on everything on which the moral happiness

of man depends ? Is not our friendship pure and

disinterested ?—" Yes, but how can I be a friend to

one who is an enemy to my Saviour ? "—An enemy !

When you shall find that in order to gratify myself I

have turned aside from the path of Duty he has

pointed out to me,—then desert me, disown me.

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But why should any one avoid me, or look upon me

as a criminal, because in my eager search after Chris-

tian Truth, I have arrived at conclusions opposite to

his own?

These considerations, however, might for ever be

repeated without effect. " I am right, and you are

wrong" is the answer. I believe therefore it would

be more advisable to point out the true source of that

perversion of the best feelings, which is so frequently

shown by really pious persons. The horror enter-

tained against the Unitarian arises from the notion

that he degrades the Saviour. When such an impres-

sion is raised, no human friendship can be safe

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against its power : and were the impression true,

nothing could be said against it. I have indeed been

under its power in regard to myself—when my rea-

son led me to the Unitarian view. In regard to

others, that impression has had no unfavourable

effect. Yet how perfectly groundless is the notion

itself ! It entirely arises from considering Deity as

an attribute, or rather as an office or dignity. To

degrade Christ from being God, to reduce him to a

mere man, evidently implies that there can be more

than one God, and that we will not allow some one

to enjoy that dignity, together with the Father. How

easily might this confusion of thought, and its me-

lancholy consequences, be avoided by considering that

if Christ be God, he must be that identical God whom

the Unitarian worships, and for whose incommuni-

cable honour he is so jealous. But if (as it must be

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65

confessed to be possible) the Trinitarian is mistaken

as to the sense of Scripture, and Christ is not God,

those who pay him divine worship raise a man to

God's throne. Which of the two is safer ?

Alas that superstitious fear should be so powerful

as to prevent this consideration, I will not say from

changing the opinions of the Trinitarian, but from

stopping his cruel uncharitableuess !

Palace, Dublin, December 29,1834.

I am very ill; yet I cannot omit the record of my

sentiments, lest (what indeed would save me much

pain) I should be removed from this world of suffer-

ing, before I have declared those sentiments explicitly

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and publicly.

I wish openly to separate myself from the Church

of England. I am convinced that, in the present state

of the world, that political establishment is most in-

jurious to the progress of pure Christianity, with

which the moral and intellectual progress of mankind

is inseparably connected. A Society, under the name

of a Christian Church, to which the State appro-

priates a large portion of the public property, on

condition that it shall maintain a certain set of doc-

trines, as the doctrines of the Gospel, is a great evil to

the country and to mankind at large. If this be not

bribing, against the chances of pure religious Truth

being universally accepted, I do not know to what I

can give that name. It is not only bribing the pre-

sent generation, but alluring a portion of every rising

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one to put themselves into the hands of the bribed,

in order to have their young minds so shaped and

predisposed that they may accept the bribe in their

turn, and so perpetuate whatever errors may exist in

the paid religious system. How can any one who

knows the liability of man to error, look without

horror upon the chance, not to say the certainty, of

thus enlisting the most insidious passions of man—

pride, ambition, and the love of wealth—in the per-

petuation of such false views as are likely to have

been consecrated into dogmas by a few, not well-known

men, who, in the midst of trouble, fear, and deeply-im-

bibed popish prejudices, originally compiled the Thirty

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Nine Articles ? Even if they had been the result of

the most wise, free, and mature deliberation of all the

English Divines, they would be nothing but a human

work, exposed to innumerable mistakes. Yet the asse-

veration of the Thirty Nine Articles is the only mark

of identity which entitles the body of men called the

Church, to the enjoyment of their revenues and ho-

nours. Nothing can be changed in that mark of

identity, unless Parliament allows it. Can this be in

conformity with Christ's purposes and intentions ?

To this I must add, that I have no conscientious

objection to an established or endowed Clergy. What

I object to most strenuously is—endowed religious

tenets—paid Articles of Faith—a human representa-

tion of Christianity, a peculiar interpretation of the

Scriptures, secured by the attraction of wealth and

honours, and, what is still worse, by the fear of desti-

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67

tution which inevitably threatens every Clergyman

who, without any other means of subsistence for

himself and perhaps a large family, begins to doubt

the truth of those Articles. This is what my con-

science objects to. If it should be answered that

there is no other possible mode of having a Church

Establishment, let those who assert that impossibility

get rid of the difficulty, if they can. The most vio-

lent opponents of Church Establishments could wish

for no stronger objection, than that which the asser-

tion of the impossibility involves: for in every con-

ceivable moral question, to prove that any practical

measure is inseparable from something wrong in it-

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self, condemns the measure without appeal.

In case my wretched state of health should not

allow me to leave the Archbishop's house, before I

die—a removal which, owing to the more than bro-

therly kindness with which I am treated, will be

more painful than death itself, yet a removal which in

common delicacy and justice to him must precede my

public separation from the Church of which he is one

of the most conspicuous heads—I hereby solemnly

declare that after a very long consideration and study

of the subject, I am convinced that the Doctrine of

the Trinity is not true : that, at all times, it must have

been injurious to the Spirit of Christianity, and led

many well-disposed persons into a disbelief of Christ,

—that at the present stage of the human progress,

and much more at those stages which must follow it,

such a doctrine must oblige every thinking person,

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who shall be persuaded that belief in it really made a

condition of salvation by Christ, to renounce his re-

ligion as false.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Palace, Dublin, Dec. 30th, 1834.

My dear Sir,

I will not allow you to thank me for any extraordinary

confidence in the communications I have made to you in

regard to my religious views. That every thing I know of

you, especially the tone of mind which your letters disclose,

would induce me to trust you, is quite certain. But were

you the most faithless man in the world, all you could do

would be to publish my communications;—and that, you

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may he sure, I intend myself to do. As you may have

perceived by my printed works, my mind has been preparing,

for many years, for the resolution at which it has now ar-

rived. The question with me has been whether there was

not enough of truth in the Church to which I attached my-

self, to justify the very slight and distant connection which

I have maintained with her for the last three years, and

whether I might not allow the broad hints which the

Second Travels contain, to be the only intimation of my

state of mind in regard to her Trinitarian doctrines. But I

am convinced that such inuendoes are not enough. I per-

ceive more than ever that the Trinitarian doctrine ruins

Christianity, and though my conviction may not weigh a

feather in the balance of public opinion, my duty is, not to

calculate that weight, but, like the poor widow, to throw in

my mite. *******

As I sincerely wish to have the observations of an able

man, untinged with the common theological prejudices, upon

my Letters on Heresy and the Inquisition, I take the liberty

of sending you my MS. But I shall not take it ill if,

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69

owing to your not being able to bestow the time and

trouble required, you should return the MS. unread.

I have lately read Channing's Sermons, republished by

Hunter. They are admirable : and yet Channing himself

does not seem totally free from theological intolerance.

Witness what he says against the English Unitarians.

You must not suppose however that I am a Materialist,

Fatalist, &c. &c. I only hold the indifference of these

theories. I wish with all my heart they were entirely put

aside. If any man really and sincerely believes in Christ,

I will not inquire by what steps he approached Him. I

thank God that in the struggles of my life I have a satis-

factory proof that I love Jesus, the Son of God. Though

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from the dawn of my reason to the present period, when I

am on the brink of the grave, the greatest sufferings of my

soul have been inflicted in his name, I do not perceive my

heart wavering in its attachment to Him. Through Him

I know the Father, through Him I trust in God the Father

for time and eternity.

Excuse whatever faults and obscurities there may be in

what T have written ; for I write under extreme weakness.

My dear Sir,

Yours ever truly,

J. Blanco White.
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( 71 )

CHAPTER V.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1835.—MM. 60.

Letter to Dr. Whately.—[From his Journal.']

Palace, Dublin, Jan. 2nd, 1835.

Mi dear Archbishop,

I should prove myself unworthy of the more than bro-

therly friendship which for many years, and especially since

the time when I became your inmate, you have shown me,

if I were to conceal from you my present circumstances. I

am under an imperative conviction, that it is my duty

to publish the fact that I am a decided Anti-Trinitarian. I

conceive I owe this to the cause of Christianity, which, in

my opinion, is injured by the established Doctrine. I also

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think it my duty (a very painful one indeed) to declare my-

self against, not the endowment of a Clergy but, the endow-

ment of doctrines or Articles. The first, the most distress-

ing, and most inevitable consequence of the declarations

which I intend to make in a Preface to my Letters on

Heresy and the Inquisition, is my exclusion from the bosom

of your family. To save you from every perplexity between

your kindness and the demands of your situation in the

Church, I intend to cross over to Liverpool, as soon as I

receive an answer from my Spanish friend Zulueta, to whom

I intend writing this day. The comparatively short dis-

tance of that place from Dublin, and the facility of a sea

passage, will enable me to have the comfort of considering

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my best friends as within reach ; and, if at any time you

should think it consistent with external propriety to invite

me to Redesdale, I might without much difficulty have the

happiness of revisiting that dear spot.

I have asked Dr. Field whether I might venture on an

excursion to Liverpool with safety to my feeble health, and

he is of opinion that the sea voyage may be beneficial. Of

course he is not aware of the mental distress which must

remove all chances of benefit from the voyage. It is enough

that it has no tendency to increase my bodily sufferings.

I leave it to you to communicate the contents of this

letter to Mrs. Whately, or to withhold them for a time.

In the latter case I shall tell her, with perfect truth, that
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Dr. Field considers an excursion to the other side of the

water as likely to improve my health, and that I am about

to act according to that opinion.

I have carefully abstained from topics which might un-

nerve my heart, and move unnecessarily your sympathy,

and will conclude under the same prudent restraint.

Yours, ever affectionately,

J. B. W.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Palace, Dublin, Jan. 6th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

On Friday next, the 10th, I intend to leave the Arch-

bishop's Palace for Liverpool. The Archbishop, from whom

I have not concealed the object of my journey, though

evidently grieved to the heart, is kind and liberal enough to

exact a promise that I will return to Redesdale next sum-

mer, on a visit to himself and family. As, on my part,

there could be no objection to this, I fully hope to be able

to fulfil my promise. God, who knows with what pain I

tear myself from my friends, sees also how vehemently I

have desired to spend the last days of my life among them.

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73

But the demon of Orthodoxy must have victims; and I am

ready.

I heg you will not hurry yourself about the MS. which I

sent by coach a few days ago.

I implore God's blessing upon you. May his mercy sup-

port me in these my last trials.

Yours, ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

P.S. I fear I have never thanked you for your instru-

mentality in rousing me to a sense of my duty in regard to a

Truth of the utmost importance, which, though I had fully

examined, circumstances had not allowed to penetrate my

heart.
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Letter from the Rev. George Armstrong.

15, Belvedere Place,

Jan. 7th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

On receipt of your letter yesterday, I instantly determined

on coming to Town this day. I have just arrived, and

hasten to entreat the favour of an interview. Your reply

to this perhaps might not find me in due time, so I take

the liberty of saying I will inquire for you at the Palace at

3 o'clock this day.

It would cause me much anguish were a person, in

shaping whose fortunes an inscrutable Providence has ap-

parently permitted me to exercise a no slight influence, to

leave the neighbourhood in which I lived without any op-

portunity afforded me of grasping his hand and exchanging

benedictions in person, previously to his deeply-to-be-regret-

ted departure. Believe me,

Ever most cordially, dear Sir,

Your devoted friend and servant,

Geo. Armstrong.

VOL. II.

E
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Palace, Dublin, Jan. 7, 1835.

I was attacked yesterday by a severe fit of bron-

chitis. Dr. Field succeeded in allaying it; and

though I am extremely weak, he thinks I may ven-

ture to cross the Channel the day after to-morrow.

Deeply afflicted as I am, I really feel grateful that

I have been found worthy to suffer for the cause of

truth and mankind. I say for the cause of truth,

not for the truth, which, in religious points, I do not

pretend to know better than others. But there can

be no question that the cause of religious truth can

be forwarded only by the honest declaration of every

man's convictions. If all Christians had expressed

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the results of their study of the Scriptures, without

fear, and free from every reserve and disguise, we

should know what impression the Scriptures were in-

tended to make oh Christians in general. On the

contrary, while both temporal and superstitious fears

induce multitudes to repeat the impressions which

the Scriptures made on the minds of some individuals

in former times—while teachers are trained under an

inflexible system of Orthodoxy—while they are en-

gaged by solemn promises, which many consider as

an oath, especially in the act of Ordination, to see

nothing in the Scriptures but what confirms that

Orthodoxy—and while shame, obloquy, in many

cases attended with destitution for themselves and

their families, await them, if they acknowledge to the

world that, after a more deliberate consideration than

that which they gave the point under the guidance

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75

of tutors, and the inexperience of youth, they cannot

find in the Scriptures the sense which the Church

Articles fix—while such a system is kept up by

Law, the cause of religious truth must be injured.

Even if the Articles contained the purest essence of

the Gospel, such an artificial support—a system of

protection which would answer equally well in the

case of the most erroneous doctrines—must cast a

cloud of suspicion upon the tenets of the Church of

England. I am indeed a foreigner, a man not

brought up under the teaching of that Church, and

these circumstances may, in the opinion of many,

diminish or invalidate the weight of my testimony.

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Yet really Christian Churches should not forget, that

in Christ Jesus there is no distinction of race or

nation. Sincerely, though inconsiderately, and un-

der the influence of unsuspected Popish prejudices,

favourable to the English Establishment, did I join

myself to that Church. For more than twenty years

have I struggled within myself against the growing

objections which, in the course of uninterrupted the-

ological studies, I found against her doctrines. But

old and infirm as I am, and strongly tempted by the

affection of those with whom I live in the closest

habits of friendship, not to break openly with a

Church with which they are so identified as to havj

lost their choice of keeping an Unitarian as an in-

mate—I feel it my bounden duty to show, by my

sufferings, to the world, how injurious to the cause of

religion, of Christian charity, and of humanity itself,

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that Church system must he, which makes such sacri-

fices to the love of truth unavoidable to me; and

imposes on them the duty of acting towards an un-

offending friend—a friend whose promise of not at-

tempting to proselyte they would certainly trust—

with the reluctant severity which their intimate con-

nection with the Church Establishment demands.

For the sake of opening the eyes of people to the

evils of this kind of Orthodoxy, I trust in Heaven I

should have fortitude enough to go to the gallows, or

the stake.*

Palace, Dublin, Jan. 8, 1835.

" Take your religion from Paul, (said Dr. D ,

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this morning,) and read with humility: wait, and

you will be instructed."

It is extraordinary that a clever, and in a certain

sense, a liberal man, can utter these unmeaning

phrases ! Take your religion from Paul:—so I am

very willing to do; and nevertheless I cannot agree

in your Trinitarian tenets. " That arises from want

of humility."—Humility towards whom? Do you

wish me to be humble towards the written character

printed in the book, or towards the sense which I

find in the words which those characters bring to my

mind ?—Now, you are philosopher enough to acknow-

ledge, that what we denote by ' sense' does not lie in

the words themselves, any more than the perception

[* The Editor has reason to know, and thinks it a duty to state,

that at this period a home was offered him by more than one of his

friends, Clergymen of the Church of England.]

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77

of colour in the object that excites it: we call by

that name the notion which they raise in each mind.

What notions were in the mind of Paul when he

wrote each sentence is known to God,—but we can-

not find it out with certainty. Paul, therefore, to

each of us, is what we understand Paul to say. Hu-

mility, in regard to what we understand in Paul,

means a proper deference for his authority, as an ori-

ginal Preacher of Christianity. This, I repeat, I am

willing to pay. But is it proper deference to Paul, to

understand him in such a way as no rational man

could have wished to be understood? Is it humble

deference to Paul, when he has expressly declared

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that to him there is but one God, namely, the Fa-

ther, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, to assert, neverthe-

less, that Paul, according to other passages, meant by

one God, two Gods; only that in Paul's language

one is two or three, and two or three is one ?

If Paul had given the least indication that he was

using human language in this most extraordinary

way, you might well desire me to be humble, and

take my religion from Paul,—though this would be

to desire me to renounce the first principles of rea-

son, because (as you would say) there was reason to

do so. But since this interpretation is not the sense

of the words of Paul—i.e. the impression which

those words make upon my mind, but absolute no-

sense, which other men fasten on that Apostle—the

humility which you recommend is of no avail, unless

it means humility towards those men.

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This is, in fact, the purport of that recommenda-

tion. Churchmen cannot divest themselves of the

habits of deference to some authority, whose business

it is to interpret for all the rest of Christians : they

cannot help demanding humility, though frequently

they do not know towards whom. " Wait," added

Dr. D . The meaning of this must be, hold fast

the interpretation which you have been taught till

you believe it. — "Wait!"—Where? Upon what

ground ? Upon your's ? Or upon the Calvinist's, or

upon the Roman Catholic's ?—To which of these shall

I give the advantage of my waiting ?—Have I not

waited long, upon your Catechism, which was forced

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word for word upon my infant mind ? Have I not

waited long during my nursery instruction ? Have I

not waited several hours, every Sunday, at Church,

hearing the Church Prayer Book, and your long,

long Sermons ?—Am I to wait till I die ?

Jan. 9th.

Waiting in anguish for the hour of departure.

Liverpool, Jan. 10th, 1835.

(At Zulueta's, 56, Seel Street.)

My whole Life has not had moments so bitter as

those which I have experienced within the last half

hour. Exhausted by the inconveniences of the sea-

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79

passage last night, I laid myself down on a sofa after

breakfast, and fell asleep for a short time. I awoke

in that distracted state which a sudden transition

from place to place frequently occasions, and it was

with the greatest difficulty that I convinced myself

of being in the house of my Spanish friend Zulueta.

Now every circumstance of my painful situation

crowded upon me, so that I could not bear up against

the anguish of my heart. The whole of what had

passed through my mind with such irresistible power,

respecting my duty, appeared like a delusion—a

dream—with my present misery, for all its reality.

In this state I had to write a few lines to Mrs.

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Whately, and I thought my heart would break.

How entirely I must cast myself on God's mercy for

support! Has not some martyr, when already bound

to the stake, been tried by the awful impression that

he had been brought there by a delusion ?—Was

there not something of this horrible idea in Christ's

mind when, having deliberately gone to the Garden,

" which Judas knew," he thought three successive

times that he might possibly have overruled the

necessity of drinking the cup which he had now

close to his lips ? Oh, may his fortitude encourage

me, and his spirit strengthen me ! How much, in-

deed, I do want it!

Liverpool (Zulueta's house),

11th Jan. 1835.

I had some sleep Saturday night, and my mind

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recovered part of its lost strength yesterday (Sun-

day). Last night I slept for a longer time, and more

soundly, than I have for many months. This has

entirely relieved me from that mental distress to

which I have alluded. All my hopes of usefulness,

by means of my present sufferings, as well as by

those which I expect, have revived". My sense of

duty is again attended with courage to perform it.

My heart is full of gratitude to God, the Father of

my Lord Jesus Christ, for this support in my utmost

need. Blessed be his name !

25, Upper Parliament Street,

(Lodgings,) Jan. 20th.

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My Confession of Faith consists of one proposi-

tion, that for asserting which Jesus of Nazareth was

condemned to die. John xix. 7. " We have a law,

and by our law he ought to die, because he made him-

self the Son of God " i.e. the Messiah, the represen-

tative of the Deity to all mankind. Matt. xxvi. 63,

64. " But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest

answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the

living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the

Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou

hast said: nevertheless I say unto you. Hereafter

shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right

hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."

Whoever acknowledges this proposition, makes him-

self a subject of the kingdom of God, the spiritual

kingdom of which Christ is the lawgiver, in the name

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81

and under the authority of " his Father and our Fa-

ther, his God and our God." To be a member, a

spiritual subject of that kingdom, is to be a Chris-

tian.

My profession of Faith—the profession by means

of which I ardently wish to see all mankind united

into one Universal Church, is this :—" I believe that

Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God;

and as such, it is my fixed determination to conform

to his will, which is the will of God, in every thing ;

according to the spirit of the Scriptures."

The same Day and Place.

Nothing cheers me in the whole world except the

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hope of being useful during the short time which, in

all probability, is left to me. And yet I may say

that " I hope against hope." To whom can I reason-

ably expect to be useful ? To the Orthodox ? Impos-

sible ; most, by far the most, of them are beyond the

reach of any thing I can say. They will not read it,

unless it be with the determination of cutting me up

iu some Review. To the Unbelievers? They will

not take the trouble to read any thing upon the sub-

ject of Religion. Well, then, for whom shall I write,

if I am preserved in sufficient strength for that pur-

pose ? I can hardly believe that Providence has led

me through ways so unusual, in the world of mind,

without some object. I am conscious of my extreme

insignificance in the world. Independently of opi-

nion and only according to my real powers, I should

e5
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not be surprised if all my sufferings and toils had no

result whatever. Since, however, I am conscious of

an upright intention—since my only wish is to pro-

mote God's truth as it is in Christ—I cannot be

guilty of presumption in hoping that God will bless-

my endeavours in some way. I give my mite; let

Providence give it an increase in value, if it be his

will,—or let it be cast aside. The giver will certainly

not be doomed to the same rejection. God's good-

ness and love, as I know them through Christ, are

my sureties.

January 21st, 1835.

Of all my present trials, none is equal to that which

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arises from the efforts by which my friends are en-

deavouring to convince me that, far from being bound

in conscience to declare my dissent from the Church

of England, there is a duty incumbent upon me

which requires my continuing, to all external appear-

ances, in that Church. I cannot help looking around

me in bewilderment and distress, as if I were on the

point to ask myself—Is virtue, then, a phantom, and

honesty an empty sound ? Are the best men agreed

in that view, and am I only a fanatic, who has taken

literally, principles which were never intended to be

strictly followed ?

Jan. 23, 1835.

I wish that the few Christians who profess the

Gospel in perfect independence of a human Confes-

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83

sion of Faith or Creed,—that is, without a fixed

standard of scriptural interpretation, settled at some

particular period according to the notions of certain

individuals—would agree to call themselves by some

name unconnected with any disputed point of inter-

pretation. I have no other objection to the name

Unitarian, but that it is dogmatic. That the doctrine

of the Trinity, and all those connected with it, such

as vicarious punishment, &c, are injurious to the

cause of Christianity, is a deep conviction of my

mind. But, as it frequently happens to the human

intellect, a happy want of logic, a useful inconsis-

tency, allows those notions in many individuals to

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stand side by side with a most truly Christian spirit.

Trinitarianism, and its scholastic train of doctrines,

does not make much havoc among a certain kind of

early-distorted minds within the Church; but it

forms a formidable barrier between Christianity and

the thinking mass of mankind. The Church—the

Christian Society—which I wish to find on the in-

crease in the world, as the source and promoter of a

second Reformation, should be reminded by its deno-

mination of the wide field of error which it has to

oppose; should be directed, by its very name, against

the fountain-spring of the corruptions which, for

nearly as many centuries as measure the age of

Christianity, have accumulated upon it. The true

source of these corruptions is that " false philosophy"

which, having begun to insinuate itself into the very

heart of the Gospel, even in the time of St. Paul,

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(Coloss. ii. 8,) went on usurping more aud more the

name of saving Faith, till it grew into that verbal

and metaphysical system which is called School Di-

vinity. The Confessions of Faith which chiefly

divide the Christian world are purely School Philo-

sophy, applied to the Religion of Christ. If the

Scholastic system were better known, Anti-scholastic

Christians might be a very good denomination for

those who are now called Unitarians and Rationalists.

I wish some word expressing individual independence

from any self-constituted interpreter of the Scrip-

tures, could be found. Perhaps Anti-Sectarian, (un-

derstanding the word Sect in its original meaning, of

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a philosophical system or school,) or Unarticled Chris-

tians, would do. The latter has a smack of vulgarity,

—but it would be understood by John Bull.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

25, Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool,

Jan. 24th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

I have now been here a whole fortnight, aud am thankful

that my mind and spirits begin to recover from the painful

trial which I have endured during the last month. It is

true that the mistaken kindness of my friends has not yet

ceased to aggravate my sufferings ; but this is perfectly na-

tural, and exactly what I had prepared my heart to meet.

I now ardently long to be employed in preparing the MS.

which I left with you, for the Press. I do not wish to

hurry you; but if you have examined already any consi-

derable part of it I should be glad to have it sent over im-

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85

mediately ; the rest might follow it at your own convenience.

I intend to write a fifth Letter declaring the change which

has taken place in me, and my reasons for it. But I can-

not begin that Letter till I have refreshed my recollection

of the preceding ones, in order that all may be in proper

keeping. I beg you will direct the parcel as I desired

before, at Messrs. Zulueta and Co., 56, Seel Street, Liver-

pool. It will by this means.come safer, than if directed to

me, who am a stranger.

It is curious that, in Dublin, I had made the acquaintance

of part of an Unitarian family who live iu this town. I

was not, however, aware of their tenets till I came here.

The mother of the family, Mrs. Martin, is a woman of the

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most unbounded benevolence. She knew me by name, and

was desirous of making mv acquaintance. It is by her

kind exertions that I have found lodgings near her house.

Through her, also, I had the pleasure of becoming ac-

quainted with Mr. Yates, an Unitarian Minister in London,

who happened to be in Liverpool a few days ago. Mrs.

Martin has also informed me of Mr. Martineau's intention

of calling upon me. If my daily sufferings should not be

above average to-morrow, I intend to hear him in his

Chapel. From what I have observed it appears to me that

Unitarians do not like that name. I am sorry to perceive

a shyness on that point; but my observation is extremely

limited, and I must not draw general conclusions. I wish,

indeed, there was a name less expressive of Controversy

and opposition, and more comprehensive of the objects

which Christians who profess the Gospel according to the

Liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, should always

have in view. As unfortunately the Christian world is

divided into Sects, i. e. theological schools, perhaps it might

be desirable to oppose that practice by the adoption of the

name Unsectarian Christians; thus conveying the idea that

whatever may be the theological system of individuals, all

who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and firmly

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propose to obey the Will of God, as we know it through

his son, may join in Christian communion. I do not mean,

of course, to propose this as a practical measure ; I only

state it, as one of those wishes which cross the mind, and

vanish the moment after, under the impression of that long

and painful experience of the power of prejudice and habit,

which I have had during a long life of struggle with esta-

blished opinions. Unurticled Christians has a smack of

vulgarity, else I would prefer it as more intelligible to the

mass of the people in this country.

I write early in the day, and it might happen that in the

course of it I should hear from you, without being able to

let you know it. But you will, no doubt, allow me to

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trouble you with another letter as soon as I receive the

expected parcel. Believe me, with sincere esteem,

My dear Sir,

Yours, ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

Sunday, Jan. 25th.

I have this moment returned from the Unitarian

Chapel, Paradise Street, (the first time that I ever

was in a dissenting place of worship,) and feel highly

gratified. After so very long a period of contradic-

tory and clashing feelings and notions as I have en-

dured at Church, it is quite refreshing to be in a

place of worship where nothing has revolted my mind.

The simplicity of the whole service, aided by the

effect of some most beautiful hymns sung with great

taste, was delightful to my mind. The prayers of

the Minister* were very good; and though the Ser-

mon, chiefly on moral obligation, laboured under the

[• Rev. 1. Grundy.]

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87

essential mistake which lies at the bottom of Paley's

System, it could not fail to be useful, by leading even

the commonest minds to think upon a subject which

is closely united with every man's intellect, and hardly

requires any other sources of information than those

which every one may discover in himself, under the

assistance of the Gospel. What an enormous mass

of prejudice would be removed, if persons who wish

to be candid would " come and see 1" I am quite

certain that my dear friend , had she been pre-

sent, would have been delighted with the Unitarian

service. She would not have heard a word of con-

troversy, and her mind would not have had to turn

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away, as I know it does every Sunday at Church, in

disgust at one half of the Prayers and Sermon.

In the midst of my sufferings I raise my heart to

God in thankfulness, for the strength he has given

me to take this resolution. Far, indeed, from finding

myself inclined to expect those feelings of approba-

tion from the people who see me unexpectedly among

themselves—those feelings which the Archbishop

reckons among the temptations which may have de-

ceived me—the state of my mind is one of humilia-

tion. I am conscious that all people in this country,

with hardly any exception, set the highest value on

what they call consistency. The country being per-

petually in a state of political warfare, and, as it were,

brigaded and regimented for that purpose, nothing

commands such universal respect as faithfulness for

every one's respective colours. Truth being quite

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out of the question, a man in my circumstances can

expect nothing but contempt, even from those to

whom I give the support of my opinion. This con-

viction is so strong, that, instead of having to be on

the watch against pride and vanity, I have to exert

myself against false shame. But God knows the

heart, and it is his approbation which I humbly strive

to obtain, as a disciple of his Son Jesus Christ.

To the Rev. Dr. Hawkins, Provost of Oriel, Oxford.

Liverpool, Jan. 27, 1835.

My dear Provost,

The turn which my theological opinions have been taking

for some years has lately led me into a state of conscientious

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conviction, which I must obey, despising what the world

will call shame, and what, in my inmost heart, is most

agonizing pain. I subscribed the 39 Articles, more than

twenty years ago, with perfect sincerity. My subsequent

studies very much disturbed the notions which had led me

to the Church of England. In 18i9, I had so far become

an Unitarian that, as that time some of my Oxford friends

had thoughts of obtaining for me an Honorary Master's de-

gree, I wrote to William Bishop, desiring him to stop pro-

ceedings which- might procure me an honour, of which,

according to the opinions of .those who were to confer it,

my theological views had made me unworthy. An impulse

of mere feeling, arising from the early religious habits of

my mind, made me again close my eyes to all difficulties,

and I thought that, under certain verbal modifications, I

might continue in the Church. My controversy with the

Roman Catholics renovated the impressions of my original

theological studies (impressions equally favourable to the

Churches of England and Rome), as well as somewhat of

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89

the character of the Priest, and consequently of the High

Churchman. Now I conceived that my orthodoxy had

been fixed on a steady foundation; but it was not so. As

I never allowed myself to put opinions upon the shelf, aa

settled for ever, my uninterrupted study of the Scripture,

and of every thing within my reach, that could help me to

understand it, sapped again the basis of my orthodoxy.

The state of my mind was pretty clearly displayed in "The

Second Travels of an Irish Gentleman ;" but it was not till

lately that I became convinced that it was not my duty to

continue externally a member of a Church, most of whose

Articles I internally rejected. The leading principle of my

life has been, not to deceive, either by word or deed. In

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obedience to this principle, I became a voluntarv exile at

the age of five and thirty: in conformity with it I have

torn myself away from those dear friends who were the

comfort of my infirm old age. I must show myself to the

world just as I am, and this cannot be done, with any degree

of propriety, by the inmate of an archbishop.

There is still another painful separation to which I must

submit. I do not conceive that you, as head of Oriel Col-

lege, could allow a professed Anti-Trinitarian to be one of

its members. To spare you, therefore, the painful necessity

of excluding me, I beg that you will take my name off the

College books. My heart is deeply affected as I resign the

external honour which I most valued in my life : but I

should prove myself unworthy of ever having belonged to

your Society, if I could act deceitfully towards it.

Your personal friendship, my dear Provost, will ever be

most dear to me ; and I am sure that you will not deprive

me of any portion of it.

Farewell, my dear friend, and may God, as I trust, unite

us where we shall see him face to face, free from the clouds

of opinion which now float between us.

Yours ever gratefully and faithfullv,

J. B. W.
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Jan. 30th, 1835.

After hearing how sore my friends continue on the

subject of my separation from the Church, I have

taken, as usual, a walk in the cemetery. Sitting

very tired among the tombs, the following thought

occurred to me in connection with the subject:—

He who deceives, injures mankind;

By not separating myself from the Church of Eng-

land, I should deceive;

Therefore, by not separating, I should injure man-

kind.

Which of the premises could they deny, or how

avoid the consequences ? But alas ! how deep and

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disguised lie some of our moral faults. I apply the

observation to myself, as well as to others. Kind

and excellent friends seem to take a delight in saying

to me—that / have given a mortal stab to my usefulness.

Secret feeling does not allow them to perceive that

what leads them to say so, is the desire of giving me

a stab : for I have already taken a decided step, and

that observation can have no effect but that of adding

to my sufferings. Were they to ask themselves what

is it they wish me to do, or to have done, perhaps

they might see their error. Do they think that I

have acted according to my conscience, or against it ?

The latter is inconceivable; but if I have acted ac-

cording to the dictates of my conscience, do they

wish I had acted against them ? Do they wish that

the stab should be given to my conscience, instead of

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91

to my usefulness ?—Can a man with a wounded con-

science be useful ?

To the Provost of Oriel College, Oxford.

Jan. 31, 1835.

My dear Provost,

I think it due to your kindness to acknowledge the letter

-which I received from you yesterday evening. I sincerely

thank you for every sentiment expressed in it, and for the

freedom with which you express your estimate both of my

natural character and my writings. Whatever may appear

to the contrary, I never have entertained a high notion of

myself. Perhaps, under more favourable circumstances, I

might have been a useful man. But I have acted to the

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best of my knowledge : and I thank God that I have the

approbation of my conscience in point of honesty and sin-

cerity. In regard to the present case, if my acting without

disguise were to produce no other effect than the exhibition

of that martyrdom which you wish me to avoid, if it did no

other service to mankind than that of disclosing the intole-

rant spirit which punishes a Protestant Christian for telling

openly what sense the Scriptures convey to his mind, I

should think that my sufferings were far from being thrown

away. I am not ignorant of that, not very common, tempta-

tion which makes men court trouble, pain, and things worse

than death. But I have honestly consulted my conscience,

and do not conceive that such a feeling influences my con-

duct. If from that unsteadiness which you conceive to

belong to me, I should ten times change my views, I would

as many times avoid disguise. The day, however, will

arrive, when you will be convinced that the present state of

my religious views is not the result of a transient feeling.

Bat I surrender at discretion. I will not stand up for my

own intellectual honour.

Do as you please in respect to leaving or taking off my

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name. I have done what I conceived to be my honest duty

on that point; and I thank you for the intention of keeping

my letter as an attesting document.

I do not intend to leave Liverpool. The circumstance of

its being a mercantile town, and my having only two or

three persons who know me here, will keep me as much as

possible out of the immediate contact of that intolerance,

which would spare me only at the price of my honesty.

God bless you, my dear friend.

Ever yours, gratefully and sincerely,

J. B. W.

Sunday, Feb. 1st, 1835.

The service at the Unitarian Chapel, Paradise

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Street, has given me the most unmixed delight. I

did not find a word that I was inclined to oppose, a

sentiment which I wished to correct. Mr. Martineau.

is a young man of surprising talents, and, what is

still more, of surprising judgment and soundness in

his views. His Sermon was a beautiful discourse on

Principle—where he displayed a deep acquaintance

with Moral Philosophy. Yet there was no part of

the discourse which the humblest of his hearers

might not be improved by, if he listened with atten-

tion. But I had no conception of the power which

Sacred Poetry, full of real religious sentiment, and

free from the mawkish mysticism which so much

abounds in some collections, can exert over the heart

and mind. My friends would attribute the un-

bounded approbation which I have given to the whole

service, to the influence of music; but they would be

much mistaken. The share of the music in pro-

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93

ducing that impression was comparatively slight; for

the performance was only correct, so as not to spoil

the general efFect. Oh, that it were possible that

some of those friends would " come and see 1" How

much their unjust prejudices would be softened;

how clearly they would perceive the most unquestion-

able marks of seriousness and devotion, in a congre-

gation to which they deny the name of Christian !

How evidently they might perceive, (if with a suffi-

cient knowledge of the present state of the human

mind they would silence their own prejudices,) that

if Christianity is to become a living Power in the

civilized parts of the world, it must be under the

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Unitarian form. But they will not (indeed, owing

to their moral and worldly fetters, they cannot) form

correct ideas of what already is in existence, in the

way of religious improvement. They examine only

the phantoms of their imaginations: they see the

Unitarian there, and no where else. They bewilder

themselves (the best of them, I mean,) in contriving

plans for the establishment of a comprehensive wor-

ship : yet they might see it already in operation. The

Unitarian worship at which I have been present

might be joined in by the strictest Trinitarian, pro-

vided he did not think it essential to make the pro-

fession of his opinions a part of the praises of God.

The truly tolerant of all denominations might worship

in this manner, without in the least compromising

their tenets. The Unitarian worship stands on

ground which all Christians hold as sacred. What

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strikes me most of all is, what I might call the reality,

the true connection with life which this worship pos-

sesses. All that I had practised hefore seemed to he

in a region scarcely within view. It was something

which I forced myself to go through, because I had

persuaded myself that it would be good for the soul;

yet, like an unintelligible and partly revolting charm,

it only fatigued, but did not touch, the mind, except

here and there, when the prayers descended from the

clouds of theology, and did not adopt the slavish lan-

guage of Eastern devotion. But here the prayers,

the whole worship, is a part of my real life. "I

pray with my spirit, I pray with my understanding

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also." May I not say that, suffering every hour

from the bleeding wounds of my heart, those wounds

that even my friends touch roughly, I have been

already rewarded for acting in conformity with prin-

ciple ? I believe my faith in Christ is stronger—it

has more reality, it is more a part of my being—not

detached, loose, an appendage, hanging on, and al-

most in the way of real life—but like an articulated

limb, adding strength to the whole of my moral

being.

February 2nd, 1835.

In the infancy both of each man and of mankind,

conviction by reasoning is very difficult, and, if pro-

duced, very feeble. The convinced child forgets his

conviction in a moment: so it happens with all per-

sons who have not thoroughly practised and applied

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95

their mental faculties; so again we see it, whenever

disease or low spirits weaken those powers. The

only way to convince persons and nations who are in

that infant state of mind is, awe and astonishment.

Hence the establishment of all religions by miracles.

The agreement of all nations on this point is remark-

able. But can it be supposed that God would make

his only true religion, Christianity, depend for ever,

chiefly on the astonishment produced on people who

lived ages ago ? Even if miracles were performed

now, their effect would fall very short of that which

they produced eighteen centuries ago. But the fact

is, that they are not performed, and they have not
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been performed since the human mind began to ac-

quire a collective maturity, as if Providence wished to

show that they are not the best means of conviction.

Yet Divines insist on related miracles as the best and

soundest foundation of Christianity.

February 3rd.

Having received my original MS. of the Let-

ters on Heresy and the Inquisition from Ireland,

where I had left it, in the hands of the Rev. George

Armstrong, of Kilsharsvan, Drogheda, I wish, in

order to prevent its being lost, to copy the prayer

whicli I wrote on the first page before I began the

work. I value it, because it is both an attestation of

the intentions and desires with which I took the

pen, and a monitor to keep me faithful to the same

views.
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Prayer written at Redesdale, near Dublin, May

10th, 1834.

0 God, the Father of my Lord and Saviour Jesus

Christ, through whom I have been brought to the

full knowledge of thee, and whom I acknowledge as

my moral king, thy Anointed; hear my prayer. When

on the point of beginning an undertaking which, if

brought to a conclusion, may be of some consequence

among Christians, I am most anxious to impress my

mind with a deep sense of duty and responsibility to

Thee. I write for the instruction of my fellow Chris-

tians—grant me light, that I may not lead any one

into error ! I write to assist in removing corruptions

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closely interwoven with every part of Christianity, as

it exists externally:—grant that I may not injure

any portion of its true spirit and substance ! It is

my sincere wish to do good, independently of every

advantage, and in spite of every disadvantage, which

may arise to me from this work. Grant it thy bless-

ing, or prevent its existence, according as it may

assist, or injure, the progress of Christ's true Gospel!

Amen.

To the Provost of Oriel, Oxford.

Liverpool, Feb. 7th, 1835.

My dear Provost,

1 cannot express how deeply I feel the kindness which

every line of your last letter breathes. There was indeed

no necessity for an explanation. I am quite sure that you

could not say anything with an intention of mortifying me,

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but it is the inevitable consequence of that principle of

orthodoxy which makes certain abstract doctrines identical

with saving faith, to poison the nearest and the dearest rela-

tions of social life. The martyrdom to which I alluded

originates in that principle. In Spain it used to produce,

chiefly, bodily suffering—in England it occasions anguish of

spirit, and unmerited degradation in the opinion of the

large public who cherish that principle. You, very natu-

rally, regret my loss of that beloved resting place which I

thought I should enjoy till I dropped into my grave. But

eee the effects of the intolerant principle. I am obliged to

save my friend, the Archbishop, all perplexity between his af-

fection to me, and his official deference to the intolerance

of orthodoxy, by excluding myself from his society, and

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that of his family. The pain which this step has given me,

is greater I can assure you than that which I felt when I

quitted Spain. Old age clings very fast to the consolations

of a life, which has enjoyed none of those which are com-

monly granted to men of my condition.

You say, with great truth, that some friendships will be

clouded and disturbed in regard to myself.—And why ?—

Of what offence am I guilty ?—How have I proved myself

less worthy of those friendships ? By that unpardonable

crime of using my own judgment in the interpretation of

the Scriptures. The time will come, I am sure, when En-

glish Christians will be ashamed of the age when their an-

cestors were guilty of such injustice; and if my sufferings,

by showing practically the existing evil, may hasten that

period, I will rejoice in my Martyrdom.

You say, very truly, that you are in ignorance of the

circumstances of my heterodoxy. All I can tell you within

the compass of a letter is, that my present theological con-

victions are of a very long standing. The only conviction

which was wanting, till lately, is that of my being bound to

publish the results of my studies and experience before my

death. My Note Books attest the long and frequently

VOL. II.
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resisted process by which I have gradually rejected the doc-

trines of the Trinity, the Atonement in the sense of vicarious

suffering, and Original Sin; in a word, the whole Patristical

system of theology. With respect to the divinity of Christ, I

had, during the greatest part of my residence in Ireland,

silenced my conscience by means of those verbal evasions,

which afford a shelter to some really conscientious, but doubt-

ing, persons in the Church. But I was convinced of the flim-

siness of the Sabellian and indwelling Systems, shape them

and modify them as you will; and loving Christ, who died to

bear witness to the truth, from my heart, (else I would not

endure my present distress,) I have thought it my duty to

avoid in my conduct all direct or implied deception. I do

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not separate from the Church, for the purpose of making

converts. You will find very little advocacy of Unitarianism

in the work which I am preparing. The question between

Unitarians and Trinitarians can receive no accession of light,

either from me or from any man. Neither Whately, nor

Copleston, can add a single view to those, with which the

study and meditation of many years have made me familiar.

When you advise me to consult them, you should remember

that ten years of my early life were employed in a regular

study of Orthodox divinity upon those points, and that though

thousands among you exceed me in abilities, few are likely

to be so well acquainted with the sources of the Orthodoxy

they profess. The whole of what Newman has worked out

for his last publication * has been quite familiar to me, since

my youth. Add to these early theological studies, twenty

years in England of incessant attention to these points, and

a daily study of the Greek Testament with every collateral

assistance within my reach. What then could I expect

from the two men you recommend, eminent as they are?

Only the fatigue, and that almost unavoidable irritation

which the discussion of these subjects produces. I have

* The Atians of the Fourth Century.

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99

examined the question in every possible way; yet that

which has always had the most powerful effect upon my

mind, is the collective result of the study of the Greek Tes-

tament. You know very well that such collective impres-

sions cannot be conveyed in argument.

Nor is dissent upon doctrines what chiefly separates me

from the Church. My most insuperable objection arises

from the bondage, in which the law of the land keeps the

Church upon points of belief. If the Church were free, if

it could revise and impi-ove its creed, perhaps I should not

have felt it necessary to recal the solemn subscription

which I made to its Articles and Constitution, more than

twenty years ago. But I cannot allow the Christian world

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(I mean whatever part of it may learn the circumstances of

my life) to suppose that the result of my long acquaintance

with the Church of England is approbation of its Consti-

tution. I have seen too clearly the effects of that Constitu-

tion in Ireland. It is the near view of the Church in that

country, that has given activity to all my other objections.

I have seen the unchristian spirit which Articles supported

by law, as a point of union, produce in a Clergy who, de-

riving every worldly advantage from legal orthodoxy, and

fearing that the least change would weaken the compactness

of their ranks, fall into that fierce bigotry which is made up

of fanaticism and political party spirit. I have seen, in that

Country, how this legal establishment of orthodoxy enables

the most designing and irreligious political adventurers, to

hamper the exertions of such a man as Whately, by the accu-

sation of heterodoxy. I have witnessed their triumph over

him, on the subject of his intended College: I have closely

observed his thraldom, and practically learnt the full extent

of an evil previously well known to me in theory. No,—I

will not die in external connection with a Church, that, for

the sake of human articles of Faith, exposes itself to these

evils. I will not die in a Church which recognises a Par-

liamentary law which settles its doctrine and discipline for

F2
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ever, and makes the profession of these Articles the only

legal title to high honours, powers, and emoluments. What

error could not be supported by similar means ?

You will forgive me, my dear Provost, for what I have

said, and for not having more in detail answered your let-

ter. In respect to my connection with your College, I

believe it will save both you and me a great deal of pain, if

you will take off my name, now that you can do it, not in

the way of censure, but at my request, and because, inde-

pendently of other reasons, I am obliged to retrench every

unnecessary expense in my present circumstances. I have

an indistinct recollection, that my Diploma takes into con-

sideration my being a member of the Church. I will, there-

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fore, as soon as I can get my Books and papers from Ire-

land, send the Diploma to you, with an official letter as to

my Provost, (that title in relation to you will always be dear

to my heart,) requesting you to make whatever use of it

you may deem suitable to the circumstances of the case.

At all events, it is my determination never in future to add

A.M. to my name. Of course you cannot misunderstand

my feeling of delicacy upon this point.

Forgive, I beg you again and again, if anything I have

said appears presumptuous or harsh ; my feelings towards

you are those of the purest affection. Even for the Church,

which, at a certain stage of my progress from unbelief to

Christianity, gave me much assistance, by its too great

similarity with that Church in which I was educated—

even for the church which I am obliged to leave—I feel

gratitude and respect. I only lament that it is in fetters,

otherwise it would improve itself by means of the great

number of excellent, learned, and pious men which it con-

tains.

Yours ever most sincerely and gratefully,

J. B. W.
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101

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

25, Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool,

February 8th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

I consider myself very fortunate in having urged my re-

quest that you would make annotations on my manuscript.

Your remarks will, I hope, be of great service to me. I

have already corrected the first letter, and availed myself of

your suggestions. I am indeed surprised at the number of

passages in which I allowed myself to use the established

phraseology, against my better judgment. According to

Homer, a man loses half of his worth the day he is made- a

slave. I believe that a Divine loses a larger proportion

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while, subdued (as in my case) by his affections, he re-

mains under the thraldom, which the insatiable demands of

minds unnerved by superstition constantly inflict upon him.

I trust I am not under a delusion when I feel, as it were, re-

lieved from a weight that crushed me; and as out of the

grasp of an invisible fiend, which, in spite of my love of

truth, was perpetually betraying me into acts of deference

to the weaknesses of others, which cannot be entirely ac-

quitted of the guilt of dissimulation. But Orthodoxy

poisons every man, more or less, (in this country perhaps

more than where it is merely a name) from the cradle.

I delivered your message to Mr. and Mrs. Martineau.

I had the pleasure to attend Mr. Martineau's chapel last

Sunday. I had been there for the first time, the Sunday

before last. The simplicity of the service delighted me

on both occasions : on the latter however I had the addi-

tional pleasure of hearing an admirable discourse from Mr.

Martineau. He is a young man of very great talents, and,

as far as I can judge, of great worth and sincere piety.

What a relief it was to me, to be able to join in social wor-

ship, undisturbed by offensive expressions, and without the

necessity of mental protests and reservations at every step !

The humblest hearer might join " not only with his voice,
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but with his understanding," in praising God, and praying

for blessings spiritual and temporal. Must not that eternal

perversion of language, that repetition of phrases either with

an absurd and revolting meaning, or with no meaning at all,

which the Orthodox worship has so firmly established and

so widely extended, injure the mental faculties, of the lower

classes especially ? I wish that candid and honest Church-

men would take the trouble of approaching a little nearer, to

ascertain, by themselves, what Unitarian Worship really is.

But they content themselves with the pictures which their

own imaginations contrive, out of the vague reports they

receive from bigots who perhaps are as unacquainted with

Unitarians as themselves.
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I beg you will not trouble yourself about the 5th Letter.

I am sure it could do no good.

If the Drogheda packet may be trusted (which there is

no reason to doubt) I will send you whatever I may be able

to write, in addition to what you have seen. But as I am

obliged to draw up new copies as I correct, it will take me

a long time to prepare the work for the Press.

My health, though very weak, is not worse than in Ire-

land. I am trying to get into a house by myself, and, of

course, am exposed to a great deal of trouble.

Believe me, with gratitude and esteem,

My dear Sir, yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

Liverpool, February 18th, 1835.

Mr. S , of St. John's College, Oxford, came

to me this afternoon, with an intention of making

an impression of awe upon my mind. As I really

respect him, I checked the temptation which now

and then I had to joke upon the closing of his eyes,

the sepulchral tone of voice which he assumed, and

the other external symptoms of downright weak en-

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103

thusiasm which- he exhibited. He was evidently

puzzled when I, partly but very slightly assuming his

tone, said,—' Your situation is awful, Mr. S !

You make additions to the word of God ! You em-

ploy your reason in creating theories which you sub-

stitute for the plain declarations of the Gospel, and

thus deter men from embracing the Christian reli-

gion. Now/ I added, ' suppose I assumed this

tone over you, what would you say ?' ' That you

were wrong/ ' Then I must infer that you are not

wrong, because it is you that assume a similar autho-

rity over me.' It would be Useless and tiresome to

record the conversation. Mr. S. is a complete spe-

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cimen of the straightforward orthodox believer. He

acknowledges the safety of believing as much as pos-

sible. I wonder, for safety's sake, he does not believe

in Transubstantiation and Purgatory. He told me

there was, now, as great a separation between us, as

between himself and a Mahometan. He was indeed

altogether as melancholy an exhibition to me as I

was to him—though in very different ways.—He fre-

quently repeated—' If you would deliver yourself up

simply to the Scriptures/ &c. ' So I have (answered

I) to the best of my power; but by simply, you

mean according to your own sense.' Certainly.

'That is, if I deliver myself up to you, we shall

agree!'

But it is curious to observe the meaning of simply

according to these men. To find the doctrines of

the Athanasian Creed in the New Testament,—a

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double nature in one person,—one person with two

intelligent minds,—a God that dies, &e., &c, is to

understand the Scriptures simply !

March 1, 1835.

1 have attended the Commemoration of the Lord's

Supper at the Unitarian Chapel, and feel very much

gratified. It is a rational and sublime ceremony.

Its perfect simplicity is preserved, and every par-

ticle of the enthusiastic excitement and charm-like

mysteriousness, which the Church of England still

encourages, is removed. I am more and more con-

vinced that nervous excitement is pernicious, in con-

nection with religion. I am very susceptible of that

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excitement, and consider myself, by that very circum-

stance, entitled to judge. A cold-hearted man might

be suspected of partiality to what agrees with his own

temperament. But this is not my case. I am con-

vinced that in all things Reason alone should guide

us. Let light be sought in Revelation: but Revela-

tion itself is addressed to our rational powers. Our

divine Oracle is the spirit of God, and his voice is

heard only within the Conscience. How are we to

distinguish the voice of God, from that of Enthusiasm?

By consulting our Reason, and distrusting all excite-

ment, and all selfishness, in connection with the

voice of the Oracle.—The Christian should not apply

for answers to any wild and infuriated Pythic inter-

preter of the Oracle. His is a reasonable service.

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105

Liverpool, 5, Chesterfield-street,

March 3rd, 1835.

This is the twenty-fifth anniversary of my arrival

in England: the first that has found me in a house

of my own—solitary—but (as far as my constant

bodily suffering and weakness, and a certain degree of

nervous anxiety proceeding from that source, permit

it) in peace. My heart is grateful for the kindness of

Providence, during the long period which I have passed

in this country. I have been thinking on the great

vicissitudes of my life : the sufferings, the troubles,

the anxieties which I have gone through. In spite of

them all, I am glad that I did not remain in Spain.

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The idea of the shameful acting which my residence

there would have required, is shocking to me, at this

moment, in the same degree as when that feeling

impelled me to quit my native country. The price

which I have paid for the improvement of my mind,

is not too great. I have followed Truth whithersoever

(according to my conscience) it has led me. And

now, with the recollection of approaching death always

before me, and with a consciousness of my weakness

in regard both to Virtue and Truth, my soul has

resigned itself into the hands of its Maker—in con-

formity with the example and instruction of Jesus

Christ, my Lord and Saviour. Under the protection

of Almighty God, and in full trust in the promises

of Christ, I shall wait for my last hour, employing

myself, as long as I have any power, in favour of the

emancipation of the human mind from the thraldom

f5
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of superstition which, under the name.of Christianity,

oppresses it, and prevents the full accomplishment of

Christ's sufferings, by retarding the establishment of

true Gospel Liberty. I humbly implore God's bless-

ing upon all my friends, both in England and abroad.

Letter to J .

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

March 5th, 1835.

I can easily conceive your surprise at finding that I am

in this place, and you will be still more surprised when I

tell you that I have taken a house, and am living in solitude.

The cause of this change is a feeling which you certainly

will call honesty; but to which most people will give the
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name of folly and absurdity. The same horror of dissimu-

lation which made me quit Spain five-and-twenty years ago,

has obliged me now, in my'sixt'leth year, to give up my con->

nection with the Church of England. I cannot allow death

to overtake me while I believe one thing, and appear to ap-

prove the very reverse. My long examination of theologi-

cal doctrines has ended in my being a Unitarian. It is im-

possible for me to state the sufferings of my mind, while I re-

solved upon, and effected, my separation from the Whatelys.

But such is the tyranny of ecclesiastical opinion, that even

such a liberal man, as the Archbishop of Dublin, could not

urge me to stay under his roof, when once I had declared

my heterodox opinions.

The kindness of those my friends is unaltered : to the

bounty of the Archbishop do I owe the advantage of keeping

an excellent valet, whom I was going to discharge before I

quitted Dublin, and who, from his good qualities and re-

spectful attention to my comfort, has become almost indis-

pensable to me. I chose Liverpool because it is near to

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107

Dublin, and a short sea-passage is all that I shall have to

encounter, if I should be able to visit the Whatelys at

Redesdale. Besides, this is not a clerical town, where the

frowns and the insolent disdain of the Orthodox may (as

frequently as it would take place in London) move my in-

dignation, and give me additional pain.

The spirit of intolerance poisons even the best hearts in

this country. I know the pain that my presence would give

to some excellent friends of mine, and I must keep away.

I was in lodgings for a month, but I found them uncom-

fortable. I have taken a cheap house, which, by means of

a very little furniture, I have made habitable ; and here I

am, wishing for nothing but that I may be allowed to die

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in peace; not in peace from theological obloquy, for that I

think it my duty to encounter, but free from the necessity

of looking for another place of refuge.

March 10, 1835.

A great difference is commonly supposed to exist,

in regard to Christ, between the feelings of the Divi-

nitarian and those of the Humanitarian. This is a

mistake. Every relation that we have to Christ, as a

Being distinct from God, must regard him as a Man.

This applies equally to the Divinitarian, and the Hu-

manitarian. As he is one with God, our relations

bear upon one and the same Being: else there are

two Gods.

To the Writer of a Letter signed " C. L."-

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

Sir, March 11th, 1835.

I do not hesitate to correspond with a stranger who,

though he conceals his name, gives unquestionable tokens of

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a powerful and well-cultivated mind, as well as of genuine

Christian feeling.

Your letter was sent to me from Dublin to this place,

where circumstances connected with my theological opinions

have induced me to take a house.

The assurance that any of my fellow Christians has re-

ceived consolation or assistance from what I have written,

is most welcome to a mind harrassed with the evils and suf-

ferings, which the honest course I have followed through

life cannot but produce to those that firmly adhere to it.

The two passages to which you object, are eertainly unte-

nable. I have expressed mvself inaccurately in them, and

I will take the first opportunity to correct myself. We

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certainly have no approach whatever to truth, except

through and in our minds. The difference of agreement

among men arises from the general conformity of the im-

pressions which external objects make upon them. Those

natural symbols of the ideas they raise seldom fail to work

similarly upon different minds. But the objects concerning

which Christians have been so long and so fiercely at vari-

ance, are words—arbitrary symbols of things unknown, in

which people are determined to find objective truth, entirely

different from the ideas which those symbols excite. Ac-

customed to the uniformity of the impression of the natural

symbols, (which we call phenomena,) men expect the same

result from the verbal symbols, and suppose that those who

disagree as to the impression they make in some individual

minds, must be led by a spirit of perverseness, or doomed by

God to a reprobate state of mind. I do not know a more

horrible evil in existence than this delusion. If at the ex-

pense of my life I could dispel it, I would (I trust) surrender

that life willingly. At all periods of my rational existence,

even when feeling, rather than conviction, had made me re-

lapse into the theological habits of my youth, I have fear-

lessly asserted, what I knew by experience, that unbelief is

not necessarily the result of depravity, much less can dissent

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109

from certain theological views be referred to moral faults. I

deeply lament that England—a land I love and admire—

my second country, should be the spot in Europe most

deeply sunk into that refined intolerance, which attributes

opinions to moral depravity. The sincere friends of pure

Christianity, the enlightened minds that could assail that

intellectual monster with effect, are too timid, too dispersed.

The consequence is, that whatever is done (and that is little

indeed) to oppose it, comes from the side of total unbelief,

from the totally irreligious party. May God open a way

for a union between the truly free-minded Christians ! May

all good men who know the evils of orthodox Intolerance

combine to meet it in the open field of discussion, inde-

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pendently of political party spirit, which is the great obstacle

to the true progress of the pure Gospel in this country.

Whoever you are, may God bless you !

J. Blanco White.

March 17, 1835.

I am convinced that my mind continued more or

less, till this last period, under a remnant of the ser-

vile fear to some authority in matters of religion,

instilled into it during my youth. I even suspect

that at this moment there is a secret feeling of awe—

like that of a child who ventures to approach an ob-

ject which has been long used for the purpose of

frightening him,—when certain convictions which

have been growing, in spite of myself, compel me at

length to question some privileged points. I am

reading PaulusJ Leben Jem, a second time. The por-

tion I was reading, this morning; relates to the Gene-

alogies by Matthew and Luke. Paulus believes in

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the miraculous conception. I have always set this

question aside; but, nevertheless, the introductory

chapters appear to me spurious. Yet as, free from

the last restraints of orthodoxy, I look into the sub-

ject of the miraculous conception, I cannot but per-

ceive the internal inconsistency of that narrative with

the spirit of the New Testament. Seize the general

tendency of the pure Gospel into one concentrated

thought, and you will be persuaded that Jesus' words,

" the body profiteth nothing," are a master key to

the whole of his revelation. But how totally incon-

sistent with this leading principle is the account of

Jesus' conception! The writer of that account must

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have believed that the body is of vital importance in

this matter. He must have been under the impres-

sion that, unless the vivifying principle which set the

rudiments of Christ's body into growth was different

from the natural one, he could not be sufficiently the

Son of God. Ignorant, it should seem, of the doc-

trine that Christ was one of the persons in the Tri-

nity, the Son from eternity, he thought it necessary

that he should be the Son by a miraculous act of

material generation. The whole idea, indeed, is so

perfectly the offspring of the notions about matter

and its impurities, prevalent about the latter end of

the first and beginning of the second century, that, in

spite of manuscripts and criticism, I cannot doubt

that this narrative has the impress of falsehood inde-

libly set upon it. Yet I felt a kind of misgiving when

I was about to write a note in pencil in my copy of

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

Ill

Paulus, just hinting at this view. Oh, superstition,

how deep have thy roots penetrated into man's soul!

The conception of Christ, in the supposed preter-

natural manner, would be a miracle performed for its

own sake, and useless as a proof of any one thing.

Letter to the Rev. .

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

March 18th, 1835.

My dear Friend,

You need not apologise for writing to me on the subjec

which presses most heavily upon my mind, and has become

a source of mental suffering to the Archbishop. I know

your kindness and friendship towards me, and thank you

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for the information, as well as for the advice you give me.

The substance of that advice seems to be, delay in my pub-

lication. In my own mind, the circumstances which you

mention require a speedy removal of the surmises of the

Archbishop's enemies ; and that can be done only by pub-

lishing facts. The inferences against the Archbishop are

grounded upon the fact of my being an Unitarian;—and

that is both true and public. Silence would necessarily

strengthen the imputation, absurd as it is. The public must

know, from me, that I have not consulted the Archbishop,

because (among other reasons, with which the public has

nothing to do, at least in the present state of things,) I do

not conceive it advisable to consult persons who, on the

point in question, are completely at variance with the views

of him who consults. If I had wanted advice,—such advice

as is generally asked when a person wants to be supported

in a certain direction—'for instance, for the purpose of re-

maining in the Church—I would have applied to some

one whom I conceived to entertain similar opinions to my

own, and who, being a good man, continued nevertheless in

the Church. That, though I heartily wished to be able

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conscientiously to spare myself all that I am suffering, I did

not go to the Archbishop, proves both that my conviction is

strong, and that I do not consider him in the state which I

have just described in regard to the Divinity, and especially

the worship of Christ. Upon those points I consider him

immoveably settled. But our present concern is with the

unfavourable reports afloat. I lament their existence from

my heart; but I could not prevent them. Whatever men

think of me, I must obey my conscience. Whether my

views are recent or not, whether I have acted rashly or not,

is between God and myself. If I cannot avoid blame in

the execution of my duty, I must submit to it. But I have

the most unquestionable proofs that, if I deserve any blame,

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it is on the score of delay. Perhaps I ought to have de-

clared myself an Unitarian long since. I received the Sa-

crament, at St. Anne's, not long before I left Dublin, and I

would receive it again, there or any where, if I had no bet-

ter opportunity of performing that solemn remembrance of

my Saviour. The Popish notion, which requires conformity

on every tenet of those who administer the Sacrament, on

the part of every communicant, is groundless. If the Church

of England had no Articles, or if the members of the Church

were allowed to publish freely their objections to those Ar-

ticles, without thereby incurring excommunication, (as it

happens in Germany,) I should not have thought it neces-

sary to separate myself from it. But the very stir, and the

persecuting feeling which any separation occasions, makes

it incumbent on every honest man who has cause for sepa-

ration, to make the lurking spirit of bigotry manifest at his

own risk. The ditch must be filled, and I, for one, am

ready to fall into it for that purpose. The citadel of intole-

rance must be taken.

Consider, my dear Sir, my situation, and ask yourself, in

my place, what I could do, except what I have done. God

alone knows the pain with which I separated myself from

the Archbishop and his family. I thought that when I had

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113

made that most painful sacrifice, I had met every claim of

friendship in regard to that excellent man. But, hecause

his enemies are maliciously ahsurd, it is now supposed I

must drag a chain on my mind, the links of which can never

be sundered. What must be done to restore myself to

mental liberty, which, without liberty of expression and

action, is a mockery ? Must I discuss the whole Unitarian

question, as well as the question of Establishments, with the

Archbishop ? But could we deny, if that were done, at

present, that it was done with the object to stop the mouths

of the Archbishop's enemies ? And would it prove that he

did not hold secretly my opinions ? If he were as dishonest

as his enemies calumniously suppose him, does he want in-

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genuity to maintain any point against me ? The more I

consider this painful subject (and it haunts me day and

night), the more convinced I am that I cannot, must not,

alter my course. A breach between the Archbishop and

myself would be worse than death to me. But unless he

can see my circumstances in somewhat like the light in

which I see them, I must submit to the worst. What a

thing this kind of Orthodox good fame must be, when a

breath may tarnish it like the honour of a maiden ! I

believe that if I were in the place of the Archbishop, I

should content myself with my own consciousness of recti-

tude, and expose myself to such ungrounded rumours for the

sake of a friend, who, old, weak, and in constant suffering,

cannot bear an additional weight besides that which almost

crushes him. What else did he do when the Bishop of Exeter,

almost by name, charged him in Parliament with Socinian-

ism ? Whatever may be done, on my part, to save him from

those imputations, I will do most readily, but no degree of

even temporary secrecy, or concealment, as to my change,

must be expected from me. I am not to change my men-

tal and moral character at the age of sixty. I have a duty to

perform, and I trust in God I should find strength if the

gallows or the stake awaited me. Consider again, I

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finally request, that the reports against the Archbishop

cannot be checked by either delay of publication, or any

thing but positive and public assertions, which may be, and,

if necessary, shall be, proved by unquestionable documents.

The fact of my being an Unitarian, is undeniable ; and, far

from concealing it, I wish it to be known. It is, indeed,

so known already, as that no conceivable power could sup«

press it.

Believe me, &c.

J. B. W.

To Miss L .

5, Chesterfield-street, Liverpool,

March 20th, 1835.

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Dear Madam,

A suspicion crossed my mind, when I read your anony-

mous letter, that my unknown correspondent might be a

Lady; but the tone of reasoning (I mean no offence to the

sex), showed a mind so uncommonly exercised on subjects

which ladies neglect, that I rejected the notion. I am ex-

ceedingly glad to find that I preserve some quickness of

perception at the age of sixty, for that peculiar delicacy

which was on the point of betraying you under your as-

sumed incog.

It was for the purpose of declaring myself a Unitarian

that I tore myself from friends whom I love as much as

those whom I left in Spain. This is a remarkable instance

of the poisonous nature of that Orthodoxy which is sup-

ported by Church Establishments. Doctrines being made

the bond of union of a powerful body of men, whose only

legal title to the enjoyment of wealth, honour, and influence,

is adherence to those doctrines, there must of necessity exist

a bitter jealousy against every man who shakes the blind

confidence of the multitude, in the supposed sacredness of

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115

those doctrines. My friend, the Archbishop of Dublin,

who is like a brother to roe, is not a Unitarian. I know the

character of his mind, and from that knowledge I may add,

he will never be a Unitarian: not from want of candour,

not from want of mental liberality, but from a peculiar

concentrativeness (if I may use the language of the phreno-

logists) which fixes him immoveably to the views which,

with admirable talent and industry, he worked out for him-

self in his youth. Nevertheless, the consciousness of dis-

honesty in the profession of the articled points of belief, (I

use, on purpose, a word which may remind you of an Inden-

ture,) that consciousness, which exists in multitudes of men

bound by the articles, will not allow any man of a certain

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freedom of mind to be believed on his word, when he asserts

that he stops short of certain conclusions : and this is the

case, in regard to my dear friend. To prevent, as much as

in me lies, the increase of the obloquy with which he is

daily assailed, I sacrificed every advantage which I was en-

joying in his house. The sacrifice, I can assure you, was

greater than that which I made to the love ofj truth when I

left Spain. 1 had the adventurous spirit of youth to sup-

port me on that occasion : now I am old, and enfeebled

by a disease which has made my life a continuation of suffer-

ing for the last twenty years. But it seems my self-devotion

is useless. The fact of my having become a Unitarian,

which (as if I had committed forgery, or ran away with

another man's property) begins to be whispered about, is

seized upon by the Archbishop's enemies, as a proof that he

holds the same opinions. Such is the absurdity of priestly

malignity: priests are the same everywhere, and under

every denomination. I speak of the body of Priests. There

are numerous individual exceptions. My intention has been,

since I took up the resolution of leaving the Church, to pro-

claim the fact. I am not to change the temper of my mind

on the brink of the grave. A work of mine will appear, I

hope, in the course of the summer, proving that the notions

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116 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

of Heresy and Orthodoxy have no foundation in Scripture,

and that Salvation does not depend on opinions.

I had arrived at the conclusions which I now maintain,

so early as the year 1818. Feeling, (that treacherous in-

fluence in these matters,) feeling alone, drove me back into

the Orthodox flock (a most appropriate name). Perhaps

this was providentially effected ; for my declaration will now

have more weight, than at that time.

I have gone through the state of surrender to the Neces-

sitarian theory. But though, in reasoning, it is impossible

to upset that theory, I conceive it useless in practice. I

believe its influence upon some characters may be mis-

chievous. The best practical shape it can assume is that

which the New Testament gives it—Faith, i. e. trust in

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God, into whose being and power everything must be ulti-

mately resolved.

Though I write under great bodily, and, consequently,

mental exhaustion, I shall be happy to correspond with you.

With sincere respect, I am, dear Madam,

Yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

Liverpool, March 22, 1835.

I have heard a gentleman, whose name I know not,

officiate at Paradise Street Chapel. That I should be

delighted with the Unitarian service, when such men

as and were the ministers, might be attri-

buted to the extraordinary talents of those two men;

but the minister whom I heard this morning is a man

only of respectable talents. His good sense, however,

the truly practical nature of his discourse, the applica-

bility of every thing he said to the life of a Christian,

and the knowledge of the science of morals, as con-

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117

nected with the Gospel, which he showed, though

not attempting to make any scientific display, con-

vinced me that even moderate abilities go a greater

way among Unitarians than among Churchmen.

Fifty of the sermons I have heard from Clergymen

of the Establishment would scarcely amount in use-

ful substance to this Unitarian's discourse. Such,

certainly, should be the result, according to theory;

such I indeed find it in practice. The mind of the

Churchman is brought up, pressed on every side by

a thorny hedge of fixed doctrines, which defy the first

principles of reason. It must, therefore, at the best,

grow contracted; in most cases its growth will be

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stopt. What you hear from such preachers are only

set phrases; hardly does one ever find any thing

which has really grown out of the mind itself. And

then you cannot but observe that even a most power-

ful mind, such as that of Whately, is employing its

whole strength in trying to move with the appearance

of freedom, in the manner of a dancer on the tight-

rope. He certainly moves gracefully along the nar-

row path; but you see that he is conscious that he

may, at any moment, break his neck on either side

of the articled rope.

Liverpool, March 23rd, 1835.

I have this morning received a most melancholy

letter from my excellent friend Newman, of Oriel.

The letter is nothing but a groan, a sigh, from begin-

ning to end. I have answered as follows:—

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My dear Newman,

I cannot express to you how strongly, and deeply, my

heart responds to your affection. I will not trouble you

with controversy; but I cannot leave your letter unanswer-

ed, lest you should imagine that I could receive it with any

other feelings than those of affection and gratitude. The

state of your mind is quite different from that of my own.

We agree in moral tendencies, (including, I hope in regard

to myself, religion,) but our understandings have taken op-

posite courses in the pursuit of divine truth. I have done

every thing in my power to avoid error. At three different

periods have I (but in vain) practised the course which you

recommend. My journals, kept for many years, attest my

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struggles. But I must follow the light that is in me. If

that light be darkness, it is so without my being aware of it:

without the slightest ground for suspecting that it is wilfully

so. I cannot follow any other man's light. I cannot cast

my own responsibility upon another. I would give any-

thing to have it in my power to relieve the pain you suffer

on my account. But as long as the notion that opinions

can decide the fate of immortal souls shall exist, the most

excruciating sufferings await the best minds. If I have any

strength left, I will employ it in combating that error. My

mind is decided. I am liable to error. I know it too well.

I humble myself before my God, as I know him through

Christ. My life, my being, is devoted to Him, through him

who loved me and gave himself for me. I trust in divine

mercy, that in spite of the agonies which the existing errors

produce to men who might otherwise live together in the

Unity of the spirit of Christ, we shall be united, out of the

reach of doubt and dissension, in a better world than this.

May God pour his best blessings upon you. My humble

prayers shall always be offered up for you.

Ever yours, truly and affectionately,

J.B. W.
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119

Liverpool, March 26th, 1835.

The Rev. James Yates, of London, in a letter

dated 21st inst., did me the honour of offering to

propose me as Keeper of Dr. Williams's Library,

Red-Cross Street. Yesterday, (the 25th,) after having

considered the offer, and encouraged by the ap-

probation of my friend the Archbishop of Dublin,

I expressed my consent in a letter which was for-

warded by the Post. The election is to take place

on the 1st April next. But in the evening, in

consequence of a conversation with Mr. Studley

Martin, I recollected the mention of Dr. Willams's

Trust in one of the Pamphlets relating to the case of

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Lady Hewley's Charity, which Mr. Yates had sent me.

After examining the passage I was fully convinced

that I ought not to accept the appointment. I had

a sleepless night, in consequence of this untoward

event. I do not regret the place itself, but the

having to withdraw my consent. In my miserable

state of health, and after all I have suffered in my

mind since the beginning of the year, anything agi-

tates me. The following is a copy of the letter I

send by this day's Post to Mr. Yates :—

My dear Sir,

Not long after my letter of yesterday had been sent to

the Post, a conversation which I had with a friend, brought

to my recollection, that I had seen Dr. Williams's trust

coupled with that of Lady Hewley as an object of the same

hostility. Alarmed by this circumstance, I examined the

pamphlets which you had been so good as to send me, and

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to my great grief, I found that my revived recollection was

correct. In your Appendix I find that the Treasurer and

principal patron of Highbury College, were with some rea-

son supposed to be taking measures to remove the whole of

the Trustees. I have no doubt that, since you have been

so kind as to make me the offer of proposing me as Libra-

rian under that Trust, you must have, at least, a high pro-

bability that the intentions of those bigotted enemies of

every thing liberal are not likely to be put into execution.

But I cannot accept your very honourable and kind offer,

under the apprehensions which the fact of the existing hos-

tility has raised in my mind. It was with great difficulty

that I brought myself to overlook the pain, which I was sure

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to receive from being in the neighbourhood of numerous

acquaintances, in London, who would take every opportu-

nity of manifesting their resentment and mortification at my

having left the Church. But I cannot endure the idea of

having, besides, to bear a worse kind of persecution, from a

part of the Dissenters themselves.

The place which you so liberally proposed to me, must

be in itself an object of desire to many, who will disguise to

themselves that desire under the shape and form of zeal for

Gospel truth. Every circumstance in my case would

enable them to vent their virulence against me, with much

more effect than against any other person; for a foreigner,

in England, is never popular. It would be said that no

sooner had I expressed my dissent from the church, than I

stept into the best situation which the Dissenters have to

give. My conduct in regard to preferment in the Church,

during more than twenty years, would be forgotten, and

both Churchmen, and the fanatical among Dissenters,

would join in trying (not without some chance of success)

to represent all my past sacrifices as of no value. I beg

therefore, most earnestly, that you will give me leave to with-

draw the consent which I gave yesterday. I am quite cer-

tain that, in my present state of health, the removal to Lon-

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121

don would not be free from danger. But if instead of the

peace (partial as it is) which I enjoy here, I should even

apprehend that I was an object of personal envy and jealousy,

by heing placed at the head of the Library, I should inevi-

tably sink under such a combination of evils. I must posi-

tively decline the otherwise very attractive offer which I owe

to your goodness, and for which you shall always have my

best thanks and gratitude.

Believe me, &c, J. B. W.

Liverpool, April 11th, 1835.

I wish to record the continuance, or rather the in-

crease, of my delight in the Unitarian Service. For

a long time did I avoid going to Church, except to

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the Lord's Supper, because the service had grown into-

lerable to me. I now rejoice at the approach of

Sunday. This very morning while at Chapel, I had

the strongest and deepest conviction that I had never

witnessed anything so really sublime as the whole

worship in which I was joining. I can also attest

the admirable behaviour of the Congregation. There

is a marked attention on all sides. In a word, the

whole service is a reality. I heartily thank God for

having been made acquainted with the Unitarian

Worship. I have seen nothing superior, nor even

equal to it.

To John Stuart Mill, Esq.

Liverpool, April 20th. 1835.

My dear Sir,

* I consider the present school of Literature in

France as one of the most flourishing in Europe. How

VOL. II. G
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infinitely superior it is to that which existed hefore the

Revolution ! I believe my circumstances entitle me to judge

impartially on that point. Before I left Spain I read almost

exclusively French books. Rousseau, perhaps, all in all, the

best writer among the French, was to such a degree my

favourite that I left not a page unread in the Geneva edition

of his works. I gave up French for English reading when

I came to this country, till about five years ago, when I

returned to mes premiers amours. But while I had grown

old, they on the contrary had begun a new and vigorous

life, infinitely superior to that in which I had known them.

I have nearly finished the last Number of the "West,

minster. It is written with honest indignation: but it is

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all (if I may say so) too rough and angular. Have you

read Victor Cousin's Lectures on the History of Philosophy,

and his Fragmens Philosophiques ? He would say that the

Westminster is the incarnation of Ecole Materialiste, An

infusion of Idealism would do it good.

Believe me, my dear Sir,

Ever yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

May 16, 1835.

My dear Sir,

I have been thinking of writing to you, but being very

ill, and having more to do than I could well perform, even

if I were better, I have delayed it. The arrival, however,

of your kind letter has decided me not to prolong my

silence. It is true that Mr. James Yates, of London, did

me the favour to offer proposing me to Dr. Williams's Trus-

tees as Librarian. Amidst much doubt I accepted the pro-

posal, in the hope of being useful. But at the close of the

very day when I had sent the accepting letter, I found in

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123

one of the pamphlets published concerning Lady Hewley's

Charity, that the other branches of Dissenters were about

to bring a similar action against Dr. Williams's Trustees.

To be thus placed within the reach of the most desperate

bigotry, to be placed between two fires—from the side of

the Church, and also from that of Dissent—was an idea

which completely unnerved me. All my former objections

—those which I had put aside in the hope of being useful

in London—revived; and I wrote immediately to request

from Mr. Yates that he would allow me to withdraw my

consent. I have not heard one word more about the busi-

ness ; but I consider my escape from the bigots of Me-

thodism, &c. as a very fortunate one. I have been told that

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there has been a formal separation between the Orthodox (!)

Dissenters and the Unitarians : and that the former are

determined to dispute, at law, every actual possession in the

hands of the latter. Dr. Channirig is perfectly right.

There are scarcely a few sparks of any thing like light in

England, upon religious points. The mass of ignorance and

bigotry which is here reckoned pure religion 16 immense.

Mr. James Yates has procured the acceptance of a Lon-

don publisher for my Letters. Reduced to constant suffer-

ing of mind and body, helpless, and with only a few distant

well-wishers—such, I mean, as could help me concerning

such a publication—I must allow things to take their course.

I examined the Revised Liturgy several years ago. As

far as I am acquainted with Unitarian worship, I prefer the

voluntary prayers. The eternal repetition of an established

Liturgy is to me intolerable. I continue to admire the

form of worship in which I have hitherto joined. I am de-

lighted with the discourses of Mr. and Mr. . My

respect for both increases.

As soon as I can get a copy of my work, it shall go di-

rectly to you. I expect the proof of the first sheet every

day; but I expect it in great fear of the difficulty I shall

have in correcting the press. Mr. Thom, however, has

g2
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kindly offered to assist me. But it is impossible to describe

my present unfitness for any thing that requires care and

attention. God, who knows what is best for me, will, I

trust, support me.

With sincere respect and gratitude, I am,

My dear Sir,

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White,

Liverpool, May 17th, 1835.

Sunday after Sunday, going alternately to the two

Unitarian Chapels in this town, I enjoy the most

sublime moral and intellectual treat which the puri-

fied religious principle can offer to man. I, for one,

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had never conceived any thing like what I now ex-

perience in connection with that principle. I was,

indeed, acquainted with a religious excitement, very

like intoxication; an excitement which, similar to

that produced by stimulants, brings with it a deep-

seated consciousness that it cannot last—that it will

gradually disappear, leaving us exhausted and low.

What I now experience has all the characters of

reality. I do not find myself, as before, anxious and

restless to keep up a state which brings not the con-

fidence of sober conviction with it. I used to feel,

as every one must now and then in certain dreams,

that, much as I was moved at the moment, there

must be delusion at the bottom. Now, I do not per-

ceive even an approach of that misgiving. I draw

near to the presence of the living God, and I know

that the nearness is not visionary; I am convinced

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125

that it is real, and that it takes place in the only

sanctuary which exists among men—in the temple of

the Holy Spirit, our mind—our Reasonable Mind—

the seat of the Divine Oracle for men. I listen to

Hymns full of instruction, conveyed in sentiment,

supported by the sublimest of all sensations—that of

the Musical ear. I hear Discourses which instruct

me, and delight me. And (how strange will what I

am about to say sound in the ears of the established

piety!) my Faith in God, by means of Christ, in-

creases. If by Faith is understood an assent to what

is incredible, I certainly have not such Faith. My

Faith increases, aided by an undisturbed develop-

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ment of the reasonableness of the great Truths of

EeUgion, namely, the paternal character of God, by

none so clearly exhibited to mankind as by our

greatest benefactor under God—Jesus of Nazareth;

the call to immortality; the readiness of God to for-

give on repentance; the certainty of that forgiveness

without either payment, or a strict claim on our part;

the reasonableness of submitting to what is evil to us,

committing the final result to our heavenly Father,

as Christ trusted him during his life, and especially

when to Him he commended his spirit on the Cross.

My faith in all this grows—not by that desperate

blind effort which I used to make when I wished to

assent to the doctrines of the Trinity, Atonement,

&c. &c, and yet to preserve my sincerity—but it

grows without effort, and just as I believe in any

other truth of reality, by a conviction with which the

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Win has nothing to do, except obeying it in propor-

tion as it takes possession of the mind. I indeed

thank my God for this Faith; I pray for its increase,

but I do not attempt to make it for myself. An arti-

ficial Faith applies to all religions equally, and per-

haps most to those which are most absurd; for if the

mind surrenders to an artificial belief, the result will

be complete, in proportion as the will excludes every

ray of light from the system so wilfully embraced.

That Faith is easier, and more powerful in complete

Popery, than in mixed Protestantism. I thank God,

I feel at length perfectly free from it.

To John S. Mill, Esq.

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Liverpool, May 28, 1835.

My dear Sir,

You must have observed that very young children run

because they cannot walk. The same thing happens not

unfrequently to me in regard to my mental exertions. I

have nearly finished my Article on Crabbe. * It has,

however, been written quite against the grain, and I fear it

may not be fit to be inserted. This is not affectation, as

you will find if it should happen that any thing I send

should be rejected. I should, of course, be sorry to fail of

the object of my efforts ; but I should be infinitely more

sorry if, out of regard for me, any thing unworthy of the

Review [the London], and of a man of letters, should be

given to the public. Being weak and nervous, no sooner

have I finished anv thing than I take a dislike to it, losing

all power of judging myself. I fear my Article, if published,

will raise an outcry among the tail of the Quarterly. But

I have most earnestly wished to be just, m

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127

I am glad to find that you think the next Number will

improve in tone and matter. It is of the greatest conse-

quence that the Reformers should act with the greatest cau-

tion, and check whatever is mere feeling. The task is diffi-

cult, and a great responsibility to mankind lies upon them.

I believe most firmly that you yourself are honest and dis-

interested, and take it for granted that you have chosen as-

sociates of the same worth. Upon that ground alone it is

that I wish to assist you in keeping up the Review. My

anxiety, however, as to the management of that work is in

proportion to the importance and delicacy of the cause

which it has undertaken to promote.

Believe me, with sincere esteem,

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My dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

Letter to Lord Holland.

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

May 31st, 1835.

My dear Lord Holland,

I ought to have written to you long since, to acquaint

you with my change of residence ; but I have had so much

to write, and so much trouble besides, that I have been

obliged to defer it.

The state of my mind respecting the Church, a nearer

insight into that system which I had in Ireland, and my

long-established determination not to dissemble on religious

points, urged me last winter to tear myself from the family

of my friends, and retire to this place by myself. Notwith-

standing the separation which my being a decided Unitarian

had made imperative upon me, in order to use my freedom,

and leave my friend, the Archbifhop, undisturbed as much as

in me lay, by suspicions against his orthodoxy, I wished not

to be far from him. This, and the circumstance that this is

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not a clerical town, induced me to fix myself here. I have

taken a cheap house, and I hope to die quietly in my retreat,

where my last prayer shall be, that God may soon relieve

the world from established priesthoods of all kinds. I have

known them under various modifications, and am convinced

that they are a great drawback on the happiness and pro-

gress of mankind.

I fear very much for poor Spain. My brother's hopes

have revived with your return into office, but I feel both in-

dignant and despondent when I consider the almost incur-

able mischief which Lord Elliot's mission has done. That

indirect recognition of Don Carlos's right to the crown, has

encouraged all the enemies of liberty and improvement in

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Spain. I am so convinced that, according to the constitu-

tional laws of Spain, and even according to the principle,

right or wrong, on which the monarchy has been governed

since the accession of the Bourbons, Don Carlos has no

right to the crown, that, were I in Spain, I would at all

risks oppose him, independently of his Conservative and

bigoted sentiments. In my opinion, England is bound in

honour to rescue a suffering country which, if we are to

judge by her policy, (as posterity certainly will,) she helped

against the French, only to deliver her, tied hand and foot,

into the power of an abominable despotism. Spain would

have improved under Joseph Buonaparte, but she is sure to

sink more and more under the pressure of the incurable and

odious Bourbons.

I do not improve in health, though in spite of suffering I

work incessantly. I have found an institution in this place

—the Athenamm—which owes its existence chiefly to Ros-

coe, where there is a very select library. There I usually

pass my mornings. It is an exceedingly well-arranged

establishment altogether.

I hope you are quite well t and shall be delighted to hear

a good account of Lady Holland. I have followed Lord

John Russell through all his troubles during the election

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129

with anxious interest. Deseo a Vstedes todos, acierto, con

todo mi corazon.

Believe me, with affectionate and unchangeable esteem,

My dear Lord Holland,

Yours ever,

J. Blanco White.

P.S. My kind remembrances to Allen.

â– i

Letter from Lord Holland.

South Street, June 10th, 1835.

My dear Blanco,

I am really ashamed of having left your kind letter so

long unanswered, and hope you will attribute my silence, in

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spite of truth, to excessive ministerial fatigue and what not,

or to any thing, save and except an indifference to your

welfare, or to any kind expression of your friendship and

confidence in me.

I am not at all surprised that an earnest and sincere in-

vestigation into the contents of the book which Christians

deem inspired, should have led you to a conviction that the

religion revealed therein was not intended to convey a pro-

position so revolting to one's understanding, and such a

solecism in language, as that one is three and three are one.

I do not pretend to be as earnest as you in my search, and

still less to be as capable of forming a critical judgment of

the Gospels, which I have never studied with much atten-

tion, and which are in a language with which I am imper-

fectly acquainted; but I have always thought, from my

cursory view of the controversy, that it was nearly as pre-

posterous to suppose that the Evangelists intended to con-

vey the Athanasian interpretation of what they heard or

recorded, as to believe, on the authority of the unknown

person who composed the Creed so fraudulently termed

Athanasian, that three were one, and one three. There are

perhaps more passages which favour the notion of the pre-

o5
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existence and divinity of Jesus Christ, but they are all, 1

suspect, with due allowance for Oriental expression, suscep-

tible of another interpretation, and I have little doubt that

an unbiassed critic (if in such matters there were such a

phenomenon to be found) would pronounce the Unitarian

system more reconcileable with the language, as well as more

consonant with reason, than any that has been built upon

the philosophy of these books. It is yet clearer that it is

in its consequences less liable to abuse, less productive of

fanaticism and superstition, and more conducive to the mo-

rality of mankind and the well-being of society, than any

other. As a politician, I should not hesitate to prefer it to

any shape that Judaism, Paganism, Hindooism, Mahomet-

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anism, or Christianity has hitherto assumed. So you see

we meet very nearly.

I think you are unjust in your strictures on Lord Elliot's

mission. It was certainly conceived with the intention of

serving, not injuring, the cause of Spain, and when the en-

deavours of Wellington to prevail on Carlos to abandon his

mad and wicked projects come to be known, it will perhaps

be found much less injurious in its effects, than you suppose.

I think your residence at Liverpool is well chosen. Lady

Holland is very, very far from well, but desires her love.

Many thanks for your good wishes—we shall do what we

can to deserve them.

Yours truly,

Vassall Holland.

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

Sunday, June 7th, 1835.

Increase of illness, produced by discomfort, having

kept me at home, I answered a letter on the subject

of Truth—objective and subjective truth. But I

fear, though the letter may contain some good obser-

vations, the answer was not clear. It has since oc-

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131

eurred to me that the best answer to the question,

What is Truth ? would be, that which Reason tells us

to have been proved to exist, or to have existed. As

our Reason must be a beam of the eternal Reason,

by which all things were created, the only approach

we can make to objective truth, the work of the infi-

nite Reason, is through its emanation, our finite Rea-

son. The proper use of our Reason is however sub-

ject to conditions. These we must study and follow,

if we are to avoid delusions. By these means our

Reason improves and corrects itself. By careful atten-

tion to such rules, a wonderful progress has been made

in the knowledge of external nature—an objective

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knowledge of Truth, which in a multitude of cases ad-

mits of no doubt. In the same manner, though with

greater difficulty and danger of error, we may advance

in the important knowledge of our minds—or psycho-

logy. This view of Truth has the advantage of being

practical. If any one, for instance, asks me, " What

do you mean by a lover of Truth ? Every man is a

passionate lover of his own TruthI shall answer:

"By a lover of Truth I mean a lover of Reason.

Reason does not belong to one man, more than to

another. The true lover of Truth, i. e. of Reason,

abides by what appears reasonable to him, not be-

cause it is his own reason approves it, but because he

does not see any other view more in conformity with

that Reason which judges of all things. He is ready

to examine, at all times; he does not stop in his in-

quiries till Reason, independently of every other con-

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sideration, is satisfied. The man who, in everything,

looks to that satisfaction of Reason, above all other

satisfactions of self whatever—that man is a lover of

Truth."

Question to be answered.

Where shall we stop ?

Answer.—Where the reason for which we began to

move, may happen to cease.

Letter to Miss L :

5, Chesterfield-street, Liverpool,-

June 7th„1835.

My dear Miss L ,

Your letter has found me in a wretched state of health '.

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hut what can I do better than to answer it ? If the defini-

tion of Truth, on which you consult me, is one you have

drawn from anything I have said, I must have expressed

mvsalf, not only obscurely, but entirely against what I

wished to convey to others. There are so many, and so

great truths on which mankind are agreed—evidently from

the independence of those truths on anything merely sub-

jective—that the most extravagant scepticism can hardly

venture on the denial of Truth independent of human con-

viction. The very denial of the universal sceptic involves

the assertion of his own existence—of the existence of

something that denies. But when we speak of truth, in

connection with moral duty, we almost necessarily limit all

we say to contested points, on which the conviction of differ-

ent persons is different. All, however, suppose,—the bigots

of all kinds positively assert—that their own view coincides

with what exists independently of their minds. Now, what

do most people contend for in such cases ? That their in-

dividual view of the truth—their subjective truth—shall be

received by all as the objective truth itself. The practical

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133

question which is to be settled is this : to which Truth are

our moral duties of obedience, &c., due f Is it not to con*

viction—to our own deliberate and impartially-formed con-

viction ? Or is it to the conviction of others ? For what

truth did Judge Hales " forsake all," &c, &c. ? Unques-

tionably for the eternal, self-existent truth. But where

did he find it, or thought he found it ? Was it not in his

own conviction ? He might indeed be in error ; but he

had done his duty. Observe, after all, that the harrassing

struggles which we have to endure arise chiefly about truths

of a historical and critical nature ; where the only objective

existence has passed away, at least from among us, with

the existence of the witnesses and writers, about whose ac-

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curacy of observation, and whose meaning of certain ex-

pressions, we set the world on flames. It is chiefly in

regard to these points, that we should endeavour to make

people understand that to speak of Truth as an external ex-

istence, is absurd. The facts in question either existed or

not. But of that transient existence God alone has a true

knowledge. We possess only human evidence; we weigh

that evidence, and the conviction or non-eonviction it pro-

duces on each individual is, in regard to such points, the

only truth with which we are concerned. To express and

obey (if practical) that conviction, is the duty of every indi-

vidual; but he must also recollect that all others have a

similar duty to perform. Respect for conviction must be

reciprocal. This is the only true foundation of charity and

liberality on these unhappy points of contention. I doubt

whether even now I have conveyed my meaning to you.

Remember, however, the difference between Truth (abstract,

independent truth) and Veracity ; and much of the obscurity

of the question will disappear. I should recommend to you

(if you have not anticipated my recommendation) a regular

study of the philosophy of the human mind. The Scotch

writers, Reidand Dugald Stewart, are very judicious guides ;

but if, after reading the lattert especially, you were to study
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the works of Victor Cousin, particularly his Fragmens de

Philosophic (the earliest volume, not the Nouveaux Fragmens,

though they are also good), comparing the whole with the

existences in your own consciousness, you would lay a foun-

dation for all your other studies, which unfortunately is

seldom attended to in England. Lord Brougham's work

on Paley would not abound in mistakes, if he had attended

more to this sort of study.

My little work will probably be out in a fortnight. I will

take care to send you a copy the moment I receive a supply

from London.

Believe me, with sincere respect and esteem,

Yours faithfully,
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J. Blanco White.

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

5, Chesterfield Street,

June 10th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

The note which I have received from you this morning

has given me particular pleasure. Such has been of late

the dejection of spirits under which I have laboured, that I

really opened your letter, prepared to submit to the rejec-

tion of the Article. This state of suffering is the result of

a disorder in the digestive organs which I have had for

years, and of many mental struggles and anxieties, which

are the bitter fruits of my early slavery, under a gross and

mischievous system of superstition. Frequently drawn out

of my rational course by undercurrents of deeply-imbibed

sentiments, the perception of those partial errors has, more

than once, obliged me to rectify them at the cost of great

pain and misery. But though old, infirm, and without any

one of the supports which men usually find in domestic

society,—I thank God I am immoveable in my determina-

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135

tion to sacrifice everything to the cause of Reason and Free-

dom.—But I fear I am falling into Rant.

Your two corrections are most judicious, and I thank you

for them. I am aware that I frequently fail in weighing

my expressions of reprobation in regard to certain moral

faults ; though at the time I use them, I have not the re-

motest wish to make the reprobation fall upon the indivi-

dual whom I find only partially guilty. Never scruple to

tell me of my faults. I will do the same friendly service

respecting the Review: only that in many cases it would

require a long conversation to convey my meaning.

What do you intend to do with Lord Brougham ? I

have been sadly disappointed by his Discourse on Paley—so

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much so, that I almost fear I may be under some delusion.

To find such a collection of crudities coming from a man of

his talents and reading, is quite startling. And yet I am

more on the side of the psychological views he takes, than

against them : but his arguments—for instance, for the spi-

rituality of the soul—are so unphilosophical; his dogmatism

upon this kind of subjects is so theological, that I read the

whole book under a strong feeling of impatience. The only

view I like is that on Synthesis and Analysis—but the

view is there, nobody can tell why. It appears to me that

Lord Brougham has treated most branches of physical and

metaphysical science, as briefs put into his hands, upon

which he must say something plausible—just enough for

the satisfaction of people not much above the juries he has

addressed in the course of his life.

It appears to me that I shall not be able to give a general

interest to my abstract of Guizot's Lectures, unless you give

me leave to write a very long Article. The French Reviews

frequently divide such Articles. Would you allow me to do

the same ? Pray consider the subject at your leisure, and

let me know your determination about it. There is ah

enormous mass of things to be examined—or rather to be

methodically stated—if the general readers are to be allured

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into reading an article on History. I proposed Guizot

because I have attentively studied the work ; but I am not

so partial to that subject as to insist upon it, if you wished

for anything else within my reach.

I continue under my usual sufferings. Many thanks for

the interest you take about my health.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

Letter to Miss L .

5, Chesterfield-street, Liverpool,

June 11th, 1835.

My dear Miss L ,

Many thanks for the answer to Mr. Bagot. He seems

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to be a bigot (the change of one letter tells the truth in the .

case J of the darkest hue. I am convinced that both in the

Unitarian and the Roman Catholic question, the ground of

defence should be made broader than it is. You will see

my meaning practically exhibited in the forthcoming Letters

on Heresy and Orthodoxy. If I had a little more bodily

strength, I would endeavour to open the eyes of Unitarians

to the necessity of forming, and avowing, definite notions of

the authority of the Bible. Like the old authority of the

Church, which acted more like a superstitious feeling than

a definite principle, the oracular character given indiscrimi-

nately to every part of the Bible, places intolerance, bigotry,

and superstition on vantage ground. The Bible is revered,

not as a rational, intellectual help to Christianity, but as an

Idol. I remember to have heard Coleridge, the Poet, say,

—though probably he would not say it publicly—that one

of the evils of England was her Bibliolatry. But like all

popular idols, the approach to it is dangerous to all but

those who creep on their hands and knees.

I perceive the stage at which you find yourself in the

Philosophy of the Human Mind. What you call instincts,

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137

should be termed facts of observation. The second volume

of Cousin's Histoire de la Philosophie would give you much

light. It is an admirable review of Locke.

I cannot give you any information as to the price of my

books. All I can tell you is, that Milliken, of Dublin, pub-

lished the Second Travels, and the Letters on the Law of

Libel. His agent in London is Fellowes, Ludgate Street.

Booksellers are very ready to send you every kind of infor-

mation about what you owe for books you buy, but the

accounts for those they sell are not quite so easily ob-

tained.

I wish you by all means to let me know, not so much

what you may approve in my forthcoming little work, as

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what may raise any objection in your mind. The precon-

ceived notions which exist on such subjects are so numerous

and so deeply rooted, that whoever writes, as a pioneer,

(which, in a great degree, is my case,) requires the assist-

ance of candid objectors,—to know in what direction the axe

is wanted, in order to make a wav.

With sincere esteem, I am, dear Miss L ,

Yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

Liverpool, June 27th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

, I am convinced that no country in the

world suffers more from false notions of Religion than

England. Spain and Italy are indeed ruined by an esta-

blished superstition of the grossest kind : but they have the

advantage that the subject is treated as a mere concession to

be made to ignorance, till some favourable moment may

arrive for dislodging the abettors of the nuisance from

their ruinous strongholds. But in England the most mis-

chievous, because the most intolerant, superstition has suc-

ceeded in disguising itself into something like knowledge

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and system. It exists in the garb of philosophy, meddling

with everything, not as a mere matter of fact, but as reason

and right; yet opposing too effectually the claims of Reason

itself. What has hitherto baffled, and must for a long

term baffle still, the plans conceived for educating the

people ? Is it not the claim to lay a certain catechism at

the foundation of all the superstructure of Knowledge ? On

what condition is Education—instruction I should say, for

there is very little education in the case—granted ? Is it

not that the children shall be bound to some body of Clergy,

established or non-established ? I know no other body of

men than the small one to which I have attached myself—

the Unitarians—who educate unconditionally.- -

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To the Rev. George Armstrong.

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

July 14th, 1835.

My dear Sir,

I have, at length, the pleasure of forwarding two copies

of my little work,* as a testimony of my gratitude to you,

for the valuable advice you gave me on reading the MS. of

the first four Letters. I hope you will find nothing of con-

sequence to object to in the 5th. My earnest wish is that

this little work may induce Christians to think freely, and

to examine impartially some most momentous questions, on

the settling of which depends the peace and improvement of

the Christian world. If I fail to throw light upon such

questions, I should be at all events most happy if I should

be the occasion of a fair discussion. The greatest evils of

the Christian world proceed from want of freedom in the

examination of long-established notions.

You will be glad to hear that, in spite of habitual weak-

ness, and all the evils of a shattered nervous system, I enjoy

more comfort here than has fallen to my lot anywht;"" else.

[* Letters on " Heresy and Orthodoxy."]

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My having a house of my own is a very important circum-

stance in the present case. I am quiet at home. A very

few friends see me; but I-visit nowhere except to return

the first civilities. I consider myself however very happy,

in the close neighbourhood of the Rev. John H. Thom, a

Unitarian Minister in this town.»—He has a Chapel, which

I attend alternately with that of Mr. Martineau. I enjoy,

in both those places of worship, a satisfaction to which I

really was a total stranger. My regret is, that such Chris-

tian ministrations are confined to a small number. But I

trust, the next generation of Unitarians will be more nu-

merous and influential. The days of Orthodoxy are cer-

tainly gone by.

Let me hear your candid opinion of my little work at

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your leisure. You may now direct to this house, as in the

date of this letter.

With sincere esteem, and gratitude,

I am, my dear Sir,

Ever faithfully yours,

J. Blanco White.

To Miss L

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

July 14th, 1835.

My dear Miss L ,

It is only this afternoon that I have received a few copies

of my little work. I send one for yourself, and another for

Mr. L , whom I do not forget, though I have seen him

but once. We shall now see what plan of operations the Or-

thodox mean to take ; whether to let the pamphlet drop into

oblivion, or abuse me according to the full measure of theo-

logical wrath. I am the last person to judge of my own works.

The moment they are in print I take a mortal dislike to them,

and never look into them unless I am forced by circumstances.

I am therefore ready to join with my readers, if they find

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what I give them, dull, weak, and uninteresting. My in-

terest, I can assure you, is for the subject, and my vague

notions of what might be done are so far above what I can

do, that, without affected humility, I am always thoroughly

dissatisfied with myself. I am only anxious to raise an in-

terest in the thinking part of the public. I wish people to

examine impartially, and fearlessly, what bears the name of

Christianity in this country, and not to drop off silently as

many do, either into avowed Scepticism on all moral and

religious subjects, or cling with frantic distress to what

they perceive to be false, for fear of infidelity—as doubting,

what is really doubtful, is called among us. What is called

the Protestant religion is nothing but a mutilated system of

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popery ; groundless, incongruous, and full of contradictions.

I am not at all surprised when I hear that the number of

Roman Catholics is increasing. The Protestant Divines

are the most effective missionaries of Rome. Surely if we

are to bow down to some Church, people will find more at-

tractions, and much more consistency, in that of the Pope,

than in that of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I am writing in haste, not to delay the parcel. Let me

hear from you, whenever you are inclined to write.

Believe me, with great esteem,

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

Letter from Lord Holland.

August 13th, 1835.

Dear Blanco,

I cannot forward Dr. Lant Carpenter's letter, without

adding a line of good wishes and remembrances from myself,

and all the inmates of this house. I look forward with

great pleasure to reading your book, though, as you know,

I am more than half convinced beforehand that you are cri-

tically, and historically, right in your doctrine. I really

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141

think there seems a prospect of religious as well as political

liberty being established both in Spain and Portugal, which

will be a phenomenon indeed.

Yours,

Vassall Holland.

Letter to Lord Holland.

Liverpool, Aug. 15, 1835.

My dear Lord Holland,

Many thanks for Dr. Lant Carpenter's letter, and for

your kind little note.

Ever since the Order in Council regarding Spain was

published, I have been desirous to express to you my grati-

tude to yourself and your colleagues. You have acted in a

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way worthy of England, and if the liberal course which the

Government are pursuing both at home and abroad is not

interrupted by some unfortunate event, England will assu-

redly be the prop and stay of European liberty. How I

should rejoice if I could learn before I die that religious

tyranny had received its death-wound in Spain! A law de-

claring that no Spaniard should be compelled to external

conformity, even though the public worship should still be

exclusively Catholic, would be a wonderful improvement in

Spain and Portugal. The hatred of the populace against

the Friars is a good symptom : I only fear that it may be

confined to the cities. I lament the excesses which take

place, not only on the grounds of humanity, but of policy.

J fear such horrors as the Papers mention, will produce a

revulsion of feeling. I wonder how our friend the Procer

Quintana is going on. An Oxford friend, to whom I gave

a letter for him, saw him at Madrid four years ago. He

seems to have been in the enjoyment of health. Arguelles

does not appear to maintain his former popularity; he is

still in love con la Nina bonita, as the Constitution used to

be called in Spain. The cleverest Spaniards appear, at pre-

sent, to be incapable of improving themselves by residence

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abroad. The love of talking, and boasting at the cafe's, is

an incurable evil among them. In that respect, I under-

stand that they are just as I left them, more than five-and-

twenty years ago. But England, after all, may do more

for Spain than Spain itself. My fears arise chiefly from

the Tories and their protege", Don Carlos. The spirit of

the age is, however, decidedly against that party and its

notions; there may be reverses, but freedom must prevail.

My aifectionate remembrances to Lady Holland and all

the family.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

August 17, 1835.

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At no period of my life have I enjoyed moments

of purer happiness than during the present. As

soon as that unexpected and agitating struggle * * *

was at an end, I began to reap the reward of my

determination. I am of course subject to attacks of

that dejecting and distracting indigestion, which has

the power to cast a veil of darkness over nature.

But I have learnt to distinguish between reality and

this peculiar delusion. I wait till the cloud has

glided off, and am, all the while, certain that sunshine

is behind it. But never before had I perceived what

happiness may be bestowed on man, through the

mere activity of his soul. I had to-day relieved the

uneasiness and pain to which I am subject, especially

in the morning; had dressed myself, and, as has

been my custom for some time past, had opened my

window, and seated myself in view of the Heavens, to

collect my mind for the daily tribute of adoration to

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113

my Maker. The mere act of directing my mind to

Him, in the presence of his glorious works, filled me

with an inexpressible, though tranquil and rational

delight. I said to myself, "What a glorious gift con-

scious existence is in itself! Heaven must essentially

consist in the absence of whatever disturbs the quiet

enjoyment of that consciousness—in the intimate

conviction of the presence of God.

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

Liverpool, Aug. 25, 1835.

My dear Sir,

• It gives me much pleasure that you like my

Heresy and Orthodoxy. You cannot conceive the degree of

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horror with which I look upon dogmatic religion. The no-

tion of establishing a system of Metaphysics and History,

as the means of eternal happiness for mankind, is not more

absurd than it is mischievous. This country suffers from it

more than any other. In Italy, in Spain, the national mind

is dead, or nearly so, and the poison cannot work on. In

England there is life enough to struggle against that bane

of Europe, but that life has allowed its principles to assimi-

late so much with the poison, that it is difficult to conceive

how it can be removed without imminent peril. Yet re-

moved it must be, or England must morally (perhaps even

politically) decline. Dii omen avertant!

Liverpool, Aug. 28th, 1835.

As the idea of cause is originally excited by man's

consciousness of his own power of causation, that

idea presents itself, in the infancy of mankind, in a

human form. Every phenomenon is believed to be

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caused by an invisible man or woman, more or less

powerful, more or less kind or malicious. This natu-

ral tendency remains in the mind at all periods.

When the progress of the human race had begun to

deliver it from Mythological Polytheism, when Christ

had proclaimed the purest Deism, and spread it in

the most extraordinary manner, by means which can-

not be reduced to the rank of such occurrences as

we very vaguely call natural, the tendency in ques-

tion developed itself in a most surprising manner

among Christians, and by making Christ to be God

himself—the Eternal Cause was again reduced to the

original shape in which it appears to the infant mind.

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It is true, that by thus indulging the imagination all

the raptures of sentimental love are easily produced

in reference to the Supreme Cause, the Eternal and

blessed God; but the reference is made to an idol—

to a man,—or rather to a monstrous conception,

made up of the most glaring contradictions. And

what is the impression which that image of God

leaves in regard to the Deity ? It is that of a Supreme

Cause involved in difficulties in consequence of his

creation; a Deity that must labour in a state of dis-

guise and degradation, to find a remedy against some

fatal consequences of his work; who must die to

destroy death (such is the figurative phraseology,

though in spite of all, death continues as powerful as

ever); who must be a victim for sin, without re-

moving sin. The representations of the Deity in

the Pagan Mythologies are so evidently absurd, that

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145

they could not do mischief in a state of moral and

political improvement; but this, though perhaps

more absurd, has its absurdity so disguised by natu-

ral sentiment, by kindness, goodness, and sympathy,

that it will long continue to pervert Christianity, and

check moral and intellectual progress in the most en-

lightened parts of the world.

Sept. 4, 1835.

To Dr. Neander.

[Begun on the day when I received his Third Volume

(Church History) dedicated to me.]

My dear friend and brother,

I will not commit to a dead language what I have to say

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to you on the present occasion. The feelings of my heart

cannot be conveyed in the set phrases of a Latin letter.

Alas ! that I should have anything to express but gratitude

for the honour, the thoroughly unmerited honour, you have

done me in dedicating to me the third volume of your ad-

mirable Church History. But so it is. The step which

my conscience compelled me to take at the beginning of

the last winter, my separation from the Church of England,

my declaration of Unitarian principles, my painful separation

from the Archbishop of Dublin and his family, which I con-

ceived (and experience has confirmed it) to be a necessary

consequence of my public dissent from the Church in which

he holds so high a station, all these circumstances made the

wounds of my heart bleed at the sight of your most kind

present, and the short Latin letter* which accompanies it.

Perhaps (oh that it may be so !) your happier position in

* Suscipias, vir optime atque dilectissime, donum hoc exiguum cum

lis animi sensibus, qui me, ut hoc donum tibi offeram impellunt, so-

cietatis intimae, qua Dei Spiritus animos nostros invicem conjunxit, tes-

seram et quasi sigillum.—A. Neander.

VOL. II. H
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Germany will make this my feeling unintelligible to you.

I will therefore plainly and honestly lay it before you.

Smarting under the results of my recent separation from

the Church of this country, perceiving every day more and

more that the ties of the closest friendship snap like threads

in the fire, in cases like my own, I am pained to the utmost

by the idea that, on hearing my change, you may repent

the honour which you have bestowed upon my name, and

withdraw the kindness and friendship with which you have

hitherto regarded me. Forgive, my dear and highly vene-

rated friend, if, in the present agony of my heart, I can

doubt whether the truly Christian, unbounded, toleration,

which I know you to possess, can extend to myself. The

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letter which you have addressed to me at the head of the

volume, breathes such a pure, heavenly spirit of charity, that

I cannot but reproach myself for these my fears. The ac-

companying little work will after all inform you about the

step I have taken, much better than I can do it by letter.

Of this I am certainly confident, that whatever you may

think of my tenets, nothing could have made me more un-

worthy of your esteem, than a continuance of my external

connection with a strictly dogmatic establishment, with

which my convictions so essentially disagree. To have

allowed myself to die, approving externally of such an esta-

blishment, would have invalidated (certainly, in the eyes of

God) whatever sacrifices I have made to the love of Truth.

The tone and determination of my mind, I humbly trust,

remain exactly as before. My love of Christ is the same ;

my prayer to live and die in conformity with the Spirit that

was in Him, is as earnest as ever before. If I am wrong

in my views, I cannot help it: I have done my best to be

right. But I am confident (and I have endeavoured to

prove it to the Christian world) that the crime of intellec-

tual heresy is imaginary, and that Christianity is not Or-

thodoxy.

The recent proof of your esteem and affection has so

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147

much increased my attachment to you, that though the

bitter cup which 1 am still exhausting on account of my

separation from the Church might well make me insensible

to anything else, yet the pain which any diminution of

your kindness would give me, would be acute enough to be

distinguished among those which I am hourly suffering.

My health, after which you so kindly inquire, is very

bad. I am confined to my solitary rooms under a severe

attack of illness. You are to understand that I have exiled

myself from Dublin, to avoid greater pains than those of

separation.

May God give you his blessing, and prosper all your

works towards the union of all the human race, under the
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pure, free, and ennobling spirit of the Gospel.

Your ever sincere, and obliged friend, and brother,

J. B. W.

Sept. 30th, 1835.

How deep and settled the notion that the only

means of salvation is to believe things incredible,

must have been, at all times, to produce the following

passage:—

. . " for there is no Christian, that means to

be saved by believing rightly, can ever believe such

impossible passages of grossness."—Twelfth Night,

Act iii., scene 2.

This is the spontaneous expression of an universal

feeling. Christianity, according to that universal

notion, is a school for the practice of believing what

is incredible. This is the highest virtue of Chris-

tians ! !

" Thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras, ere I

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will allow of thy wits."—lb., Act iv., scene 2. This

is the Orthodox rule to judge of men's wits.

The same day.

The rain has kept me in the whole morning; and

I have been incessantly employed in a variety of

mental pursuits. Though weak, I have been free

from pain; and I may say that for three or four

hours I have been perfectly happy in the enjoyment

of mental pleasures ! My soul turns, in thankful-

ness, to the eternal source of these enjoyments—to

the eternal Mind, the father of my soul. He is wise

above all human conception, and he knows why he

permits such happiness to be poisoned by the widely-

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extended superstition which seems to have no other

object but the embittering of our intellectual exist-

ence. What a mass of mental misery, that strange

compound of truth, degraded by error, which is

called Religion, or Christianity, is daily accumulating,

especially in this country ! What servile fears it

spreads, what anxieties it occasions, of what a waste

of intellectual power it is the cause! And yet the

voice of God within us, the oracle consecrated in our

breast, (would men but listen to it,) is clearly con-

demning such folly, as that of fearing that the free

use of our mental faculties can be the source of eter-

nal misery to rational creatures! It is from these

enjoyments indeed, that I learn the character of my

benevolent Maker. It is from these pleasures, above

all others, that I feel assured that he will protect my

happiness for ever.

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149

Liverpool, Oct. 2nd, 1835.

"OpQpov, nrav SvaoKva)^ k%eye'ipy, irpoyeipov £<tuj,

Bti £7rt avOpurrrov epyov eyetpofiai' en ovv SvaicoXa'ivo),

el iropevofiai em to woieiv, kcu wv evticev yeyova, Kai wv

X«ptv irpotiy/iai elg tov Koa/xov;—Marc. Antonin.,

Lib. v. § 1.

evOeiav vepaive, dicoXovQiov ry (frvcrei rrj iS'tq

Kat ry KOivy' fda §£ dfjapOTepwv tovtwv ij 6B6g.—lb., § 3.

Linea rectissima, brevissima.

Urged by these considerations, and taking the last

beautiful proverbial expression (I do not know whose

it is, but, surely, the author was an honest man) more

than ever for my only guide—disregarding, accord-

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ingly, all that fatal policy, falsely called moderation,

which is the most powerful enemy of Truth, and the

greatest obstacle to the progress and improvement of

mankind,—I intend to begin a little work, the title

of which shall be The People's Preservative against

Superstition. I intend it to be a counterpart to the

Poor Man's Preservative against Popery, a work

which I wrote under the highest paroxysm of the

Popish spirit, which I ever suffered since I re-em-

braced the profession of Christianity in England. It

is true that I was far from the hierarchical spirit of

the Church of Rome : it was against that spirit that

I was exerting myself boldly and honestly. Yet the

desire to support a Church, i. e. a hierarchy of some

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sort—the spirit of my clerical profession, had regained

a certain degree of activity by my having actively

joined the clergy of the Church of England. It was,

however, fortunate for me that the lurking evil was

made to appear: else, I might have continued un-

consciously cherishing it in my soul. It was fortu-

nate that my residence at Oxford brought the evil

seed to its maturity. It was then that I was able to

examine the plant, to taste the poisonous bitterness

of its fruits, and finally to gain courage enough to

root it up. But the Popish spirit, which had, during

this period of revived early habits, acquired most

power over me, was that of mysticism. I was bred

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up in it; few men have been more systematically

and perseveringly exposed to the influence of senti-

mental religion than myself. As the character of

that religion is identical among Catholics and Pro-

testants, (witness the admiration of the Evangelicals

for Pascal, and the Jansenist School of Port Royal,)

I found myself at home as soon as I allowed my early

feeling to revive. This will clearly appear to any

competent judge, who shall consider the perfect simi-

larity of my devotional style with that of the Evan-

gelicals. Yet, I did not copy from them; yet, I

checked myself from an insuperable feeling of inter-

nal shame, which, in spite of my surrender to that

ascetic humility which exalts the heroic courage of

making yourself a fool, I could not shake off when

I was writing in the whining, blubbering, senti-

mental tone of the Confessing Methodist,—of the

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151

self-accusing convert to Evangelicism, who draws

tears from the ladies' eyes, at a Tea and Bible party.

It is for this error that I intend to atone. The

Poor Man's Preservative is, perhaps, the most able of

all my works: it is the most likely to produce an

effect on the persons to whom it is directed. What-

ever 1 say there of Catholicism is true ; but what I

say of Protestantism is erroneous. The Protestant-

ism which exists under the form of the Church of

England, is far from being the correlative good to

that great evil. It is, indeed, itself an evil, and

the more dangerous for being disguised in the cha-

racter of an antagonist to what is entirely wrong.

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It is a false and mischievous remedy used against a

destructive disease. The only Preservative against

Popery is the total rooting out of Superstitious Chris-

tianity. I am determined to attempt a popular work

with that view. The outcry it will raise will be ter-

rible,—and I confess that I shudder when I think

that my friends will join in it. But I must employ

the short time of life which I can reasonably expect, in

the way that I think most useful. Linea rectissima,

linea brevissima.

Oct. 4th, 1835.

This morning, Mr. Martineau, in a sermon full of

the bright sparks of genius, which always appear even

in the most hasty of his compositions, remarked that

the enthusiasts turn away from the regularity of

Nature's laws, and dwell on the single events of

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fortuity. (I like his word.) He also observed the

analogy between this turn of mind, and the avidity

of the same class for the miraculous, which essentially

consists in detached effects, unconnected with, or

rather opposed to, the established laws, and therefore

singular in the highest degree. These observations

are perfectly true; and their truth is confirmed by

one step further in the process of generalization—by

tracing them up to the very root of superstition.

The root and its essential character is best observed

in the original form of superstition itself—namely,

Idolatry, and Polytheism. The natural tendency of

the uncultivated Mind, is to limit and individualize

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the Deity. Man wants a God like himself—like the

individual to whom the child runs for help, or before

whom it cries in fear and terror, trying to avert vio-

lence. Following this tendency, and unwilling to

listen to the dictates of reason, which invite him to

Faith, to Trust in the author of the evidently rational

order of the Universe, he breaks the idea of the all-

guiding power, into a multitude of agents to whom he

applies for help, and whom he wishes to gain by

flattery and slavish submission. The Christianized

enthusiast (I except the true, unsophisticated Roman

Catholic,) does not create petty Deities, whose busi-

ness is to attend to the business of Man in detail;

but he confines God, the Creator and Governor of

the world, to every single spot where he wants his

power and his partial favour. There God must ap-

pear to do, expressly for the enthusiast, some indivi-

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153

dual thing he wants at that moment. This spirit of

singularity produces that remarkable aversion to the

visible Universe, which is found inseparable from the

enthusiastic piety prevalent among Christians. The

" Heavens declare the glory of God," in vain for

them. They stop their ears against the accurate and

faithful interpreter of that heavenly voice, Science,

which they abhor, because it shows the regularity of

the Universe. Their God must be coined into a

number of little images, like the Teraphim of old,

which they may apply to their little wants, as the

savage applies his Fetiche.

The readiness to believe in the supernatural, which

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is found in such people, is a necessary consequence

of that state of mind. The notion of a miracle is

that of a work of God, unconnected with the universe

and its laws. But for one that believes that God is

constantly producing detached events, subject to no

general law, miracles must appear in the light of the

favourite and constant occupation of the Deity. It

is true that God is present everywhere. But Omni-

presence for such people, is not combined with the

idea of Infinitude. Their prevalent notion is that of

limitation. God, for them, is in every place where

they want an individual operation from him: there

they conceive the Deity, but reduced to the spot as

much as a human agent would be.

To this tendency of the human mind we may trace

the popularity of the belief in the Divinity of Christ.

The pure Gospel had declared God to be a Spirit.

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This was very unsatisfactory to the superstitious

mind. Hence the gradual reducing of God to the

dimensions and form of a Man. According to the

established and popular doctrine you may figure to

yourself the Lord, doing what you wish from him.

You may imagine him everywhere, occupying a cer-

tain space, and displacing any part of nature which

stands in the way of some convenience of the peti-

tioner. I am quite sure, from everything I have ob-

served, that most Christians have no other God but

a human image. The Roman Catholics have it carved

in wood, or painted on canvass. The Protestants con-

ceive it in their imagination. There are indeed some

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among them (Dr. Arnold for instance) who lament

that the use of the crucifix is not common in England.

October 5th, 1835.

Most of the vices of the political establishments

which are producing the awful crisis of our times, by

the all-pervading irritation in which they keep the

body of Society, have their origin in the Church no-

tions, which exclusively regulated the European body

for many ages, and which entered into the formation

of everything in that body. Everything was regu-

lated by Theology. Even when matters of science

were concerned, Divines were the judges. Hence the

circumstance that all foundations, all establishments,

were made in perpetuity, even in regard to the most

minute details. Everything of this kind was treated

like the Monastic Institutions, where the Rule pre-

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155

determined, for ever, even the most indifferent actions

of those who professed it. The great step which

Society has to take at present is that of changing

this all-pervading error: to learn to act upon the

irrefragable principle, that everything in man and

his concerns is progressive; that nothing can be con-

fined to the same forms for ever, unless we destroy at

once the life within it. We have indeed examples of

this process of Mummification in some Eastern Na-

tions. Thank heaven ! it is impracticable in Europe.

Liverpool, October 7th, 1835.

I am most anxious that the friend into whose

hands my Memorandum Books shall come after my

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death, (I trust it will be my dear friend the Rev. J. H.

Thorn) may have every possible means to do justice

to the character of the Archbishop of Dublin, in

spite of the clouds which have hovered between that

excellent man and myself. * * * *

To the Rev. Blanco White.

Redesdale, October 6, 1835.

My dear friend,

The sum of £100 has been this day placed by the Arch-

bishop's desire at your Banker's in Liverpool. You will not,

I am convinced, by refusing to accept this yearly little addi-

tion to your few means of comfort, suffer us to feel that you

are changed in heart towards us—but rather will consider

it a pledge that we would have received the same at vour

hands, in similar circumstances. * * * *

Ever your affectionate,

E. VV.
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To Mrs. Whately.

October 7, 1835.

My dear friend,

I yesterday put into the Post a letter which I had pre-

pared to send the day before, and which I brought back

again in my pocket through forgetfulness. This morning

—this moment, I have received yours of yesterdav, the

contents of which, in regard I mean to the Archbishop's

present of £100, have made me, as it were, a mass of con-

fused feelings which I endeavour in vain to set in order.

One thing however is certain, and perfectly clear amidst

this confusion, that his, your's, and my heart, are bound to-

gether by a bond of kindness, which the power of inferior

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passions and prejudices, however violently they might act

in our breasts through human error and infirmity, could not

sever or loosen. But I knew and felt this, without the as-

sistance of the proof involved in your late bounty. Indeed

no proof of that kind could, by itself, produce or maintain

such attachment, such trust, (in the midst of severe trials

of friendship,) as exist in my heart with regard to both of

you. Yet I wish you had not taxed yourselves in this man-

ner for my sake. Since I settled myself in this house, after

the first heavy expense was over, I began, for the first time

in my life, to be really economical, and the habit of that vir-

tue is now well settled. The test of its genuineness is to be

found in my abstinence from books. I can now look at

the most tempting Foreign and English Catalogue, and

after casting a longing eye on some Articles, say to myself—

it must not be. But your remittance will, though at the

risk of weakening the habit, allow me some little indul-

gence. I will take care however to contain myself within

the strictest hounds of moderation. 1 have no more to say

to you and your dear husband, but that I have uninter-

ruptedly loved you as my sister and brother, ever since we

became intimate. God bless you both, and every one on

whose happiness your own happiness depends.

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157

October 14th, 1835.

Paley says somewhere (I believe in his Natural

Theology) that the admission that there is a living

God, is a great step indeed. I have always thought

so myself, but it is only since I absolutely rejected

all the doctrines which overshadow and obscure the

unity of God, that I have experienced in myself the

infinite importance of the heartfelt acknowledgment

of the existence of an intelligent Author of the world.

It is true, that, since my first mental change in Eng-

land, I have never doubted that great dogma: I

should rather say, / have believed it; for there is a

very common state of mind in which doctrines are

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not doubted, and yet, strictly speaking, they are not

believed: they are not doubted, because the will has

determined that every doubt shall be instantly dis-

missed. But my belief in God has been of a positive

kind; it has been a thorough conviction. My pre-

sent experience proves, however, that the moral and

intellectual influence of that belief was disturbed and

weakened by the work of imagination, which repre-

sents God more or less circumscribed by the body of

a Man. I am convinced that all modifications what-

ever of the doctrine of the incarnate God, are of the

nature of idolatry. I despise the superstitious horror

of idolatry which most people derive from the He-

brew Scriptures. It is a notion of impurity, of com-

munion with Devils, of abomination, &c.; represen-

tations well suited to the mind of a semi-barbarous

people. But I am intimately persuaded that idolatry,

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from its very nature, is most injurious to the mind of

man. The reason is, that it sets limits to the Deity,

that it confines God to a particular spot, and thus

destroys, or at least weakens, the only true idea of

Him which the human intellect can have, namely,

that he is a Spirit. It is true that we have in our-

selves the fact of a spirit confined to the limits of our

body. But this does not alter the case : it is, on the

contrary, the natural foundation on which Idolatry is

forbidden. Idolatry positively confirms that concep-

tion—it represents the Deity as a Spirit circum-

scribed by one or more bodies. It makes Him

essentially a Man; for what is Man but a spirit

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limited to a certain portion of something, which is

not itself? In vain do logical religionists attempt to

do a way the idolatrous tendency of the incarnation, by

saying that God, besides being fully in Christ, is also

every where else. A verbal contradiction must neces-

sarily be ineffectual on the mind. One of the two

contradictions is believed; the other is repeated, but

has no effect. Hence the fact, that those who be-

lieve in the Man-God, neglect God the Spirit. Lightly

as the doctrine of the incarnate God lay upon my

mind, it nevertheless disturbed and weakened the

influence of my belief in God the Spirit. I can com-

pare the moral effects of my belief in God, combined

with various degrees of belief in his Incarnation, with

the pure belief which I now have in God, as described

by Jesus—God is a Spirit. My love, my confidence,

my reliance for life and eternity, in that living God,

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159

the Creator of the world, in whom I live, and move,

and have my being, are infinitely above the feeling of

that kind, which I had in the most devout moments

of my past life. The reason is—I have purified my

mind from every degree of Idolatry.

The same Day.

Idolatry, or the representation of God by images,

ilSwXa, whether material, or from the imagination, is

the result of the most imperfect conceptions of the

human mind. It is inseparably connected with the

infancy of mankind, collectively and individually;

and it must keep the mind in an infantine state

wherever it is, in any degree, made one of its funda-

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mental notions. A mind that rests his hopes on the

Deity, after reducing it to a form or state, which

comes within the power of the imagination, has

necessarily reduced his religion to sentiment. All

sentiment is subject to changes, arising from the

various states of the organic faculties on which it

chiefly depends. Now the main object of the Spiri-

tual, i. e. Mental religion, is to ground the moral

conduct, and the hope of the truly religious man, on

a rock,—on a ground quite above the changes and

delusions of this mortal life. That ground can be

found alone in the eternal, the immutable world of

Reason. In that world there are no images what-

ever. A God made Man does not, cannot, belong

to it.
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To the Provost of Oriel.

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

October 15, 1835.

My dear Provost,

The kindness of the letter, in which you acquaint me with

your having finally come to the resolution of taking off my

name from the Oriel books, as I requested in January last,

allays in one respect the grief which I feel at being no

longer a Member of that Society ; while, in another, it in-

creases my detestation of the system which compels us to

this separation. I enjoy, however, the satisfaction of hav-

ing, by means of my early request to you, prevented the

pain which both you and myself would have suffered, if

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either your own notions of duty, or the decided wish of the

Fellows, had compelled you to remove my name in the way

of expulsion. To be expelled from Oriel College for heresy,

Would have been too painful to me; not, indeed, on my ac-

count, but on that of the College itself. I should lament

to see the name of a Society which in my mind is associated

with so much that I love, exposed by such an act of anti-

quated bigotry, to the sense of contempt which it would

raise among all unprejudiced men, in the present times.

My feelings in regard to the University have been so much

altered, since 1829, by the repeated exhibitions ^of its tho-

roughly Monastic spirit, that I will not take any precaution

to prevent its adding one more exposure, if the leading

Members should be inclined to celebrate the only kind of

Auto da Fe which they can at present enjoy. I ordered

copies of my work* to be sent to all the Heads of Houses

with whom I am personally acquainted. Let them proceed

to the removal of my name from the Graduates' List, if

they feel so inclined. Such a sentence of expulsion could

not possibly injure me, and it would fail even to mortify me.

It would, on the contrary, give more celebrity than I ever

expected, or wished for.

* Observations on Heresy and Orthodoxy.

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161

I cannot account for your not having received the copy

of my work, which I ordered for you. You tell me that

you have not read it through, and I do not know whether,

persuaded as I am that it can neither profit nor please

you, I can wish you to make the effort required to pe-

ruse it. Do not suppose, my dear and respected friend,

that I charge you with wilful blindness ; I am thoroughly

convinced of your conscientiousness, but I know how utterly

impossible it is to be impartial under a certain combination

of circumstances. The fault is not yours : it belongs to the

system which has identified you with itself.

My affection and gratitude to you will always live in my

heart. The only circumstance in this case which gives me

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severe pain, is the impossibility of my ever again living

under you as a member of Oriel College.

Believe me, my dear Provost,

Ever affectionately yours,

J. B. W.

October 22nd, 1835.

Every human error and infirmity should'be treated

by the Christian Philosopher with tenderness, except

when it assumes the character of sanctity. When

sanctified by superstition and bigoted pride, error

acquires such a poisonous and destructive nature,

that whoever perceives it, is justified in procuring its

extermination, as that of the most venomous reptile.

N.B. Need I protest against the application of

this treatment to persons ?

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162 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

To Miss L .

5, Chesterfield Street, Liverpool,

November 27th, 1835.

My dear Miss L ,

The philosophy of language is a very useful study. It is

one, besides, which may be carried on by every reflecting

mind without much labour of reading and reference. It is

necessary, however, to be put on the way of inquiry within

the mind itself; but there may be differences in the systems

of arrangement and nomenclature, without affecting the

essence of the study itself. I believe I recommended to

you a translation of Becker's German Grammar, published

by Murray, in 1830 ; which, though curtailed considerably

of the philosophical part, in order to give it a chance of

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sale in England, contains, nevertheless, very valuable hints,

which a thinking mind may pursue and improve. I have

the original German, which is far better. I wish I had a

work of the same author, entitled Organism der Sprache, in

which he has given his views of the abstract principles of

Language. An English Grammar, written upon the prin-

ciples of Becker's German Grammar, would be very useful.

It would require great tact in the writer in order to make it

palatable to English readers ; the teachers, especially those

who are, at present, the oracular expounders of Murray's

Grammar and Exercises, would be the first to set their

faces against any such work. Teachers of such branches of

education are the most obstinate of Conservatives. In pro-

portion as a teacher knows little, and that little mechani-

cally, is his horror of innovation ; for what will become of

him if any change takes place ? This is common to all

teachers, and particularly so to the teachers of Religion.

But I shall keep to Grammar at present. All languages

must depend for their structure on the laws of our minds :

the varieties observable in their systems cannot overstep the

limits of our modes of mental conception: they must all

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163

have something in common. These most general and com-

prehensive principles should be traced upwards, or analyti-

cally, by the examination of languages of various families;

for those which are derived from the same stock do not pre-

sent very remarkable differences, in their respective arrange-

ments of verbal signs. Such a comparison, however,

requires immense labour. I should recommend you to

examine Becker's principles, as they appear in his German

Grammar, and to work on, by means of self-observation, in

reference to English. You might also readDestout—Tracy

afterwards—and judge for yourself. When you have made

some progress in the analysis of Language, you should read

some truly Aristotelic Logic; when you will perceive, what

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I believe few among those who profess that kind of know-

ledge have observed, that Logic is, for the greatest part, a

collection of technical Rules, founded on the classification to

which you allude. I once began to collect notes for a work

on that subject; but external circumstances calling me to

other things, I dropt it. The Syllogism is nothing but a

result of the classification of things, which the mind natu-

rallv and necessarily forms in forming a Language. All

abstract terms are classifications ; or rather the labels of

the classes which the mind has settled.

But I must limit myself to the extent of the paper on

which I am writing. You say " the Milk is sour" appears

to be an equivalent to " the Milk is sour Milk." This shows

that you have not perceived the shade of difference between

the Attributive and the Predicative Adjectives. The sub-

stantial equivalence cannot be denied ; but the mode of

conception is not the same. The Milk is sour, alludes to

the classification of ideas ; Milk is in the class sour ; in sour

Milk the mind forms a compound notion, made up of sour-

ness and Milk; it does not analyse. But I refer you to

Becker.

I have been rather better of late, though full of such

troubles as must fall upon an old bachelor who keeps house.

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I have been obliged to change servants, and am just at the

beginning of a new experiment. I hope I shall have some

peace.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

December 15th, 1835.

I have finished the Xiife of Sir James Mackintosh.

I have read it with great interest. It is curious that

a letter of Sidney Smith on the character of Mackin-

tosh has struck me above every thing else, in a book

where there are many admirable compositions of that

kind. But one particular source of my pleasure in

reading that book was, my recollection of Sir James

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himself. I have frequently repeated, and I stated it

in an account of him which I published in the Spa-

nish Periodical Las Variedades, that I never was in

company with Sir James Mackintosh, even for a

quarter of an hour, without hearing something from

him which I wished to retain, and make a part of my

own mind. I heartily wish I had cultivated his

acquaintance much more than I did. But the mi-

serable state of my health while I lived at Holland

House, and the morbid feelings of distrust in my

mental powers which the brilliant society I met

there produced, from the beginning of my residence

in England, never allowed me to enjoy the intellec-

tual pleasures to which the company which usually

met at Lord Holland's invited me. It was not,

however, a sense of my natural inferiority which

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165

made that splendid society actually painful to me,

but the perception, that the accidental disadvantage

of my speaking a foreign language placed me at a

much further distance, from those with whom I came

in contact, than that which nature had fixed between

us. This feeling was certainly much embittered by

distressing and incessant illness.

But to return to the Life of Sir James Mackin-

tosh. The mention he makes of me in a letter to

Dr. Copleston, though kind, wants, I really think,

correctness. " The candour of Blanco White is re-

markable, but his indignation at the necessity to

dissemble, long imposed upon him, makes him not so

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fair as Grotius, in his account of the opinions of his

former fellow-religionists."—Years have elapsed since

I wrote on Catholicism, and a most complete change

of feeling has taken place in me in regard to the

Church of England, and indeed to all dogmatical

churches. Nevertheless, I cannot discover that I

have been wanting in candour to any human being.

I gave an account of the Romanist system of doc-

trines, and Church government—as well as of the

moral results of both, as I knew them by long expe-

rience. Grotius had to do with living rivals, and

persecutors: and his candour had a fair field for

exercise. I had no quarrel with individuals., What

candour can be exercised respecting established doc-

trines and systems ? Have opinions feelings and pas-

sions, for which we must make allowances ? My duty

was to be accurate : and I am not conscious of having

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neglected that duty for an instant. I am confident

that there is not a Roman Catholic Divine, out of

England, (for in England the political question blinds

every man upon that subject,) who will charge my

statements with inaccuracy. I wish Sir James Mack-

intosh had specified the points of my comparative un-

fairness.

Among other things which have excited a lively

interest in me, is the frequent evidence of Sir James's

conscientious anxiety about religious tenets. What

a mass of evil dogmatic Christianity has brought upon

the world ! The finest understandings, filled as they

are in youth with the notion of the vital necessity of

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having a right system of Faith, can hardly free them-

selves entirely from a degree of restlessness in con-

nection with that supposed duty. To this is added

the superstitious anxiety of relatives and friends, who

avail themselves of the weakness of illness and ap-

proaching dissolution, to force upon those they love,

the necessity of some declaration of faith. It is

melancholy to observe even the intelligent and kind

daughter of Sir James, (I knew her as Miss Fanny

Mackintosh at Holland House, where her good-na-

ture and unaffected cleverness made her a universal

favourite,) extorting some kind of confession of Faith

from her expiring father, as a passport for heaven.

When shall this horrible mental persecution cease ?

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167

Dec. 17th, 1835.

Whoever attempts to remove any religious pre-

judices, is assailed with the popular charge that it is

cruel to shake the foundation on which millions of

souls have built their best hopes. But it is easy to

see that if the objection deserves any regard what-

ever, it must be the duty of every good man to

leave even the worst religious errors, undisturbed all

over the earth. The worst superstitions, when they

have become part of a national creed, afford a satis-

faction to millions, which may be considered as equal

in value to them, to what are called best hopes among

us. But there is a perpetual shifting, on this subject,

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from the interests of truth, to the gratification of

feeling, and many other interests. Religion is, at

one moment, treated as a national concern, at another

as an intellectual one, as a question of pure truth.

In vain, however, shall any one protest against these

evasions. There are too many able men, determined

to keep them open.

Dec. 18th, 1835.

The arrival of a parcel of most tempting books,

and the disagreeable effect of the bad translation of

Grimm's Correspondence, which I had begun to read,

have jointly made me give it up. I have this evening

read the introduction to a view of Kant's system,

written in French, by L. F. Schon. It is very good.

Besides this work, I have received Sismondi's Julia

Severa;—Du Polytheisme Romain considere dans ses

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rapports avec la Philosophie Grecque et la Religion

Chretienne, outrage posthume de Benjamin Con-

stant; precede d'une introduction de M. J. Matter;

/ Quattro Poeti Italiani, a handsome collection of

Italian poetry, of which I had a copy at Dublin; and

two copies (credite posteri!) of the abridgment of

Dupuis' L'Origine des Cultes, which the conscientious

Louis Philippe has lately endeavoured to suppress.

One of the two copies I intend to give as a present

to a friend whom it cannot injure; and to whom I

am sure it will be of use. It is absurd to suppose

that a man who professes Christianity, rationally, may

be shaken in his belief by that book. There is no

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doubt, however, that such as identify the Christianity

of Rome with the Christianity of Christ, will be

ready to follow Dupuis in his anti-historical dream.

The facts however which he proves—the adoption by

the early Christians of many parts of the Solar

Mythos, as portions of the Christian doctrine, should

be known. Would heaven! we could show the ori-

ginal sources of the innumerable corruptions of the

Gospel, and separate them from the luminous view

of religion which Christ published to mankind ! But

the still existing Priesthoods, Romanist and Pro-

testant, will for a long time, by their superstition,

ambition, and mental oppression, continue to spread

not only disbelief, but hatred of Christianity.

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169

5, Chesterfield-street, Liverpool,

Dec. 21st, 1835.

My dear J ,

I well remember your kind visit to Oxford. How far

was I then from thinking that I should settle myself at

Liverpool! But strange as such an idea would have ap-

peared to me at that time, I nevertheless find that my

choice was a lucky one. I have not enjoyed a more quiet

period in England than that of the last six months. I

have had some little trouble with servants, but by the kind-

ness of some Liverpool ladies I am now very comfortable,

even in that respect. When I return from my daily walk

to the Athenaeum, and find every thing quiet, the house per-
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fectly clean, my plain furniture in the best order, and my

books ready to whisper wisdom and peace to my mind, my

heart expands with thankfulness, and I almost forget that I

have ever been in trouble. I have been besides more free

from bodily suffering than has been usual with me for many

years. Were it not for growing feebleness, I might say I

was younger than I was ten years ago, but any little thing

is enough to upset me.

VOL. II.

I
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( 171 )

CHAPTER VI.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1836.—^Etat. 61.

Liverpool, Jan. 1st, 1836.

The year, just gone by, has been a most important

one to me. During its first half, I had much to

suffer, as this Journal will attest; but the last six

months have been one of the most tranquil periods

of my life. I now clearly perceive that my mind

was under an improper bias, as long as I remained

externally connected with the Church of England.

My theological opinions had never been thoroughly

examined; there were boundaries beyond which

I hardly allowed myself to look, though I had the

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strongest doubts of the validity of the principles

on which those boundaries were prescribed. My

fear of giving pain to those with whom I lived, and

whom I loved (as I do still), made me shrink, not

only from expressing, but from deliberately holding

opinions, which they considered as totally unchristian,

and impious. As dissimulation is contrary to my

nature, as I should have detested myself for being in

a totally different state of mind from that in which

my friends supposed me, I unconsciously recoiled

i2
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172 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

from the admission of views, which must lead to the ex-

tremity either of thorough dissimulation, or of a sepa-

ration from those whom I loved. But as this timidity

was not cherished, it could only delay, not prevent,

the natural issue of my studies and meditations.

Many will say, that I have ceased to be a Christian.

This does not disturb me, in the least. I know that

my religious principle was never so active, and influ-

ential, as it is at present. I had a faith of acquies-

cence ; I now have it of conviction. My love of God

was never so real and active. He sees my heart. In

Him I fully trust.

Jan. 11th, 1836.

1 have frequently repeated that bodies of men,

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such as clergies or priesthoods, will act in accordance

with the tendencies of the worst part of their mem-

bers. I have made this assertion with little effect of

conviction, on those to whom I addressed it. And

yet, general experience confirms the fact, as may be

proved by the proverbial sayings expressing distrust

in bodies, of which the members, taken individually,

produce a very different impression. Not one elec-

tion took place in Spain, while I lived there, which

did not occasion the frequent repetition of the pro-

verb,—La Canoniga, buena; la Cabilda, mala. The

language of the proverb is the broken Spanish spoken

by the imported negro slaves, the talky-talky of the

Spanish negroes. It means,—' the Canons are good;

but the Chapter is naughty;' and is supposed to have

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173

expressed the opinion of a poor freed negro, who,

wishing for one of the menial offices in a Spanish

cathedral, solicited the favour of every member of

the Chapter, was encouraged by each of them, and

disappointed by all.

The proverb contains the important moral truth,

that men are not ashamed to do in a body, what they

would shrink from, individually. But the evil does

not stop here. Bodies of men, as such, have no con-

science; yet bodies of men, as such, have peculiar

and strong temptations. How will those temptations

be resisted ? It will probably be said, that they will

be resisted by the virtuous individuals in the body.

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But the temptation, in most cases, does not address

its allurement to the virtuous individuals. Such

minds are under an habitual determination, not to

avail themselves of the privileges of the body, for

selfish purposes; and when any encroachment in

favour of the body is promoted by the mass of the

coarse, and selfish, who must naturally be the ma-

jority,—they will judge of the rest according to their

own standard, and consequently assist them, or, at

all events, will not resist them, in the endeavours

to promote the interests of the body.

It is universally acknowledged that all corporations

have a spirit of their own, which, in spite of the per-

petual change of the members, continues the same

for ages. This is the result of an invariable law,

which may be understood by the assistance of what

has just been said. Every individual will perceive

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what is most agreeable to his desires, in whatever cir-

cumstances he may be placed; and he will modify

everything that comes near him, to the full extent of

his power, so as to answer to his wishes and interests.

Virtue, of course, will, in the individual, be a check

to this power of selfish attraction. According, how-

ever, to the simple principle above stated, a body of

men with peculiar interests will have nothing, within it,

to check the power of corporate selfishness. The selfish

individuals, in the body, will give full sway to their

desires and passions, under the cover that it is not

for themselves, but for their body, that they wish for

power, privileges, and wealth. The honest minority

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will give full credit to these assertions, because in

their own case they know them to be true. There

may appear, now and then, (especially when part of

the community, out of the privileged body, begin to

grow jealous of it,) a bold man who will venture to

join the popular complaints; but such remonstrants

are, generally, crushed by the intense hatred of the

selfish and ambitious members, and find no support

in the honest and timid.—This is the reason why no

privileged body whatever, is known to have reformed

its own abuses. Like a thoroughly demoralized regi-

ment, they must be disbanded; else whatever number

of fresh men you may put into them, will soon be

assimilated to the existing body.

What has been said is best exhibited in priesthoods,

or, as we now call them, Churches. One of the oldest,

and most pernicious, errors of mankind is that, which

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175

supposes the necessity of forming a body of men who,

in the name of heaven, shall take the guidance of the

religious principle of all the rest. Once grant that

such bodies exist, for the benefit of morality, or much

more, for the salvation of the eternal souls of men,

and a most active, encroaching principle is brought

into existence, which must be perpetually at work

upon society, to bring it completely under the power

of the priesthood. The usurpations of Popery are

the natural result of the existence of a priesthood,

which, more than any other in the world, identifies

its own supremacy with the highest conceivable in-

terests of mankind. Hardly any of the ancient re-

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ligions afforded such plausible pretexts to the am-

bition of its priesthood, as the priesthoods, which have

seized upon Christianity as their peculiar domain,

derive from the doctrines of the Gospel. The an-

cient religions were not much concerned with the

consciences of men, and had no definite doctrines re-

garding a future state. But Christianity pervades

the whole being of man, extending its views to an

unlimited existence, in a future world. If any men

are made the peculiar dispensers of the benefits, real

or supposed, of such a religion, the body of those

men has a decided tendency to absorb all other power:

and so it actually happened between the eighth and

the fourteenth century. They were, indeed, resisted;

but only upon feeling, not upon principle. The pas-

sions and self-interest of the civil governors opposed

them; but it may be safely asserted that not one of

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the antagonists of the church opposed the clergy with-

out remorse; for if the so-called Christian priesthood

are what they pretend, they must have an unques-

tionable claim to enjoy the privileges and power, for

which they have always contended.

But putting aside this view, and returning to the

principle with which I began:—place a numerous body

of men in the position of mental guides to a whole

nation, which is the legal position of the Church of

England : in such a body, ambition of the most inju-

rious kind takes the appearance of virtue. The duty

of the members of such a clergy coincides with the

love of power. The opinions, the conduct of all the

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laity, is de jure placed under the superintendence of

every clergyman, to a certain extent, and under the

control of the whole body, collectively. The con-

scientious clergyman laments, that the corruption of

his times does not allow him the full exercise of his

spiritual, and most important, duties; the selfish,

covetous, and ambitious cry out against the enemies

of the church, as being the enemies of order and mo-

rality—the devil's instruments in the perdition of

men's souls. Here the most worldly, and the most

upright, of the clergy join heart and soul: and the

virtue and disinterestedness of the few, become a

screen to the grossest selfishness of the rest.

The accounts of the proceedings in support of the

Irish Church, are a perpetual illustration of what has

been here slightly sketched.

Every church, or body of clergy, as far as its corpo-

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177

rate spirit is allowed to follow its impulse, will be

what the worse portion of its members wish it to be;

and the best among them will become, mostly without

their own fault, a cover to their most mischievous

designs, and even a screen to their vices.

Jan. 14, 1836.

Whether miracles were employed by Providence

for the establishment of Christianity, is a different

question from—Whether a belief that miracles were so

employed, is a necessary condition to be a Christian.

The belief in miracles has produced a strange ha-

bitual mistake respecting events which, in contrast

with miracles, are called natural: people treat such

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events as if they did not proceed from God. All the

benefits of Christianity are looked upon as if they

were the effect of chance, unless they were brought

about by miracles: God is conceived to be more pre-

sent, more really interested in producing miracles,

than in all the rest of his Providence.

From Professor Norton.

Dear Sir, Boston, Jan. 20, 1836.

It was a great gratification to me to receive from yon,

yesterday evening, a copy of your last work. I had read it

before, and was aware of the very gratifying manner in

which you speak of my Statement of Reasons.* The opi-

nion of one so qualified to judge is of great value to me; and

[* " A Statement of Reasons for not believing the Doctrines of the

Trinitarians, respecting the person of Christ. By Andrews Norton."]

is
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the pleasure which your praise gave me was particularly

enhanced, by its coming from one for whom I had long felt

sincere respect and interest. Your Letters from Spain,

which I read many years ago, have always seemed to me,

from the picture which they give of the effects of the Ro-

man Catholic Faith, and still more from the exhibition of

personal character, from the invincible love of truth and

right which they discover, to be one of the most remarkable

and valuable books in English literature. Similar charac-

teristics, I think, run through all your other writings, (and

I believe I am acquainted with all which have been pub-

lished separately,) especially the last. It is impossible that

such works should not do good. Moral truth, when once

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presented to the world without passion or party spirit, and

with no personal aim, moves forward slowly, very slowly,

perhaps, but irresistibly. It becomes to men a sort of ex-

ternal and visible conscience, whose admonitions must in

time be listened to and respected by all, who would keep at

peace with the conscience within.

In speaking of the pleasure which your kind attention

has afforded me, I ought not to omit to mention that it was

shared by one very dear to me. I received your book while

sitting alone, and immediately on Mrs. Norton's return had

the satisfaction of showing it to her. Her knowledge of

your character, and her feelings of personal interest toward

you, are scarcely less, if at all, than mine. We both wish

to hear something more definite respecting your present cir-

cumstances, and earnestly hope that, among the other sacri-

fices which you have lately made to truth, you have not been

obliged to relinquish those comforts that your want of health

must render almost necessaries.

I can hardly imagine a more difficult task more success-

fully accomplished, than that which you have gdne through.

There is none to which the lines of Wordsworth are more

applicable:

" The intellectual power, through words and things,

Went sounding on, a dim and perilous way."

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179

The most important objects with which the mind is fami-

liar are changing their aspects as we move forward, and it

requires no common discrimination and judgment to deter-

mine their true forms and relations. It is only a strong

mind, strong in its powers of reasoning, its love of truth,

and its moral sensibility, that can, by its own unassisted

efforts, separate the all-important facts of religion from the

mass of errors, in which they have been involved in the

creeds of Catholics and Protestants. The generality of the

German divines have been unable to accomplish this work,

and the generality of the English have not attempted it. In

this country, or rather in this part of the country, we have

made some progress, having had fewer external obstacles to

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encounter. Of our eminent theologians, Dr. Channing

alone enjoys a European reputation, which he well deserves,

as one of the most eloquent and powerful writers of the age,

always trusting to what is excellent in human nature, by

appealing to the highest sentiments and noblest motives.

The Rev. Mr. Noyes, with whose name you may not be

familiar, is a country clergyman who lately was content, if

not rich, upon a salary of £60 a-year, and now has not

£200, but who is a very accurate and judicious scholar, and

being assisted by some of his friends in the purchase and

by the loan of books, has published what I believe to be the

best English translations of Job, the Psalms, and one vo-

lume of the Prophets, which work he is going to complete.*

I think you would read with interest an article by him, in

the Christian Examiner, on the supposed prophecies of the

Messiah, (being a review of Hengstenberg's work on the

same subject,) which appeared somewhat more than a year

since. The Rev. Mr. Dewey, now of New York, is an

able, animated, and original writer. He visited England a

short time since. Professor Palfrey, of the Theological

School at Cambridge, is one of our best scholars and au-

thors, a very estimable man.*

[• It is now complete.]

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I do not know, my dear Sir, whether you will feel much

interest in these details, but you will gratify me by suggest-

ing any topics of inquiry, or mentioning any thing, by which

I may be of service to you. Strong personal attachment

may exist without a knowledge of each other's persons; for

its essential foundation is sympathy of feeling and similarity

of purpose ; and, with this belief, I beg you to accept the

best regards of Mrs. Norton as well as myself, and to be-

lieve me, truly and affectionately,

Your friend and servant,

Andrews Norton.

To Lord Holland.

Liverpool, Feb. 6, 1836.

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My dear Lord Holland,

I suppose you have seen the Memoirs of Godoy. When

I saw the advertisements I thought of writing a gossipping

Article upon them ; but now that I have seen the work, I

intend to take it up more seriously. I pity the poor man :

with all his faults, it must be acknowledged that he has

been barbarously treated. I am determined to remove the

false impressions which exist about him. He was unques-

tionably a well-meaning, good- natured man. My only heavy

charge against him, was founded on the supposition of his

having maltreated Jovellanos ; but any one who knew Ca-

vallero, will be now convinced that it was that odious

intriguer that caused Jovellanos' sufferings. In justice to

the poor Prince of the Peace, will you allow me to mention

his having obtained, at your request, the life of an Irish-

man, condemned to die for having joined in the revolt of

Tupac Amaro ? If you grant my request, have the goodness

to give me the name of the Irishman, which I forget,

though I put it down in a Memorandum-book which I have

lost, when you allowed me, many years ago, to read your

journals, written while travelling the first time in Spain. It

would give me pleasure to be allowed to mention the invi-

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181

tation, which you gave to the Prince of the Peace, after the

death of the old King and Queen. You perhaps remember

that I had the privilege of being your Foreign Secretary

upon that occasion. As that hospitable invitation was ex-

clusively on account of the pardon granted to a British sub-

ject, I cannot help thinking that it is due to all the parties

concerned that it should be known. I believe I have been

long enough in England, to be able to touch upon that fact

without any of the Spanish blundering, which you might

find awkward in regard to yourself. Was it in '93 that you

were in Spain, the first time ?

I continue to like my residence, and have been better,

upon the whole, than any where else. I attribute my relief

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from constant pain to a very strict diet, and a very retired

and quiet life. My books are a source of great happiness

to me in my solitude.

I hope you are well. How is Lady Holland ? My most

sincere regards to her.

Believe me, my dear Lord Holland,

Ever your grateful and affectionate friend,

J. Blanco White.

Letter from Lord Holland.

Dear Blanco, Feb. 7, 1836.

Many thanks for your letter. I am glad you have deter-

mined to employ yourself in a way, that will amuse and

instruct so many persons. You will be able to make an

interesting article of it; though I think the book deals in

generals and plausibilities, describes nothing simply, or as it

happened, and betrays the vanity of the author, without so

much of the statesman or man of the world, as one should

have expected so long a possession of power to have con-

ferred, even if it did not find it ready made.

It was not an Irishman, but an English gentleman of

twenty years old, son of the Chief Justice (still living, I

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believe,) in Canada, Mr. Powell. You are at full liberty to

relate the anecdote, which is creditable to Judge Powell,

Godoy, and Lord Liverpool; and I wish I could lay my

hand on Godoy's short, striking, and beautiful letter, of

which, however, I will give you, in the course of a few days,

the substance. My first impression is, that I should prefer

being designated as an English nobleman who had known

the Duke of Alcudia in 1793, and afterwards, when Prince

of the Peace in 1803 and 1804, to being actually named;

and perhaps Mr. P.,* the son of a magistrate who has long

held an honourable and distinguished office in our colonies,

might be more delicate than the name at length, as it is pos-

sible, that the Judge might not like the record by name, of his
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son having forfeited his life to the laws. I will write shortly,

and as correctly as my memory enables me to do, the whole

of the transaction : I am in a hurry, and stupid just now.

Yours,

Vassall Holland.

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

5, Chesterfield-street, Liverpool,

Feb. 7, 1836.

My dear Sir,

I take the pen under a most distressing attack of my com-

plaint ; which, in these paroxysms, always keeps before my

mind one of the truest descriptions of your father's book on

the Human Mind—that of the sensations in the alimentary

canal. How I have been preserved from that derangement

of mind, which seems to be the most direct tendency of this

dreadful disease, especially when for many years I scarcely

had an interval of repose, is to me a subject both of surprise

and consolation. I write to you, however, because such an

occupation will probably draw my attention from my suf-

fering.

[• See Lord Holland's Letter of March 3.]

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183

Your notes in pencil would draw out a good article even

from my tired brain, if age and illness had not exhausted it.

But if I recover a little, I will try what I can do. In point

of taste, I agree with Kant, who, if I have not misunder-

stood him, acknowledges that it cannot be subjected to uni-

versal principles. Still, when a model is presented, the

principle of approbation or disapprobation should be made

out by the reflecting judgment. I certainly thought that the

observations from which my disapprobation of Lamb's style

of humour proceeds, were more generally received than

your remarks imply. I ought, however, to have remem-

bered that there is a set of very able men, writing constantly

as critics, whose principal fund of humour arises from the

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roystering, (I use their own descriptive word,) carousing,

eating, and drinking spirits, which they take a pleasure to

bring out before the public, with the same kind of satisfac-

tion as a set of half-drunken noblemen and their parasites

at Oxford, would feel in showing the world what freedom

they can use with it. Their humorous writing is a kind of

Row. It is unquestionable that much of the talk which you

find, especially in Blackwood, would be impertinent and

coarse in refined company; how then can it be tolerable

when addressed to the public ? I cannot bear Fielding in

many parts of his works, though I greatly admire his talent.

As for Gil Bias, I am a perfect heretic. You have in a few

words stated the very ground of my objection: Le Sage's

novels are a collection of epigrams upon morals and man-

ners, made up for that very purpose. The truth of Nature

is to me too sacred to be so handled. I think I must re-

write the article, but whether I succeed or not, I shall not

grudge the labour.

I have obtained the Memoirs of Godoy, which I am

reading for the purpose of writing upon them. The bar-

barous treatment which that man has received, excites my

indignation. I am aware that the readers of the Review

must not have too much of gone-by Spanish politics;

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but for the honour of the Review itself, I wish to take the

necessary trouble to treat the subject in a manner, that

may call up some sympathy for a man whom Europe has

not only condemned, but trampled under foot, because a set

of people, calling themselves Spanish Patriots, chose to in-

flict summary punishment on the object of their long-dis-

sembled envy. I have seen Spain licking the dust to flatter

him.

I have read your Article in the fourth Number with great

pleasure. Your father's observations on Architecture coin-

cide with my own. The triumphal arch at the new palace

was an eye-sore to me when I was in London. It is

strange that the Architect should not perceive that, unless

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you stand right before it, the arch throws the whole build-

ing out of perspective. The article is written in a masterly

style.

I know you will excuse me for what I am going to trouble

you about. There is an old German here, a man of sixty-

eight, and very infirm, from whom, more for his sake than

my own, I take lessons ; and as he cannot walk about, I

have to call upon him twice a-week. His name is Seel-

mann. As there is a similarity between our situations, I

take great interest in his case. He has put into my hands

various translations of Meissner's Skizzen : the translations

are in good English, but want spirit. The ornamental pas-

sages are avoided, because the translator had not the power

to substitute any thing for what a bare translation would

make disagreeable in English. Do you think that these

MSS. might be acceptable to some of the minor Magazines ?

Any sum would be better than nothing to this poor man.

He does not complain at all of his lot in the world ; on the

contrary, he has told me he has no debts, but I cannot help

feeling for him, since a Diabetes, which is carrying him

slowly to the grave, will soon prevent his giving lessons,

even in his own house. The state of his mind is excellent:

he longs for death, but waits for it calmly. I believe he is

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185

a German Jew by birth ; but without offering himself to any-

party as a convert, he quietly attends a Unitarian chapel

when he is able to go out.

You see what a deal of twaddle a suffering old man can

condense into a sheet of paper, but I am sure you will for-

give him.

I cannot help fearing that when I come to Joanna Baillie

I shall have to dissent from the established doctrines. It is

surprising to me how the public run blindly, in the direction

pointed by what they consider the fashion. In most cases,

the great mass of the English people seem to imagine they

are playing at The Devil take the Hindmost.

Yours, ever sincerely,

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J. Blanco White.

Feb. 8, 1836.

I wish to bring clearly before me the thoughts that

employed me during three hours (from half-past two

to half-past five) this morning, while I lay awake in

great suffering. Sensations cannot be described;

and such people as are so happy as not to be ac-

quainted with the distressing feeling produced by the

bowel complaint, which has been upon me for many

years, must give me credit for not meaning to exag-

gerate, when I assure them that the sensation is such

as would upset the mind, if it were not relieved at

intervals.

I thought on the nature of pain : the circumstance

that my mind was forced to attend to the morbid

sensation, brought to my recollection part of the

masterly analysis of sensation which Fichte gives in

his Facts of Consciousness. In every perception, the

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mind is limited and bound by the sensation, as long as

the will to attend exists. That kind of sensation

which we call pain compels attention. Is it then

this violence done to the will, that produces the irri-

tation and tendency to anger, which, at times, it is so

difficult to check ? Personality—the Self, says Fichte,

is simply and essentially Will. It has the con-

sciousness of its being an originating, independent

cause, within a certain domain. This consciousness,

as it appears to me, is the means by which we become

acquainted with the external world—with all that is

Not-myself. The beautiful illustration of the expanse

of water reflecting the objects on its banks, made this

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clear to me. Give consciousness, but not a Will, to

such a piece of water :—it does not follow that, by

perceiving the figures and motions impressed upon it,

it would perceive any thing external to itself. Give

it, besides, a Will,—with the consciousness of inde-

pendence; and it must conclude that, since those

perceptions do not originate in its own act, they

must come from something external to it. The Will

is therefore a cause that knows itself.

Under the denomination of Not-myself, I place our

own body. We are well aware of the intimate union

of our organization with Self; but no reflecting man

takes his body for himself. This portion of the Not-

myself has the greatest power over the Self, or the

Will; and limits it by sensations having a charm

which overcomes the natural abhorrence of the Will

to be fettered and bound, except by its own causa-

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187

tion. But when this charm does not exist, the body

is the most merciless tyrant of the Self: the idea of

suicide occurs very naturally as the means to escape

that painful control, when carried to a high degree.

The natural provision to check the desire of destroy-

ing the body is, that the only means that man has in

his power for that purpose, are all (according to im-

pressions not easily overcome) intimately connected

with pain—with bodily suffering, i. e. the very thing

which the Self desires to avoid by destruction. This

is the natural fear of death. In almost every degree

of civilization, this fear is strengthened by religion.

We have seen that the Self, or Will, cheerfully

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surrenders its independence to pleasure; but it also

submits to another control—that of the Reason.

This is the most remarkable fact of our existence.

Whoever accurately examines his Mind, must per-

ceive that the faculty called Reason, is not the Myself.

The voice of Reason is addressed to the Self: that

Self recognizes the propriety of listening to it; yet

the Self has a power to reject it. The Reason does

not, however, act on the Self by charms, as is the

case with Pleasure: it unquestionably presents ad-

vantages which, if capable of being addressed through

the Imagination, partakes of the charm of Pleasure,

but how feeble is that charm, compared with actual

pleasure, or contrasted with pain to be avoided ! The

right of Reason to guide the Will, is recognized at a

very early age in civilized society, under the influence

of education; the office of which, in reality, is to

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develope this tendency of the human Mind—the

rational mind, so called on account of this primi-

tive and inherent tendency.—Since the perfection of

a being must consist in the predominance of its

highest or distinguishing quality, the perfection of

man must consist, in the habitual and cheerful sub-

mission of his Will to his Reason. Since that Rea-

son is not himself, it must be a communication from

the Source of his being: it is God within us.

Sacer intra nos Spiritus sedet, malorum, bonorumque

nostrorum observator, et custos. Hie prout a nobis

tractatus est, ita nos ipse tractat.

In this beautiful passage of Seneca, there is a me-

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chanical distribution of the members of the period

which is not obvious, but it is important: observator

corresponds to malorum; custos to bonorum.

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

5, Chesterfield-street, Liverpool,

Feb. 14, 1836. .

My dear Sir,

I am really uneasy about your health. As I know what

it is to be checked in one's exertions, and how painful it is

to creep through life in constant discomfort, I cannot but

be alarmed for any active young man whose health begins

to be unsettled. I hope, however, that your indisposition

is not a serious one. Let me know how you get on.

My attack has continued sharply. I had leeches on yes-

terday ; and, though very weak, feel better to-day. You

are now to see my recast of the Article on Lamb. I intreat

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189

you not to print it, unless you are quite satisfied with it. I

would not, for the world, expose the Review to ridicule by

my twaddle. I really feel exhausted in mind and body, and

being always very despondent in regard to every thing I

write, I am so now more than ever. Do not spare any

thing I send. I should be very sorry to appear in print in

any but a respectable shape.

" Solve senescentem mature sanus equum, ne

Peccet ad extrenium ridendus, et ilia ducat."

I thought it better to have done with Lamb before I took

up Godoy. I shall lose no time ; but I am waiting for

some particulars about an Englishman taken in arms in a

rebellion in Peru, whose life he granted to Lord Holland.

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Lord H. has promised me to look over his old journals, and

try to find Godoy's letter to him, which he says was excel-

lent. But in the mean time J shall carry on my work, and

if the minute information which I wish for should not come,

I must content myself with mentioning the fact in general.

Many thanks for your readiness to serve the poor Ger-

man. I hope, in the course of the week, to be able to send

the MSS.

Yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

To Professor Norton, Harvard University, Cambridge,

Massachusetts.

Liverpool, Feb. 25, 1836.

My dear Sir,

I wish I could describe to you, the cheering effect of your

kind letter received this day. The retirement in which I

live, the depressing sufferings to which I am constantly

subject, every circumstance of my present state,—all pre-

dispose me to look upon myself as one of those whom Pro-

vidence destines to fill up the ditch, over which fitter and

more fortunate individuals are to pass to conquest and

triumph. I have never repined at this lot; I am thankful

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that in the service of Truth, which, with that of Mercy, is

the only service of God, I am not inclined to choose my

part. Still such ideas unnerve the active powers of the

mind, and make the exertion of thought fatiguing and

painful. In such a state, increased by a severe attack of

mv complaint, did your letter find me. But when I had read

it, and found myself with a friend like yourself, on the other

side of the Atlantic, it seemed as if the thoughts to which I

had given utterance had returned to me in an unexpected

and friendly echo, acquainting me with the fact that, though

apparently lost and scattered to the winds in my neighbour-

hood, they had found a genial nest at a distance, in which

they will be cherished till they shall reach the full growth
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and strength, which it is not in my power to give them.

Many thanks to you, my dear soul-friend ; many thanks

to Mrs. Norton, and all those who stretch to me their

right hand of fellowship, at a period when I have been obliged

to tear myself from those, who, though loving me still,

would be in danger of finally hating me, if my presence shook

daily the frail mental grounds, on which they are determined

to rest their best hopes. Many thanks again, and again. I

shall never see you in this state of existence ; but I know

you much better than if I had met you in the common

intercourse of the world. I am sure that we all belong to

a very definite class of minds, and since the ineffable Source

of our being has made us alike, He cannot have purposed to

separate us.

The external results of my second voluntarily exile (since

you express a kind wish to know them), are less painful

upon the whole than I had feared. I have just enough of

my own to supply my moderate wants ; and to the credit of

that excellent man, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr.Whately,

whose house I left, be it said, I am also able to procure books,

the only luxury, the want of which I should think grievous.

A constant ill health, for more than twenty years, has

reduced my strength, so as to make change of place, a thing

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191

out of my power. I walk a little, when the weather permits

me; but cannot visit any of the many kind people who

have called upon me in this town, and expressed their wish

to treat me with true English hospitality. I still preserve

some activity of thought; and were it not that the state of

this country does not encourage me to write any more upon

the subjects that have occupied my mind so long, perhaps I

might find something more to say, before I die. I wish I

could do something to oppose the source of all the evils

which oppress and overwhelm Protestant Christianity, and

give encouragement to the spirit of Popery : I mean Bib-

liolatry. I have scattered a few thoughts on this subject in

my works. You will find them in "Orthodoxy and Hete-

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rodoxy," and also in the " Second Travels of an Irish Gentle-

man," an answer to Mr. Thomas Moore, the Poet, which I

wrote in a very great hurry, and still under the thral-

dom of a connection with the Church of England.

The subject which I should recommend to your attention

in America, is reduced to this question : Does Christianity

impose certain duties in regard to the collection of writings

called the Bible ? Are the essential and saving duties of

a Christian connected with, and dependent on, historical

documents,—and the questions of criticism implied in the

admission of such a supposition ? Could Christianity be

ever a universal religion, if it were the religion of a Book,

like Mahometanism ?

I do not mean to deprecate the Bible; but I certainly

will not make it my idol, nor, what is the same, my idola-

trous oracle.

The accounts which you give me of your literary friends,

and their labours, is extremely valuable. You have my

most cordial good wishes. Were I, like many old men. of

my age, not a slave to daily suffering and weakness, I would

visit your young and promising country. May heaven

prosper it for the general improvement of mankind !

I hope you will, at your leisure, favour me with your

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letters. I wish to know the course which opinion takes

among you, upon the most important concern of man, — true

Religion. There is an immense mass of error to be removed.

The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. We

are unfortunately retrograde in this country.

The grossest spirit of Mysticism and Popery has revived

at Oxford, not without persecution against those who,

though feebly, venture to oppose it.

I beg Mrs. Norton to reckon me among her friends. I

repeat my thanks to you, and remain, with sincere esteem

and respect,

My dear Sir, yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.
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Letter from Dr. Charming.

Boston, Feb. 26th, 1836.

My dear Sir,

I received, not long ago, your recent work on Orthodoxy

and Heresy, through Mr. Thom, and intended to reply im-

mediately. Whether I did so or not, I cannot distinctly

recollect, though I fear my strong intention is confounded

in my mind with the act. To make the thing sure, I write

now a few lines to thank you for your very acceptable work.

I am not a stranger to your writings. Your " Letters on

Spain" were very interesting to me : and made me desirous

to see everything from your pen. I thank you for )'our

testimony to great truths ; for the clear light in which you

have placed them; and, above all, for the ardent and all-sacri-

ficing love of truth, which has given so singular a direction

to your life. It would give me great delight to be near you,

to learn from your own lips the history of your mind, of

your doubts, researches, and illuminations, of your joy in

reaching a brighter light, and of your trials, obstacles, dis-

couragements, and sufferings. I trust, I cannot doubt,

that you find, in your more spiritual and enlarged views of

Christianity, in your more filial views of God, abundant

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compensations for sufferings. I have wished you would give

us, or leave behind you, an auto-biography. With what

eagerness should I devour such a work. The progress of

every mind is interesting; but how few minds have travelled

such a path as yours. On one subject, I should be very

glad to have the fruits of your observation. We all feel,

that there is an evil to be deplored in the Christian world

far more than doctrinal errors; and that is, the unfaithful-

ness of Christians to the light which they have attained.

We are sometimes almost tempted to say, that Christianity

is but a name, so little is its power felt. I should like to

know, among what bodies of Christians there has seemed to

you to be the greatest fidelity to their convictions, be these

convictions just or not. I should like to know, what parti-

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cular views of our religion have seemed to you to take the

strongest hold on the human mind ; what causes contribute

most to the general unfaithfulness, and what seem to you

the most effectual means of resisting them. That the great

moral purpose of Christianity is so little answered, would be

the most painful of all thoughts, had not habit seared us to

it.

I enclose a little work which I have recently published on

Slavery, the second edition, to which I have made some ad-

ditions.

I hope to hear better accounts of your health.

Very respectfully, your friend,

Wm. E. Channing.

Feb. 27th, 1836.

Every Church Establishment is a mighty Joint-

Stock Company of error and deception, which invites

subscriptions to the common fund, from the largest

amount of hypocrisy, to the lowest penny and farthing

contribution of acquiescence in what the conscience

VOL. II. K
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does not entirely approve. Yet these last contribu-

tors form the true strength of the Establishment.

March 3rd.

The 26th anniversary of my arrival in England.

For that blessing I feel, every year, more thankful to

Providence.

From Lord Holland.

March 3rd, 1836.

Dear Blanco,

I send you, under another cover, a short narrative of what

passed with Godoy about Mr. Powell in 1805, and I have

thrown it into a shape that you may use, or vary, as you like

best. I have, on reflection, no objection to Mr. Powell's

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or my name appearing. With respect to the last, I think

it better taste, if printed in the form of a letter, that the

signature should be the initials, and not my name at length.

What do you think of the impudence of the Intolerants at

Oxford ? I only hope Hampden and his supporters (and

among them my friend Shuttleworth) may run stout. I

think the friends both of the man and the cause should

bestir themselves in provincial papers and publications, to

make the nature of the controversy known. Read the cor-

respondence of Archbishop Wake with the Professors of

Geneva, printed in the supplement of the English transla-

tion of Mosheim, 1782; and read the notes on the article

Episcopius in Bayle. You will find matter wherewith to

expose the folly of exacting particular explications, as well

as subscriptions to creeds, and arguments of Grotius (de

veritate Grotius !) against the injustice of denying the name

of Christians to Socinians.

Yours ever,

Vassall Holland.
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195

From Lord Holland.

London, March 4th, 1836.

My dear Sir,

I rejoice to hear you have thoughts of reviewing the Life

of the Prince of the Peace. Your information and recollec-

tions must render your criticism of such a work interesting

and instructive. You and I have so often conversed on the

political character and career of that celebrated Favourite,

and on the effects of his power on the fortunes of Spain,

and, indeed, on the fate of Europe itself, that I think it pos-

sible that the unfavourable view I took of them, and which,

on dispassionate reflection, I cannot honestly retract, may

give a deeper tinge of severity to your comments than they

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would otherwise have assumed. It is fair, therefore, to re-

mind you of some more favourable impressions, which my

slight intercourse, and unimportant transactions with him,

left of his personal character on my mind. His manner,

though somewhat indolent, or, as the French term it, non-

chalant, was graceful and engaging. In spite of his educa-

tion, which, I presume, was provincial, and not of the best,

his language appeared to me elegant and peculiar, and

equally exempt from vulgarity and affectation. Indeed, his

whole demeanour announced, more than that of any untra-

velled Spaniard I ever met with, a mixture of dignity and

politeness, of propriety and ease, which the early habits of

good company are supposed (how truly, I do not pretend to

decide) exclusively to confer. He seemed born for a high

station ; without effort he would have passed in any mixed

society for the first man in it. I never, indeed, conversed

with him sufficiently to form any judgment of his under-

standing ; our interviews were mere interchanges of civility.

But a transaction of no importance to the public, though of

great interest to the parties concerned, took place between

us, and he not only behaved with great courtesy to me, but

showed both humanity and magnanimity.—A young En-

K2
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glishman, of the name of Powell, had, before the war between

England and Spain, in 1804, engaged either with General

Miranda, or some other South American adventurer, in an

expedition to liberate the Spanish Colonies. He was taken.

By law his life was forfeited ; but he was condemned, by a

sentence nearly equivalent to capital punishment, to per-

petual imprisonment in the unwholesome fortress of Omoa.

His father, Chief Justice of Canada, on hearing the sad

tidings, hastened to England. Unfortunately, hostilities

had recently commenced, under circumstances singularly

calculated to exasperate the government and people of

Spain. The Chief Justice was, however, determined to try

the efficacy of a personal application to alleviate the suffer-

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ings of his son by a change of prison : for he despaired of

obtaining his release. Having procured passports, he pro-

ceeded to Spain, furnished with a letter of introduction to

the Prince of the Peace from me, to whom he applied, as

recently returned (in the spring of 1805) from thence, and

not involved in the angry feelings and discussions which

had preceded and followed the rupture between the two

countries.

The Prince received him in the Palace at Aranjuez, and

immediately on reading the letter and hearing the story,

bade the anxious father remain till he had seen the king,

and then left the room for that purpose without ceremony

or delay. He soon returned with an order duly signed, not

for the change of prison, but for the immediate liberation

of the young man. Nor was he satisfied with that act of

humanity, but he added, with a smile of benevolence, that

a Parent who had come so far to render a service to his

child, would like to be the bearer of the good intelligence

himself, and he accordingly furnished him with a passport,

and permission to sail in a Spanish frigate, then preparing

to leave Cadiz for the West Indies.

When I saw the Prince of the Peace, ten years after-

wards (1815), at Verona, he lamented to me that his situa-

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197

tion would become very precarious if Charles the Fourth

were to die. He was desirous of ascertaining if he could, in

that case, find an asylum in England. I heard of the event

from which he apprehended such consequences in 1821,

and I, that very day crossed the House of Lords, and related

all the above particulars to Lord Liverpool, ending with a

request for a passport for the Prince of the Peace. Lord

Liverpool, as might be expected from a man of so kind a

nature, was much struck, and even affected by the story ;

but he remarked, with regret, that an English passport to a

foreigner implied an invitation. The Government, he said,

was not prepared to invite the Prince of the Peace to Eng-

land, but he authorized, and even urged, me to assure him,

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that he would be unmolested if he arrived here, and that he

should enjoy every protection for his person and property

that a foreigner was entitled to. The answer of the Prince

of the Peace to my communication of this assurance was

concise, and to the following purport:—" He had for seve-

ral years disposed of the resources of one of the richest

kingdoms of the Earth; during that period he had made

the fortune of thousands and thousands, but I, a foreigner,

and almost a stranger, was the first and only mortal who,

since his fall, had ever expressed any sense, or shown any

recollection, of any service, great or small, received at his

hands. I might judge from this, of the sensation my letter

had produced."

I would have sent you the original letter, but, though I

am confident that it is not lost, it is to my great mortifica-

tion mislaid. The above report of it is in substance and

brevity correct.—The Prince of the Peace never came to

England. Vassall Holland.

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To Lord Holland.

March 6th, 1836.

My dear Lord Holland,

Many thanks for your interesting account of the affair of

Mr. Powell and the Prince of the Peace. I have written to

the Editor of the London Review, to whom I had already

sent my MS., to return it to me, that I may make the in-

sertion which I owe to your kindness in a proper place and

manner. As the time of publication approached, I con-

tented myself with the general notions you had given me ;

but I am sure that the article has not yet been sent to the

printer.

I remember to have heard Lady Holland caution invalids

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against boasting. I had just written to you about the im-

provement of my health, when a severe attack came upon

me, which still keeps me nearly confined to the house, and

very unwell altogether. The winds are here very stormy

and cold; but I hear the same complaints from Dublin.

I am incessantly haunted by the Oxford persecution

against Hampden. A more impudent display of bigotry,

and thorough priestly spirit, it is impossible to conceive.

There are, as usual, sincere bigots and hypocrites concerned

in the case. The most melancholy instances of the former,

are two men whom I loved for their talents and good-na-

ture ; Pusey, the Professor of Hebrew, and Newman, a Fel-

low of Oriel. The latter, in particular, was one of the most

liberal, well-informed, and kind-hearted men I knew. He

had always supported the side favourable to the emancipa-

tion of the Catholics, but no sooner did the Duke of Wel-

lington declare that the Bill must pass, than the mind of my

friend was darkened with the most intolerant views. He

voted against the proposed re-election of Peel for the Uni-

versity ; he joined heart and soul with men whom he for-

merly despised ; and is now one of the most forward leaders

of persecution. He is a man of great influence with the

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199

most reading young men at Oriel, all of whom he has for

the last four or five years gained over to bigotry and Tory-

ism. It was an established doctrine among that set, when

I left Oxford, that no Dissenter should be allowed to live

within the English dominions, but that an Englishman

should, of necessity, be a member of the Church of Eng-

land. Nothing helped so much to allay the vehement feel-

ings which my individual circumstances had raised in me

against the Catholics, as the Protestant Popery which I saw

growing up at Oxford. Persecution in a Protestant is infi-

nitely more odious to me than the Inquisition. There is a

consistency in the one which may excuse that dangerous

error ; but the practical contradiction implied in Protestant

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persecution shows a perverseness of heart which is to me

perfectly odious. I was exceedingly fortunate in the com-

bination of events which made me leave Oxford; had I

continued there, grief and vexation would have killed me.

I have by this post enclosed two copies of an article which

I gave, at the beginning of the year, to an obscure Journal,

as a kind of lift. It is on the Debate occasioned by Lord

Radnor's motion in favour of the admission of Dissenters

into the Universities. One of the copies is for yourself.

My best regards to Lady H. and Allen.

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

No. 22, Upper Stanhope-street, Liverpool,

March 13th, 1836.

After a long absence from chapel, owing to in-

creased ill-health, I have ventured there this morning.

Mr. preached on Mark x. 17. His explanation

of that interesting transaction—leaving the " Why

callest thou me good," &c. to the digestion of Trini-

tarians—was excellent. He analysed the character

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of the young man in a very instructive way, and

made some very good observations on the manifesta-

tion of Christ's own character, conveyed by the

mention of his having felt an affection for the person

who inquired of him, although, as the event showed

it, his virtue was more habit and love of regularity,

than the result of principle. What insuperable diffi-

culties fall away upon dismissing the monstrous sup-

position of the Divinity of Christ, and of the infalli-

bility of the writers in the Bible! Dr. Whately

has endeavoured to gloss over the false political eco-

nomy of the Gospels, and indeed of the New Testa-

ment altogether, in regard to alms-giving; but the

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thing cannot be fairly done. Christ and his apostles

thought, that to give away every thing a man pos-

sessed was one of the highest acts of virtue. No

doctrine whatever is more unquestionably traced by

historical tradition to the founders of Christianity

than this: and it should be observed that tradition

here stands on its strongest grounds. A word mis-

understood may alter a speculative doctrine : hence

the insufficiency of tradition to prove the genuineness

of a metaphysical creed. Not so in regard to prac-

tice : here tradition is a strong proof. The first

Christians unquestionably attempted something like

a community of goods: at all events, the selling pro-

perty to put the amount into the common fund was

believed to be a very virtuous deed ; an act of heroic

virtue, which was not required of all. Such is the

meaning of the remonstrance of Peter to Ananias.

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The distinction supported by the Roman Catholics

between commands and advice, (mandata, consilia,)

may be clearly perceived in the primitive records of

Christianity. It is impossible to interpret the answer

of Christ to the young man, on any supposition that

will do away this distinction. Et OtXeig riXtiog eivm,

k. t. X. (Matt. xix. 21.) On this supposition it was

that Monasticism was established, and universally

regarded as an institution which carried Christianity

to the limits of perfection.—I do not mean that

Christ ever thought of leading his disciples to any

thing like Monasticism: his notions of virtue were

not degraded by such a mistake; his idea of moral

perfection was inseparable from social activity. The

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recommendation he gave to the young man had most

reasonable grounds in the circumstances of the times.

Mr. observed this with powerful effect. I would

have added that a similar sacrifice had been deemed

necessary by the preachers of moral reform of the

school of Pythagoras; and that, just about the period

of Christ, Apollonius of Tyana, who unquestionably

was a sincere preacher of virtue, though deeply

tainted with enthusiasm, and much given to the uni-

versal practice of the most benevolent and wise re-

formers of ancient times—namely, that of drawing

attention by means of things apparently miraculous;

which they themselves not unfrequently thought to

be really so—Apollonius, before he devoted himself

to the work of moral and religious reform, gave up

his inheritance to his younger brother, and lived

k5
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most sparingly on the voluntary contributions of his

hearers; exactly as the apostles were commanded

to do.

Under the then existing circumstances it was per-

fectly true, that a man who wished to be perfect had

not a more effectual means than that of giving to

those whom they wished to improve, the strong proof

of sincerity which that renunciation of all worldly

wealth conveyed.

To Miss L .

Liverpool, March 25 th, 1886.

My dear Miss L ,

Your kind letter found me yesterday in a cloud of little

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troubles, which, to me, are exceedingly annoying ; but it

was a relief, inasmuch as it drew away my attention from

smoke, overreaching landlords and landladies, &c., &c., to

the praiseworthy efforts which you are constantly making to

improve and store your mind. My knowledge of Hebrew

is just sufficient to justify me in forming a deliberate opinion

in regard to the question about points. I am convinced

that any one who has studied the philosophy of language,

must feel assured that the Massoretic points represent the

pronunciation of Hebrew at one period of its living state.

The perfect and minute analogies of the whole system ex-

clude the supposition of its being an arbitrary and fanciful

method of pronouncing the language. To overlook, there-

fore, this historical monument of the structure of a very

ancient language is perfectly unjustifiable ; such neglect

argues an indolence scarcely conceivable in a real scholar.

I cannot indeed imagine for a moment that such a man as

Gesenius, whose knowledgeof languages, ancient and modern,

is so vast, and whose mind is so philosophical, could be de-

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203

ceived as to the value and genuineness of the points, as a

memorial of the Hebrew tongue when living. It is generally

men with a tendency to fanciful mysticism, such as Hutch-

inson and Parkhurst, who delight in the liberty which the

absence of the points gives them in the allegorical and sym-

bolical interpretation of the Old Testament, that can give a

preference to unpointed Hebrew. I wish that Stuart, who

is a strong advocate for the points, had a more enlarged

mind; but there is a confused minuteness in his recast of

Gesenius's Grammar : a literal translation would have been

much better. His superstitious notions about the Old Tes-

tament make me dislike even his Chrestomathy. I have

made here the acquaintance of a German, now an old and

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infirm man, who, from his thorough knowledge of Hebrew,

and his ignorance of Greek, gives me the idea of his having

been brought up as a Jew. He is at present an Unitarian,

and attends Mr. Thom's chapel. He is a teacher of German

and French. I have urged him to advertise himself as a

teacher of Hebrew. He can write it (of course with points),

as our good scholars write Latin. His want of strength to

come to me, and mine to go regularly to him, prevent my

employing him for my own improvement in Hebrew and

German.

My health has been much worse of late, and the discom-

fort and vexation to which I have been exposed for many

weeks, have, of course, increased my sufferings. But such

is the lot of a solitary man in his old age. I am a very bad

man of business, and find myself constantly entrapped by

the adepts in roguery, of which there is abundance in all

parts of the world, but especially in such places as this.

Yours ever truly,

J. Blanco White.
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March 27th, 1836.

A firm belief in a never-ending life after death is

demanded as a condition of Christianity. This, and

all similar demands of assent to facts beyond expe-

rience arise from the supposition, that the first duty

of a Christian is implicit assent to the Bible. To

what possible sense of the Bible that assent is to be

given, is another question : but that the New Testa-

ment asserts that every man is to live for ever, is

almost universally taken for granted. Were it not

for the first supposition—that of a paramount duty

to believe the Bible—the rational view of this subject

would be, that the revelation (supposing it what

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people believe it to be) of the immortality of all men

is intended as a motive to influence the conduct of

mankind. To imagine that a good man is to be

punished eternally, because he cannot give an un-

hesitating assent to the announcement of the doctrine

of the immortality of all mankind, is totally inconsis-

tent with everything we know of the nature of belief

and of moral goodness. That man's virtue, on the

contrary, would scarcely deserve the name, which

should depend on his hopes or fears in regard to a

future life. Any one who, convinced that his exist-

ence would be terminated by death, should say,

"let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," were

he the most correct man in point of conduct, would

be very low indeed in the scale of virtue: a useful

man, he might be; a virtuous one, I should reluc-

tantly call him. The claims of conscience to direct

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205

our conduct are incontrovertible, even on the suppo-

sition of there being no higher authority. Virtue

and Vice would remain exactly what the purest re-

ligion considers them, if it could be proved beyond

doubt that man is an ephemeral being: future re-

wards and punishments cannot alter their nature.

He who abstains from vicious actions only from fear

of eternal punishments, and who is conscious that,

were there no future life, he would make Evil his

Good, may be sure that Virtue has no share in his

heart. This man, nevertheless, if he firmly believes

in a future life, is encouraged by our Divines: while

the true lover of Virtue, who follows her for her own
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sake, who considers her a sufficient reward in the

midst of suffering, and independently of what God

may have reserved for us after death, this man is

told that he labours in vain—that his faithfulness will

not only go unrewarded, but that his virtuous disin-

terestedness shall be punished for ever. "This is mon-

strous.

I myself cannot believe that death shall put an

end to my being; I have strong grounds to hope that

my Maker has happiness in reserve for me; but if

that happiness depends upon the certainty of my ex-

pectation, I must lose it. But blessed be God ! my

trust in him is not shaken by any doubt of this kind.

My love of his Goodness is independent of expected

rewards. I am abundantly rewarded when I am

conscious of that love; my failures in the pursuit of

virtue, my deviations into vice, have been their own

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punishment. I am not tempted to complain even

when the possibility of the cessation of my personality

occurs to me. I am ready to die, whatever dying

may be; and I hope to die in full trust of the

Power who brought me into this existence.

April 1st. Good Friday.

To the Meeting, at Renshaw-street Chapel, for es-

tablishing a Minister for the Poor. Spoke in a state

of much exhaustion and suffering.

Letter to Dr. Channing.

April 1st, 1836.

My dear Sir,

It was not till yesterday that I had the truly great gratifi-
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cation of a letter from you. I found the parcel containing

your work on Slavery on my desk, and having taken it up

immediately after reading the letter, I did not retire to sleep

till I had read it through. Far be it from me to say what

I do not feel, or to exaggerate my sentiments for the sake

of pleasing others. But I think it a duty fully to express the

effect of any work, upon any important subject, when the

result of my reading is a perfect coincidence with the au-

thor ; and not only a coincidence, but the warmest, most

heartfelt approbation. It is due to a writer's sincere endea-

vours to reach the inmost soul of his fellow-men, for good,

to assure him that he has not laboured in vain ; that every

string of another heart vibrates to the throbs of his own.

The subject of Slavery attracted my mind from a very early

age, and the interest which I felt for the millions who have

suffered, and still suffer, from that monstrous wrong, is not

diminished in the evening of my life. You have raised

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207

your voice against it with the greatest power, as well as with

the greatest moderation and justice. I thought I heard

man's tyranny condemned by a being with all the sympa-

thies, but above the angry and disturbing passions of our

nature. Your proclamation of the supremacy of Duty was

like a hymn of praise to God, in my ear. I longed to swell

it with my feeble voice in the hearing of all mankind.—But

I must stop: you might suspect (not knowing me person-

ally) that I am studying my praise of your work. Mr.

Thom has heard my language about it this very morning;

and he can bear witness that it flows from my heart.

I have written a great part of my Memoirs, which are

not to be published till after my death. Few, except men

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like yourself, will take an interest in them : the irreligious

will despise me for most of what I have to state ; the dog-

matic religionists will conclude that I have ended in some-

thing little short of atheism, and will turn away from the

history of my mind with horror. That history, however,

shall be known. I consider it my paramount duty; if I

have not lived for the purpose of attesting faithfully the

facts of my mental experience, I have lived in vain. But I

have better hopes ; and the joy with which, at the close of

my mission, I look at the instances in which God has

enabled me to be faithful to it, is a pledge that I am not

deceived.

I will pay the most serious attention to your queries. I

have found great faithfulness in individuals of the most op-

posite views as to the points disputed among Christians.

But the general result of my observation is, that most of

what is called Christianity exists in the imagination : it is

not a thorough, rational conviction. Wherever that exists,

where the intellectual, moral being is penetrated with the

great truth of God's Paternity in regard to us, where con-

science has become his oracle and his representative, faith-

fulness is the fruit and result.

I am sorry to hear that you are my brother sufferer. My

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208 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

health scarcely deserves that name : yet I am better than I

have been for the last twenty years. May God give you

strength to bear up against bodily infirmity ! Your works

do not bear the remotest mark of it. May you long con-

tinue to struggle against error and vice, with the same suc-

cess which has hitherto crowned your efforts ! Accept my

most sincere and brotherly sympathy in every respect.

Yours ever most truly,

J. Blanco White. -

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

April 4th. 1836.

My dear Sir,

Having received the London and Westminster this after-

noon, I have already read your excellent article on Civili-

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zation. Your views are as correct as they are profound

and well expressed. The essential defect of education in

England is exposed in a masterly manner. Alas ! who will

listen to you ? Look at the state of Oxford ; look at the

timidity of the persecuted man, at his full admission of

the wrong principle, that his duty is to inculcate certain

views ! It appears to me, that our Review avoids too

much a direct collision with the mischievous system of

religion, which the State supports. You—the leaders—

are too much away from the mass of bigotry and super-

stition existing in the country, and, as it were, disdain

the subject. I am, however, of opinion, that the colla-

teral light, thrown out by the liberal publications, will

never be sufficient to dispel any part of that immense dark-

ness which, under the name of religion, affords a skulking

place to the most designing enemies of the improvements

which civilization calls for, in order to counteract its inci-

dental evils. The Theologians should be routed : the evil

they are doing is immense. Has not Orangeism itself as-

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209

sumed the character of a Religious Society ? Is not even

the Duke of Cumberland orthodox ?

I wish to know if you desire to have any thing from me

for the sixth Number, and what work you would like me to

try my hand upon. I should not dislike a vacation ; but I

will not desert you, if you wish any assistance on my part.

I hope by this time your health is again fully restored.

I have had a good deal of, additional suffering in conse-

quence of my new house. I have had to learn experimen-

tally the abominable state of the law in regard to landlord

and tenant. I am really alarmed when I consider the power

which a dishonest landlord has over a man, who, like my-

self, enters into the possession of a house without precau- -

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tionary agreements. But I opened my eyes to the danger

after I had put myself into the power of the landlord. I

shall hope that he is not a rogue. But as far as I can

judge, this town abounds in that sort.

Let me hear from you at your first leisure.

Ever yours truly,

J. Blanco White.

Letter to Miss L .

•22, Upper Stanhope-street, Liverpool,

April 23th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

You need not apologise for writing to me: I wish you to

write as often as you find it convenient. I should be glad,

indeed, if I could assist you in your studies by means of a

regular correspondence. This desire is not so perfectly dis-

interested as might appear at first sight. My solitude

presses hard upon me. Yesterday, for instance, finding

myself too unwell to venture to chapel, I passed the day in

almost absolute incommunication with my fellow-creatures.

Except the few words which I had occasion to speak to my

housekeeper, I might well say.

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11 And now my tongue's use is to me no more

Than an unstringed viol or a harp ;

Or like a cunning instrument cas'd up."

I tried to write, but as I was writing to no one, I dropped

the pen. I read; but as I did it with no particular object,

the effect on the mind was like that of dreaming ; and when

1 went early to bed, I scarcely had the power of putting two

sentences together. Mr. Thom, who is my only mental

companion, has been obliged to accompany an intimate

friend, who is suffering from a nervous complaint, upon a

tour of some weeks. This is a great loss to me. Let me

therefore have the satisfaction of knowing that I am ex-

changing thought with one who takes a pleasure in think-

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ing.

I have been comparing the Introduction of Becker's

Grammar in English with his Schulgrammatik, and nothing

can be more unlike than the two compositions. I cannot,

indeed, find anything exactly corresponding to § 10. You

will easily perceive that the subject of the copula and sub-

stantive verb cannot be properly treated in a Grammar, ex-

cept we settle a very important part of Ideology. I con-

ceive that the notion of abstract existence expressed in the

phrase / am, is one of the last which arise in the mind.

To be, is for mankind in general to have a form : Predi-

cation is only the attribution of some already abstracted

form of existence to some notion. Activity is implied in all

these predications, as appearing under a form which has

already become the label, or sign of a class. The habit of

abstraction enables man at last to separate the activity of

existence from all forms, and hence the meaning of the

copula as a substantive verb, a verb expressing the abstrac-

tion of existence from all form : a notion which must be

entirely subjective, and can have no reality. I am so far

from lamenting the identity of the copula and the verb of

existence, that I conceive it to be expressive of the mental

fact which I have stated. The frequent absence of the

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211

itfN or t£^ in Hebrew, appears to me an ellipsis. The charac-

ter of that language seems to be in agreement with this,

leaving the mind to supply the relative notions. It is curi-

ous that signifies fire, the most appropriate symbol of

activity: a fact which seems to confirm what I have said.

To object the numerous cases in which to be appears to

mean inactivity, is to forget that analogy is very frequently

carried so far as to extend to what might be called the minus

of a notion, i. e. the notion in an opposite sense. Observe

a very familiar example in the arrangement of grammatical

words, disjunctive conjunctions, which appears a contradic-

tion ; such is also the case in regard to the negative copula.

I perceive that I must write to you on a large sheet of

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paper whenever there may be a subject of this kind before

us. You must not take Becker (especially in English) as a

guide, but merely as a suggester.

Have you given up Greek ? If you still continue that

study, I should recommend to you the task of translating a

little Grammar written by a German, the title of which made

me purchase it. It engages to teach the structure of the

language in two months. I believe that you might publish

the translation with success ; I mean that some publisher

might undertake an edition, dividing profits with you, and

taking upon himself the whole of the expenses. If you wish

to try I will send you my copy, which you may keep as

long as you please. But do not let me tempt you away

from more useful studies, or, at all events, more likely to

form and enlarge your mind.

I do not feel settled in my new house, though a pretty

one in itself: but on each side I have an empty house at

present, and I cannot but fear that they will be occupied by

people whom I shall not like for my neighbours. The

walls are so thin that every noise is heard as if it was within

my own house; and a vulgar family, with a pack of noisy

children, would deprive me of all rest. I wish you were

occupying one of the two houses, that I might assist you in

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your reading. But I shall be glad to do what I can in

writing. I should like, however, to know your general

plan of study, and the principal end you propose to your-

self.

Yours ever truly,

J. Blanco White.

Liverpool, April 27th, 1836.

I went by chance into a French bookseller's shop,

this morning, and the sight of Volney's works, com-

plete in eight volumes, tempted me to purchase

them. The bookseller, a perfect Frenchman in good

humour and talkativeness, opened the volume con-

taining Les Ruines, and with that peculiar shake of

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the head which marks heartfelt approbation—'Ah,

(he said,) what a beautiful work! I read it a long

time ago, with great pleasure; and I came to the

conclusion that .... that it was very difficult to

come to a conclusion!' How many thousands both

of plain and learned men would be found to have

arrived at no other conclusion, if they would honestly

speak out! But superstitious fear, and worldly con-

siderations, stop the mouth of millions of persons,

and this silence enables the deceivers and the de-

ceived to work incalculable mischief, entirely upon

the ground and by the support of this acquiescence.

Of all the sources of moral evil with which I am ac-

quainted, I cannot think of one whose operation is

more extensive than the notion that it is a duty to

keep such convictions secret. I can easily under-

stand why the supporters of church establishments,

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213

and those who enjoy dominion over other men's

minds by means of theological systems, supposed to

be the necessary condition of happiness in a future

world, maintain that view. It is equally easy to

trace the secret workings, which have brought such

Protestant bigots as those of the school of Newman

and Pusey to the tacit agreement that, provided the

Church of England Clergy are enabled to maintain

their dominion over the members of their sect,

others shall be welcome to the application of the

same principles in favour of the Clergy of the Church

of Rome, out of this country. But what I cannot

well explain, upon any sound moral principle, is the

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determination of honest men, who have no theological

creed, and of upright men, who, having it, are never-

theless aware of the mischiefs produced by the pre-

sent state of opinion upon religious subjects, to allow

things to proceed in this hopeless state. Newman,

who has raised himself into a Protestant Pope, and

who, as sure as he lives, would persecute to the death

if he had the direction of the civil power for a dozen

years,—Newman expresses the utmost tenderness for

those who, holding any opinions whatever, will only

whisper them tremblingly into his ear. This is

exactly what the true Protestant Priests of Oxford

want. They see the impossibility of universal domi-

nion, and they will content themselves with being

allowed to keep a certain portion of mankind to

themselves, undisturbed. Now, this tyranny is sup-

ported by every man who, being aware of the futility

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of their claims, and the emptiness of all the theologi-

cal creeds on which priestly domination of all kinds is

founded, will keep silence, and let the misery and dis-

turbance which such systems perpetuate, spread itself

over a large portion of every succeeding generation.

Such as are persuaded that religion is only a means

of government, have some excuse in my eyes. Their

view, in my opinion, is wrong and mischievous, but

it is the view of all antiquity, and indeed of the

greatest part of the higher ranks, all over the world.

But such as reject that notion, such as know and

value the substance of Christianity, and hope that

it will at some future period extend its blessing to

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every part of the civilized world, should consider that

the progress which that hope supposes, must stand

still, as long as the question between all priesthoods,

i. e. all men who claim a right to settle religious

views and opinions for others, and to prevent all dis-

turbance of those opinions among the people whom

they treat literally as their flocks,—is not fully dis-

cussed in the hearing of all men. This tacit acqui-

escence in the necessity, in order to be a Christian,

of coming to some conclusion, upon points which for

want of proper means cannot be settled—leads a

multitude of persons of all classes into the practical

notion that, in regard to the religious principle

ingrafted in the bosom of every individual of our

species, there can be nothing certain. Such men

must live morally, by chance. Whose is the fault ?

The fault and blame falls upon the priests, in the

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215

first place; but there is also a share of it which must

be borne by such as will not expose themselves to

inconvenience, by helping to unravel the fallacies

upon which the priesthood still support their power

and influence.

The same day.

Nothing is more common than to hear people who

contend for the supremacy of reason, allow that there

is a duty of checking reason and keeping it within

limits. This sounds very plausible; but it is a fal-

lacy. The source of that fallacy is a confusion be-

tween the inquisitive intellect, and the supreme or

determining reason. " Human reason, they say, lies

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within very narrow limits." This is true of the

powers of discovery, respecting things not subject to

experience. Whether the supreme, the concluding

Reason has, or not, narrow limits, depends on the

extent which we may give to the relative word

narrow. One thing however is certain: the ultimate

Reason of man extends its supremacy, under God, to

every thing which can be presented to us for admission

or rejection. The things which the human faculties

cannot investigate may be said to be infinite; but to

receive as true any thing without a sufficient reason,

is against the highest law of our nature: it is irra-

tional.

From want of attention to this distinction, and

under cover of the awe which the name of blasphemy

or impiety produces on most minds, the dogmatic

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Divines induce thousands to bow to their notions, al-

though they are clearly unproved, and perhaps evi-

dently contradictory. Thus they declaim against the

insufferable pride of philosophy, which will bring God

himself before the tribunal of human Reason. But

this assertion is totally false. Philosophy never was

so mad as to call God to judgment: what Philosophy

and human Reason demand is, the right to judge the

assertions of men, concerning God. The right of

Reason to judge whether such reports or assertions

are credible, is unquestionable: to deny that right is

to deprive man of his rationality.—But here another

confusion of thought takes place. " God," it is said,

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" has made some declarations about himself; which

are above human Reason." .This proposition is ex-

ceedingly inaccurate, and might be rejected at once

on that account. Declarations, and revelations above

the faculty to which they are supposed to be made,

are neither declarations nor revelations. The propo-

sition is exactly like this: God has enlightened

human vision with a light which is above its powers:

God has shown objects to the human eye which the

nature of the eye does not allow it to perceive. The

only sense in which such assertions would cease to

be contradictory is this: God has given such occa-

sional powers to the human eye that it perceives

things which otherwise would be invisible. But let

it be observed that in that case the object comes fully

under the power of the human eye. If by revelation

is meant something analogous to the increase of

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217

power which the Telescope and the Microscope give

to the human eye, the objects thus disclosed by reve-

lation cannot be said to be above Reason.—But this

is not my answer.—" God has made some declara-

tions about himself which are above human reason."

Let it be so: the question here, is not about the

things revealed; but about the fact, that they have

been revealed. Shall it be said that this is beyond

the power and jurisdiction of human reason ?—Hu-

man reason is evidently independent in every indivi-

dual, from all other individual judgment. Submission

is demanded in the name of God—voluntary, real

submission; not forced acquiescence: the reasons

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for submitting must thex-efore be clear to the power

which is called upon to submit.

April 28th, 1836.

My thoughts have been long employed on the

mental phenomenon presented by the original

Quakers. George Fox, the originator, among Re-

formers, of that view of Christianity, was an illiterate

man; but upright, morally bold, and a deep thinker

as far as his mental materials gave him a subject to

think upon. A person of this character is almost in-

evitably exposed to enthusiasm, if he gives himself up

to the contemplation of his own mind. No man who

has watched the processes within him, can be un-

acquainted with that spontaneous rising of thoughts

which may be properly compared to an internal voice.

Like all other distinct thoughts, it addresses us in

VOL. II. L
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words; and the habit of attending to it, increases

both the frequency and the distinctness of such ad-

dresses. The history of Man is full of testimonies to

this fact, as well as to the common tendency of our

race to explain it by supernatural agency. A great

deal of knowledge is indeed required to check the

propensity to attribute all invisible causation to an

individual, conscious agent. In the case under con-

sideration, this propensity acts with more than usual

vigour, owing to the combined consciousness of the

distinct verbal suggestion within us, and of our not

having originated it by an act of our Will. This is

clearly the origin of the notion of Inspiration. The

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fact of such Inspiration is as unquestionable, as the

discovery of its true source is difficult. Whatever is

most sublime and useful within the sphere of human

knowledge, has been whispered, as it were, to our

greatest benefactors, by an invisible agent. The

most atrocious acts, on the other hand, have been

suggested, with a harrassing assiduity, in a similar

manner. Hence the universal consent, attested by

language, with which men have given witness, at all

times, to the activity of two Spirits within them; one

good, the other evil; the one, a messenger from God,

the other an emissary of Satan—or by whatever other

name the personification of evil may be called.—The

philosopher and the enthusiast are equally aware of

these appearances, these phenomena within them.

There is this important difference, however, between

these two classes of men. The enthusiast instantly

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concludes, like the child and the savage, that he is

surrounded by invisible beings who talk to him within

his soul, in quite opposite senses: the philosopher,

well aware of the insufficiency of such an explanation,

and seeing no reason for establishing an essential

difference between the origin of the most trifling sug-

gestions, which, independently of our will, are con-

stantly made to the mind, and those which, from their

nature and consequences, might well be attributed to

the opposite, extreme, sources of good and evil, does

not attempt to explain the fact, by the supposition of

other facts which only would increase the difficulty of

the case before him. He knows that the highest

gifts and blessings have come to Man in that man-

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ner ; he is equally sure that the most degrading and

atrocious of Man's acts have been equally inspired.

His observation shows him that there is a constant

succession of such involuntary thoughts; and that

the wildest vision of a dream, and the suggestion

from which the Newtonian theory has grown into its

present development, do not present the least mark

of difference in the manner of their appearance before

the mind. Convinced of the impossibility of pene-

trating farther into the mystery of his own being,

he turns to the more useful employment of assisting,

by well-regulated experience, that power within,

which all men call their Reason, and to which it be-

longs to choose between these various suggestions,

according to the ultimate notion of Good and Evil.

This is not the proper place to enter upon the meta-

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physical question about the Moral Sense. It is

enough if we remember that, by whatever name men

may call it, there is in every individual a faculty

which ultimately decides between Evil and Good.

But to return to the original Quakers: the inti-

mate and comprehensive perception which George

Fox obtained of the nature of Christianity, as it was

originally published, is surprising. He perceived

that Christ had condemned all Priesthoods, and their

offices. He was convinced of the absurdity of that

middle term which was soon after adopted by the

leaders of the Christian communities, that ministry,

with a kind of dormant claim to supernatural power—

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which gradually grew into the most tyrannical priest-

hood which the world had known; for other priest-

hoods encroached upon externals alone, whilst the

pretended Christian priesthood took possession of the

whole mind of man, and governed it with the most

unbending sway. The original Quakers alone, among

the Protestants, saw into the vanity of all Church

pretensions, and the total groundlessness of the sup-

posed Sacraments, of which the clergy still conceive

themselves to be the legitimate ministers. But what

appears to me still more surprising is George Fox's

perception of the error, according to which the Pro-

testants asserted that Christianity stands upon the

Bible, as on its basis. Though an illiterate man, he

was aware that the authenticity of the various parts

of the Bible is supported by human testimony alone,

a testimony of such a nature that the most orthodox

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221

divines, such as Jones, declare that the settling of

the Canon of the New Testament—the most import-

ant portion of the Bible—is extremely difficult. In

connection with this point, it is true, Fox involved

himself in the mystery of personal inspiration, and

reduced the authority of the Bible to the authority

of the voice within every true believer.

Let us, however, put aside this claim to individual

inspiration, and examine its only possible meaning.

George Fox and the original Quakers declared that

they believed in the inspiration of the Bible, because

it agreed with their own inspiration: this, in other

words, means that they considered every thing which

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the voice within them declared to be worthy of being

inspired by God, to be really inspired by God.—Now

what is the voice within us—the voice, I mean, which

passes final judgment—but our Reason ? The origi-

nal Quakers called it Christ within the breast, and so

forth. But how did they know that it was Christ,

and not the Devil, that spoke ? They thought they

knew it, exactly as I do—from the fact that what

they heard within them was worthy of God, or Christ,

or the Spirit—for all these denominations are practi-

cally synonymous. Every man, in fact, who wishes

to do the will of God, as a Christian, forms to him-

self a notion of God and Christ. Into that notion

enters every thing which he considers morally best:

and according to that notion he determines whether

other notions are to be received, or not, as coming

from the ultimate and highest model of truth and

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222 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

goodness. In what, I ask, does this differ from

Reason ?

April 30, 1836.

I have read this morning in the Morning Chro-

nicle of yesterday, the paper addressed to the Heads

of Houses by Vaughan Thomas, Pusey, Newman,

Sewell, and a man whom I do not know, as commit-

tee-men of the Corpus Meeting. I do not exagge-

rate, when I say, that the tone of tenderness in which

they speak of the victim whom they have marked

for as great destruction as it is in their power

to inflict, gives me more intolerable pain than any of

the sentences of death by the Spanish Inquisition.

It is only in this specimen of Protestant persecution,

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that the true nature of Orthodoxy, supported by Law,

can be observed. Here we see a few men, some of

them possessing originally a kind and benevolent

heart, so perfectly blinded by the fatal delusion of

Orthodoxy, that they are satisfied that their own

sufferings, in calling for the punishment of Dr.

Hampden, are hardly less than those of the persecuted

man. But it is their highest duty, they say. They

are sure that he is wrong : they themselves cannot

possibly be in error.—Why ?—They will not answer :

they know it, and that is quite sufficient. Can any

presumption be equal to this ? Is this not pride sub-

limated to phrenzy ? And yet the law which binds

Dr. Hampden to teach according to a certain view,

exposes him to the merciless fury of these soft-worded

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223

bigots! They venture to appeal to acts of private

kindness done to Dr. Hampden, it seems, during this

unrelenting attack. If Dr. Hampden has accepted

them, his unsuspecting nature alone is to blame.

But the refined insolence of such a boast is into-

lerable. This is exactly like the kindness and indul-

gence bestowed in foreign countries upon persons

already condemned to die : an indulgence which the

Inquisition would use in certain cases. The Inqui-

sitors used to show the greatest distress when they

delivered the condemned heretic to be burnt. Among

these persecutors I pity no one but Newman.

Vaughan Thomas is a hardened politician; Pusey is

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a vain man; Newman's deceiving pride is more

deeply seated, and more difficult to be suspected by

himself than the sources of the others' practical

error.—When will it please Heaven to put an end to

all priesthoods ? There is no peace for civilized man-

kind, till then!

To Mrs. Lawrence.

April 30, 1836.

My dear Mrs. Lawrence,

Many thanks for the copy of your Poems, with their very

valuable additions. I think that if Murray will exert him-

self, your benevolent object of helping Mrs. Hemans's boy

will be easily attained. I have read almost every page of

the volume, not excluding the compositions which, as you

are aware, are well-known to me from the first edition. I

believe I have stated to you my opinion already. This

morning the reading of Anticipation and Reality gave me

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perhaps more pleasure than when I saw it the first time.

Its tenderness is exquisite.

The enclosed lines which Mrs. Hemans sent me from

Redesdale, will be better preserved by you than by myself,

who am constantly at a loss to find my own papers. I beg

your acceptance of it. I have just found by chance an old

Note Book where I had copied some passages from the Ce-

lestina. The following is perfectly charming :—

Tenia unas manos como la nieve, que quando las sacaba

de rato en rato, de un guante, parecia que se derramaba

azahar por la casa.*

One must have lived in a country with Orange Groves,

to perceive the exquisite delicacy of the last image. Azahar,

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which is I believe Arabic, is a word with which a Southern

Spaniard associates the most delicate perceptions to which

the sight and smell can contribute. To me indeed the word

is quite perfumed by the flower.

A pleasant excursion whenever you undertake it is the

wish of

Your sincere friend,

J. Blanco White.

To Mrs. Lawrence.

Liverpool, May 3, 1836.

My dear Mrs. Lawrence,

You see how soon I avail myself of your leave to write to

you. Most people have a dislike to letter writing, and I

confess that I have had a certain portion of that feeling.

But I could point out a very effectual remedy against it.

Place a human being whose nature forbids his thinking or

feeling for himself, in solitude—such solitude of the mind

and heart as that in which I am, and, if such a being is not

exceedingly awkward in the management of his pen, and

[* " Her hands were as snow,—and as, from time to time, she drew

them from her glove, it seemed that a perfume of orange flowers spread

itself over the house."]

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225

more so in arranging his words, you will see how he will

rejoice in the idea, that what he consigns to a sheet of

paper will raise thoughts and feelings congenial to his own,

though that result is to take place after a certain time, and

at a distance. Such is indeed my case. Day after day

passes, in which I only exchange a few words with my

housekeeper about the weather, or some household misfor-

tune, such as the breaking of glass, or the water Company

delaying the supply of water. My excellent Spanish friend

who attracted me to Liverpool, soon left it after my arrival.

Mr. Thom, for whom I have conceived a strong

affection, must pass part of the summer away. He is the

only intellectual and heart-companion I have, and when he

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is absent I am worse than if I were in a desert, for I have

only the noises and the annoyances of a not very refined

neighbourhood. But observe how selfishness predominates

in solitude. I have half filled the paper about myself.

The Spanish lines—

" Vase al solaz y en el con gozo y risa

A la vecina encuentra y al pariente—"

will be plain to you when I have explained the meaning of

solaz. That word, which now means recreation, is evidently

derived from Sol; and solaz appears to have literally meant

a sunning place for the people. In every Spanish town,

great or small, there is a spot, a lounging place where people

spend a considerable part of the day. It is curious that such

rendezvous at Madrid is called Puerta del Sol. There is not

even a trace of any gate for a considerable distance; and

the pretended Puerta is an irregular opening which, with a

little attention to the lines of the buildings, might have been

a Square. The meaning of the lines is—" She repairs to

the lounge, and there with joy and laughter, she meets a

female neighbour, or a relative."

Sir Walter Scott's mistakes in German and Spanish are

amusing. They arise from that indifference to small things

l5
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which the confidence of established celebrity generally in-

spires. It is like the inattention of some great people to

propriety in dress. I believe it is in Ivanhoe, when wanting

a Spanish Motto, meaning disinherited, which he might

have found in any dictionary, he uses Desdichado, or some

word still farther from the purpose.

I cannot for a moment compare Drayton's concetto of a

Lily for a glove,* with the spreading of the Azahar ; and I

am sure you do not mean to establish any but a very distant

comparison. The image raised by Drayton's expression is

extravagant, and distorts the natural object which is alluded

to, for the sake of a pleasurable recollection : the Spanish

writer gives a perfectly correct description of the effect

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which the hand drawn out of the glove must have had on

the lover. The whiteness and softness of the hand, com-

bined with the diffusion of a perfume, occasioned by taking

off a highly-scented glove, (for that was the established

fashion, as you well know,) most naturally offered the idea of

orange flowers scattered over the house.

Bettine gains upon me every day, and brings about the

reverse of her attachment to Goethe. Here the sexage-

narian is truly in love with the girl of fourteen. How

admirably she touches upon Goethe's vanity respecting

Madame de Stael! What a description of the reception of

that great personage by Goethe's mother! Aber Du hast

mehr Zutrauen in die beriimhte Frau, die das grosse Werk

geschrieben hat sur les passions, von welchen ich nichts

weiss ! Ach, da sieht man, dass Du eitel bist.

In spite of all Bettine's wildness, her heart shows itself

noble and pure. Goethe's letters to her are perfectly dull,

and insipid. Could he not find a way to communicate with

that beautiful bud of a mind, more worthy of a man of true

feeling in the evening of his life ? But he was afraid of

• " So white, so soft, so delicate, so smooth,

As if she wore a lily for a glove."

» Drayton's Heroic Epistltt.

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227

making himself ridiculous if he appeared to answer her

love, and wanted that pure warmth of soul which the cir-

cumstances required.

Shall you be able to bear all this SchwUtzery in the midst

of London ? Remember at all events that you have in-

vited it.

Ever sincerely yours,

J. Blanco White.

To Miss L .

May 4th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

Having considered the contents of your last letter, I am

decidedly of opinion that it is not advisable on your part to

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undertake the translation of the German Greek Grammar

which I mentioned. I am convinced that the study of

Greek, after absorbing your mind for a long time, would

not reward you for your labour. Among the multitudes

who have taken a degree in the Universities, there is not

one in a hundred who can make any use of Greek, except

that of reading the New Testament, and even that, with

little discrimination. I am not confident that you will

derive much benefit from Hebrew; but the study of that

language being very limited, you may in a few years be able

to read the only collection of pure Hebrew writings in ex-

istence, and silence the silly enthusiasts who derive their

mysteries from the fragments of Rabbinical dreams, which

have floated down to us with Christian theology. My idea

of your future usefulness is directly connected with the study

of German. Every possible obstacle is thrown in the way

of German philosophy, of which theology is an inseparable

branch. You are young and industrious, and by devoting

yourself chiefly to the perfect acquisition of that language,

you may diffuse a great deal of light over the thinking part

of this country. But I perceive that you have undertaken

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the study of mental philosophy too soon. The question*

which you wish to settle require a great deal of preparation,

especially in regard to Logic. The best Logic in English—

that of Dr. Whately—is, in my opinion, very incomplete in

what is technically called, the first Part. It advocates, on

the other hand, very erroneous views ; such as that of re-

presenting mathematics as a series of identical propositions,

expressing in various ways an arbitrary definition which is

supposed to be the basis of the whole science. Dr. Whately's

book is a most ingenious work, which may sharpen the wits;

it traces verbal fallacies admirably to their source; but it

overlooks the faculties of the mind, even so far as the old

Logicians had examined them. I send you in the parcel

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which carries this letter, a German Logic which I bought

lately. I conceive that you cannot employ yourself better

than in slowly working out a translation of it. Such labour

will advance you in the knowledge of German, and will lay

a good foundation of logical principles, on which you may

build your philosophical system. But be not in haste to

form one ; for you will have a great deal to change in the

course of your life.

You mention the unhappiness occasioned formerly by

the religious notions which had been given you. Are you

sure that their root is quite extirpated ? This is an impor-

tant point, in regard to your future peace and usefulness. I

have long and attentively examined the source of what may

be called Christian superstition, i. e. the superstition which

grows as a parasitical weed on Christianity, and am convinced

that many Unitarians still cherish that weed in their souls.

It is the notion that one of the most important duties of a

Christian is to look upon the Bible as, some way or other,

inspired, and to believe firmly every supernatural event

therein contained. The Bible is to the Protestants a true

Idol, and they consider the worship of it, as an oracular

idol, as the first condition to be a Christian. I need not

make protestations of reverence, and allegiance, &c., to the

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229

Bible as most people do, who venture to touch it with the

tip of their little finger, in the way of questioning the esta-

blished opinions. In the New Testament I revere views,

and doctrines, worthy of God, and of his greatest instrument

of good to mankind, Jesus of Nazareth. But I revere those

views, not because they are in that book; but because I find

them worthy of reverence. I find mixed up with these

views and doctrines, accounts of events which have not suffi-

cient historical proof to recommend them to my mind: and

I should be glad to know how a duty can be proved at

lying on me to believe such things, as facts. Is it because

they are in the Gospels ? How then can it be proved that

Christ commanded certain historical records, which were to

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come into existence after him, to be received as oracles ?

The authenticity of such records is a mere matter of criti-

cism : Can the principal duty of a Christian be that of con-

tenting himself with a certain portion of critical evidence,

and asking for no more ? How absurd to imagine that

a religion intended for all mankind, has its foundation in

the authenticity of a number of books, written in the course

of many thousand years; an authenticity which depends

on the history of the various manuscripts, Hebrew and

Greek, while the oldest now in existence cannot be proved

to have been copied many centuries ago ! Imagine the

perplexity of a Missionary in India, for instance, endeavour-

ing to prove this supposed fundamental article to a Brahmin :

Conceive another Missionary's puzzle with a Hottentot, or

a North American Indian. Oh! but (they tell you) you

have only simply to state the history of the Gospel, and

many embrace it without any further proof. And are they

right (I will ask) in believing matters of history without

proof ? What advantage will Christianity have in that

case over any false religion ? If a native of India does a

meritorious act in believing the miracles of the Old Testa-

ment, without proof, why do you blame him for believing

those of the Indian Puranas, which, for him, have an infi-

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nitely greater weight of critical authenticity ? Christianity

must carry its own proof in its reasonableness, in its agree-

ment with the light within us, as the original Quakers very

properly asserted, though with this clear view of the Gospel

they mixed up the most absurd enthusiasm : if not, Chris-

tianity must be a gradually decreasing sect. This light of

the Conscience is what Christ and the original Apostles

called the Spirit which was to lead the disciples into all the

truth. The necessity of believing in inspiration and miracles,

was the contrivance of those early Christians who wished to

become Priests. A priesthood cannot exist unsupported by

Oracles of which they are to be exclusive interpreters, and

Mysteries, of which they alone are the dispensers. Examine

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well this important point; else the supernaturalism which

you imbibed in your childhood, may rise like a spectre to

frighten you. Whatever doubts and objections you have, I

shall be glad to remove as far as it may be in my power.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco Whitb.

May 5th, 1836.

For the first time, since my arrival in 1810, I

have this morning felt an impulse to quit this country.

I regret, at all events, that I left Ireland. I should

prefer being in the country of the subdued Catho-

lics, than in that of still powerful Protestant bigots.

England is the true seat of bigotry at present. In

Italy and Spain it holds the place of dignity and

authority; but it is universally scorned; and the

representatives of the Church are aware of it: they

feel their weakness, and their shame—aye! their

shame : few priests do not bear the badges of their

office with some sense of real degradation, in spite of

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external honours. But there is a reality in English

bigotry, as keen, as cutting as the north-east wind

which blasts the young spring at this moment. The

practical temper of the nation is seen here most

clearly. Every nook and corner of the law is explored,

to carry persecution to the utmost extent that the

case admits. The worldly priest seeks out the proud

mystic, and the jealous, weak-minded, and ambitious

man of literary pretensions : they mutually natter

each other; yield to each other, in order to form a

powerful coalition, which is to trample under foot a

worthy man,* whose knowledge in the same line as

theirs, they affect to despise because they envy it.

The names of the Corpus Committee at Oxford, com-

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pound such a horrible idea in my mind, that I can

hardly endure it; it is made up of mental light, ren-

dered, by mixture, so lurid and hellish, that it might

be conceived to be of the same kind as that which

some divines think was set as a mark on Cain's fore-

head.—These men will, on this day, about the same

hour that I am writing this, leave the Convocation

house, triumphant over an excellent, learned, and ta-

lented man. They will obtain that triumph in the name

of a Church of which, in fact, they are the most formi-

dable enemies; for the theological principles of New-

man, which Vaughan Thomas winks at for political

purposes, must lead every sensible and consistent man

to the Church of Rome. They will pass public cen-

sure on a man untried, by any legally-constituted

[• See p. 222.]

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tribunal. Upon the ground of this censure, the bigot-

ted and the hypocritical bishops (I am sure there is

more than one of the latter description) will carry

on their measures to render the appointment of Dr.

Hampden, by a Whig Ministry, nugatory: and this,

I conceive, will be a precedent for opposing in a simi-

lar manner the appointment of any bishop, whom

that party of bigots and pharisees may dislike. But

I wish, with all my heart, they may be encouraged

to precipitate their march, and show what they really

are. The country is, at present, almost indifferent

to these proceedings; they do not appear to the

mass of the thinking people, unattached to the

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Church, sufficiently practical: i. e. they no not dis-

turb them individually. May heaven blind the perse-

cutors sufficiently to commit themselves in a man-

ner that may alarm the people, in proportion to the

magnitude of the evil which they now overlook !

May 11th, 1836.

I am most anxious to be useful, but I do not see

how. I think of various works; yet I have no

sooner written a few pages than the pen drops from

my hand: I cannot proceed. I have been writing

letters to two of my most intelligent correspondents,

who, with very few exceptions, are ladies, only to

enjoy something like that intercourse of thought

of which I am personally deprived. This morning

I received two answers. One from Mrs. L , kind

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233

and lively; lamenting my seclusion from the world,

and ending in an expression of surprise that I should

have hrought upon myself this banishment, for the

sake of the cold faith of the Unitarians. So much

for the hope of making people think aright upon such

subjects ! An able, and not at all fanatic, woman,

to talk of the coldness of doctrines, to a man who

has been all his life in pursuit of truth! But this

trying religious truth by a moral thermometer is very

common.

To Miss L .

May 13th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,
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I am not acquainted with any good German and English

Dictionary. I have one in two thick octavos, which has

tried my patience every day for the last two years. I con-

ceive that there is no chance of finding any tolerable work

of the kind. The compilers of such dictionaries are gene-

rally half-educated men, without taste, and seldom well

acquainted with both languages. It is quite out of the

question to expect anything like scientific words, especially

in connection with the mental sciences. Such a task would

require a thorough knowledge of those sciences in the com-

piler ; and a truly scientific man must be, indeed, in a des-

perate case, to be induced to go through such labour. Add

to this, that in England the merit of such a dictionary

would be scarcely rewarded. Mercantile people who learn

German care little about metaphysics, and readers of novels

and Faust, get on pretty well with the common dictionaries,

and the assistance of the teacher. It will cost you much

trouble, but it will certainly be an advantage, to try slowly

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EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

the adaptation of the nomenclature, which you will find in

Whately's Logic, to the words employed by Kiesewetter.

By means of this double examination you will understand

the spirit of the science, which cannot be seized by any

cursory reading.

It grieves me to find that my letter on the root of super-

stitious fears in connection with supernaturalism, gave you

so much uneasiness. But you must deliberately examine

your mental courage, and see whether your reliance on the

principle that the supreme judgment, in all these matters,

belongs to conscientious Reason, is so firm that you may

venture, with safety to your health and nerves, to pursue the

necessary examination, to the last. For this purpose you

have not to read much. Remember that nothing which

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requires a learned investigation can be the condition of

spiritual safety, under a just and merciful God. Endeavour

to possess yourself of the principles which I have established

in the work on Heresy and Orthodoxy. I am convinced

that the power of early prejudice is such, that few of my

readers will see the extent of the inferences which inevitably

follow from the truths, which I have there proved directly

and indirectly from the New Testament itself. You say

that you have discarded many of the miracles of the Old

Testament; and in doing so you have used an unquestion-

able right; for where is the command of Christ to Chris-

tians, to receive the Old Testament as an infallible Oracle ?

Much less can there be any such command in regard to the

New; for neither was it in existence when Christ left the

world, nor did he predict that such a book was to be col-

lected. Christianity is not founded upon a book, as is

Mahometism. This is a most important fact. This fact

was perceived by George Fox, in spite of his enthusiasm;

and, in spite of enthusiasm, it was very clearly stated by

Barclay, in his Apology for the Quakers, a book which, as

far as it destroys the theories of all Divines whatever, is of

considerable value. Enthusiasm apart, what he and the

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235

primitive Quakers called the Spirit is nothing hut Conscience,

or the practical Reason. The Spirit of Christ, they said, is

given to every man who seeks for it in his own bosom.

What is this but saying, that if every man consults the in-

ternal oracle and follows its best dictates, he follows the

Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of God—i. e. the

Good Spirit ? Our only clear conception of God, is that of

goodness. Let people give it whatever name they please,

when we follow the best dictates of our Conscience, we

follow the Spirit of God, and of Christ. The opposite

Spirit is called the Devil,—that powerful engine of the

enthusiast, and the hypocrite. These two spirits are dis-

tinguished by that supreme moral judgment within us, over

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which there is no other but that of God himself. By this

supreme judge within us the Scriptures must be tried,

whether what they contain is of God. I do not mean that

we could have invented or discovered, or explained so as to

fit it for the mass of mankind, every thing which Christ

taught ; but whether we are to receive it or not, as worthy

of God, must be decided by our conscientious Reason;

especially when the doctrines have passed through many

unknown or doubtful vehicles. As to historical facts, whether

natural or supernatural,—they are matters of mere human

criticism, and cannot have been made necessary to our

eternal happiness. The authenticity of the books them-

selves is only a probability, and the difficulties attached to

the proof are acknowledged by those who have laboured

most to prove it. Could, then, the salvation of mankind

depend upon any thing necessarily connected with a

thorough conviction of the genuineness of every book, and

every portion of each book ? Impossible. " I would how-

ever" (says Barclay, and I with him) " not be understood,

as if hereby I excluded . . the Scriptures. . . The

question is not, what may be profitable or helpful, but

what is absolutely necessary. Many things may contribute

to further a work, which yet are not the main thing that
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makes the work go on." * But far from this being the view

of the English Protestants, they hold the Bible as an Idol,

an Oracle which interprets itself, and to which reason is to

bow with a blind assent on History, Science, Chronology,

Astronomy, &c., &c. This Bibliolatry has been inherited

from the Puritans. I hope that in trying to assist you, I

am not so unfortunate as to add to your trouble. If you

find it so, tell me plainly.—When you have made some

progress in the translation, I shall be glad to see it, if you

wish me to do so. I certainly should find such a transla-

tion a difficult task myself.

Ever your affectionate friend,

J. Blanco White.
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May 20, 1836.

The paper wafered on the opposite page f is part of

the envelope of a pamphlet by Dr. Neander, which I

have received this morning through the kindness of

the Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, New York. Dr.

Sprague saw Dr. Neander at Berlin, in February.

He assured me, before I had seen Neander's own

lines, J that he spoke of me with the greatest affec-^

tion. In the midst of my troubles, which press with

increasing weight upon my mind, the assurance of

such a man's esteem, notwithstanding the circum-

stances which might have impaired it, were he

tainted even in the slightest degree with the spirit

[• Apology. Prop. II., sec. 4.]

[f Of his Journal.]

[J The words on the paper alluded to, in Neander's handwriting, are

these :—" To his dear Friend, the Reverend Blanco White, a token of

his undisturbed friendship, love, and spiritual communion. A. Nean-

der.—He shall write as soon as possible, excusing his silence. Feb.

23, 1836." Vid. sup. p 145.]

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237

of intolerant orthodoxy, is to me a source of the

purest pleasure. I shall write to Neander as soon as

I have read his pamphlet. The dark cloud of bigotry

which hangs over English religion, seems, at times,

to threaten the extinction of all devotional feelings in

my soul; but such thoroughly Christian charity as

that exhibited in the few lines of Neander's address

to me, comes like a refreshing shower upon my almost

waste and parched heart.

To Mrs. Lawrence.

June 6, 1836.

My dear Mrs. Lawrence,

You are not mistaken in the supposition that I

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am worse than usual. I have been for more than a month

in painful suspense about a piece of business, unfortunately

in Spain, on which the welfare of my brother (a most worthv

man) and his family depends.

The mind has not sufficient power over the body, espe-

cially when the constitution is enfeebled by long suffering,

to prevent anxiety from increasing an habitual disease. I

pass some very miserable nights, owing to noises in the

neighbourhood, and in the houses close by me. There is

nothing I have missed so much in England, as the solidity

and spaciousness of the houses in which I was accus-

tomed to live. People like myself in England, are obliged

as it were to live with their neighbours. These pasteboard

houses, built perhaps upon a lease of twenty years, are in-

tolerable nuisances; there is no privacy in them.

The Ricoshombres, or Ricoshomes, of Castille were, as the

word expresses, the great proprietors of the country,—pro-

prietors, not so much of land, which for a long time was of

little value, especially where the country was open to the

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invasions of the Mahometans, as of towns and castles.

They formed the class from which the Grandees sprung up.

In Aragon they were called Infanzones; though that class

embraced persons of less consequence than that of the

Ricoshombres.

I am glad you found some interest in my explanation of

Solaz. That word is a striking illustration of the power of

etymology to give beauty and animation to language, in

some cases; which, certainly,lowers and debases other words,

according to the nature of the original idea. But how

various and uncertain are the shades of significations in

words of the same family, may be seen by comparing Solaz,

in the sense of a public place of resort (now antiquated), to

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the Latin Solatium, the English Solace, and the Spanish

Solaz, which has nearly the same power as the latter. Yet

all these words are elevated, and almost poetical, because

the original idea—the enlivening power of the Sun—can

never he vulgarized. But I remember, on the other hand,

that when I was beginning to read German, I had great

trouble in driving from my mind the vulgarized roots, com-

mon to English and German, which came to soil and pol-

lute the finest images in the latter language. Now I have

conquered the troublesome association.

Write to me whenever you want a letter in return.

Ever yours truly,

J. Blanco White.

To Miss L .

Liverpool, June 11th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

You would have heard from me sooner, if increased illness

and trouble had not unfitted me for letter writing ; which,

unless the correspondence arise from business which cannot

be put off, or from friendly duties which must be performed

at a particular time, ought, I think, to be reserved for seasons

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239

when the mind naturally seeks communication. On re-

reading, however, your letter of the 21st last, I find that I

require no peculiar effort to take up the pen ; though my

state of health and spirits remains what it has been for

nearly six weeks.

Your observations in that letter prove to me that you have

of late been thinking regularly, and under an improving me-

thod. You see the nature of the difficulties before you more

clearly, and definitely, than you used to do ; and this is a most

important step in the long process of strengthening our mind.

Nourished, in our earliest youth, with scarcely any thing but

pure prejudice.and alarmed from the very dawn of reason with

a superstitious fear of trusting it, our minds become a perfect

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wilderness, where Imagination and Sentiment have the rule.

To reduce these two powers to their proper limits, to oblige

them, after a long period of misrule, to acknowledge the

supremacy of pure Reason, is what few can attain after a

certain age. The difficulty of the process arises, chiefly,

from want of courage (I speak of those who wish to be ho-

nest) to endure a clear and distinct view of the mental waste

within us. Many, it is true, begin the examination, but all,

with very few exceptions, give it up as soon as they perceive

the multitude of vain phantoms, which they have to exorcise

away. This is the feeling which is usually expressed, under

the character of fear of going too far. I have frequently said

(I am wrong in using the word frequently, for there are few

who would listen to me on such a subject) that people mis-

take a great deal, for too much. Having no standard forjudg-

ing between established prejudice and truth, they become

Reformers from mere humour and caprice ; but as soon as

they see that the notions which they received from a false

education, retreat one after another before the light of

Reason, they are shocked at the extent of the clearance,

though they never took the least pains to form a distinct no-

tion of the extent of the mass of error which should be

cleaved away. They are like Columbus's companions, who,

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because they had sailed a great way towards the West, were

sure that they had gone too far. I would not, however, ad-

vise every one to venture upon the mental voyage of dis-

covery, since it is one of great hazard for any one who un-

dertakes it wantonly, and without sufficient ballast of true

humility, which consists, not in despairing of our means and

faculties, but in perceiving the limited range which they have

in this state of existence, To that extent we should

use them fearlessly: but still under the guidance of con-

science, assuring ourselves that nothing but the pure love of

Truth, which is identical with the love of God, urges us for-

ward. The best proof of our sincerity is, in my opinion,

and according to my own experience, a feeling, not of tri-

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umph, but of increasing modesty, which, the farther we pro-

ceed, the more fully convinces us that our positive know-

ledge of the subjects on which we are engaged must alwavs

continue to be very little : that we must finally rest upon that

true faith which consists in filial trust of Him who brought

us into this state of existence, and whose paternal benevo-

lence may be clearly perceived by every grateful heart. May

He guide you, preserving you from enthusiasm on the one

hand, and from mental despondency on the other. Take

care of your health, and do not over-fatigue yourself. Pa-

tience is the most necessary of virtues for one who thinks.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

To Miss L .

Liverpool, June 26, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

Your parcel came to my hands yesterday in the afternoon,

and I feel most desirous to thank you for your kindness, as

it is shown both in your letter, and through the copy of

Ewald's Hebrew Grammar. Late as it was when it arrived,

I could not rest till I had read the Preface, and a considerable
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241

number of pages more. I had no idea of the existence of

so excellent a work. A mixed sense of delight and melan-

choly was the effect which the account of the German Uni-

versities had upon me. What a glorious day of knowledge

is rising there ! The masses of dark prejudices which hover

over our heads, appear doubly gloomy and oppressive by

contrast with the free atmosphere in which the German stu-

dents are brought up. It is true that their political freedom

is not to be compared with that which we enjoy in England;

but it is also unquestionable that men brought up under the

elevated, the sublime consciousness of mental power, and

with such comprehensive views of our common humanity as

must be the result of their present mental labours, will not

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continue long without demanding and obtaining for them-

selves and their countrymen, every desirable extension of

political freedom. A population so highly educated must

possess a control of opinion, before which even despotism

must bow, and gradually be reduced to what all the most

republican theories, if rational, wish to bring down the au-

thority of governments.

It really cheers me in my solitude and constant suffering

to hear that my letters are of service to you—that they give

you fresh courage, and urge you on in the path of improve-

ment. Since it is so, let me add to my former advice, that

you must not look at too great a distance, for that visible

improvement which is the natural reward of well-regulated

exertion. You should endeavour to comfort yourself with

something like the daily wages of virtue. I have derived

great support in trying periods, from the habitual impression

of being devoted to God's service, under the direction of his

voice within me. In such service " the readiness is all;" the

Will to obey is accepted; and though it may be impossible, at

times, not to feel dejected, the unwavering resolve to serve

God faithfully to the last, cannot fail to bring frequent returns

of the most blessed cheerfulness. In regard to your studies,

Goethe's motto implies everything I couldwish to recommend

VOL. II. M
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—Ohne Rast, dock ohne Hast.* Do not stop long to settle such

points of Logical Grammar as you mention in your letter :

when you have enlarged your knowledge in every direction,

by the gentle process of time, reflection, and various reading,

those difficulties will disappear. I should wish you not to

deprive yourself of the relaxation of historical reading. With-

out an extensive acquaintance with Humanity as it appears

in the course of ages, our philosophy must be very imperfect.

I also would advise the cultivation of that important faculty

called Taste: a quick and deep perception of the Beautiful is

of the utmost importance, both for our Virtue and our Hap-

piness. I seldom pass a day without awakening that faculty,

either by the reading of some beautiful passage in the

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Classics, or by refreshing my recollection of some excellent

modern poetry. I generally close my day with Shakspeare,

in whose works, whatever may be the exhaustion of my spi-

rits, I never fail to find something to cheer me.

I have just learnt the death of a very superior man, Mr.

Mill, the father of the Editor of the London and Westmin-

ster Review. Though severe and almost stiff in the forms

of his mind, he was a man of profound observation, and

worthy of the name of a philosopher. He was also a man

of great virtue and benevolence, though reverend Gentlemen

considered him an Atheist. There is no room for more Old

Man's Gossip. With ever growing regard,

I am, your affectionate friend,

J. Blanco White.

To John Stuart Mill, Esq.

Liverpool, June 26th, 1836.

My dear Sir,

The melancholy intelligence which the Morning Chronicle

has this day conveyed to me, does not allow me to delay

any longer a letter which, for several weeks, I have been

intending to write to you. I know how useless, not to say

offensive, is the mere ceremony of condolence on such occa-

[* Unhasting—unresting.]
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243

sions as the loss of our best friends, but I doubt not that

sincere sympathy, accompanied with deep respect for the

object of your mourning, must be far from having the ap-

pearance of intrusion in your estimation. I was introduced

to your father soon after my arrival in England, and might

have had the pleasure and advantage of frequent intercourse

with him, if the long and anxious pursuit after the important

truths which a most tyrannical and absurd education had

made of a most difficult access to me, had not driven me

into paths which lay far away from the mental point of view

which he had deliberately taken. Yet at whatever distance

I may have been from him, I am happy in the consciousness

that my respect for his talents, knowledge, and virtues,

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was always very great indeed. I need not add, that it has

been on the increase for a considerable time; and that I

reckon myself among the numbers that at this moment are

lamenting his loss.

Long have I been wishing to inquire of yourself concern-

ing your health; but mine has been so wretched, that I

1 hardly had spirits enough to take up the pen. I suppose

that the Review will be out in a few days; and, as usual,

my curiosity and expectation are excited. In your last let-

ter you mentioned to me Schlosser, a German writer, of

whom I knew nothing. I have lately been able to procure

his History of the Iconoclast Emperors, which I am reading

with interest. I see two other works of his mentioned in

's Catalogue; but their prices are so ex-

travagant, and they are so frequently unsupplied with the

works they announce, that I have not ventured to send for

the books in question. I think I might write a readable

article on the volume which I already possess, coupling it

with Neander's third volume of his Ecclesiastical History,

which treats of the same period. But it will take me a long

time to arrange the subject, for it is one of research, which

must not appear in the shape of erudition, but only give

substance to a few pages fit to be read by mere idlers.

M2
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It is a subject of unavailing regret to me, that I have

opened my eyes upon the wonderful field of fast-growing

German Literature, just when I am about to close them to

the whole world of sense. I can now, more than ever be-

fore, sympathize with Petrarch, who in his old age witnessed

the introduction of Greek Literature in the West, foresaw

the glorious effects of that rising light, but sunk into the

grave without being able to read Homer in the original.

Thank Heaven ! I myself have already enjoyed in a great

degree the compositions of Schiller and Goethe. I am at

present occupied with the second part of Faust, a poem full

of splendid passages, which, in spite of my imperfect know-

ledge of the language, fill me, at times, with perfect de-

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light.

I shall be most happy to hear that you are quite well.

Believe me, with true esteem and regard,

Your sincere friend,

J. Blanco White.

Liverpool, July 11th, 1836,

I have this morning completed my 61st year. I

will not say, few and mournful have been the days of

my pilgrimage. Considering the state of my health

for so many years, it is quite surprising that I am

alive, and that my faculties do not appear to be much

impaired. But I have this year often wished for the

end of my trial in this life. My moral disappoint-

ment (as I may call it) has been growing of late.

My reason, indeed, tells me, that under the wise

government of God, mankind will certainly improve,

but the very limited scale of my vision does not allow

me to perceive any thing except darkness around me.

The general character of this town makes, besides, a

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245

painful impression upon me : I think I see the deep,

hideous, marks which the Slave trade, to which it

owes its enormous growth, impressed upon its inha-

bitants. I do not mean that Liverpool is inhabited

exclusively by individuals bearing the stamp of selfish

worldliness, of that overreaching greediness for wealth,

which appears prominent in this town. I myself am

acquainted with individuals of the purest and most

generous character. But the multitude of equally

wretched and daring people which must abound in

such a seaport, give it a most repulsive aspect. The

violence of party feeling, among the higher ranks,

and the large mixture of real, mixed, and pretended

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enthusiasm, connected with the political Church of

this realm, make me shrink more and more from all

contact with society. I am, besides, convinced, that

nothing I could write could have the least beneficial

effect. I feel, therefore, that I have done all that

was assigned to me by Providence in the world, and

now I must wait for death in this perfect moral soli-

tude—without a single human being near me, to

whom I may look up for that help and sympathy

which old men that have walked on the beaten paths

of life, expect when their dissolution approaches.

My only comfort is, that I have been true to my

internal light; that I have not betrayed the cause of

truth. My works (except the last) do not afford me

any satisfaction, for they have been generally written

under an imperfect light—a light thickly clouded by

the large remnants of the enormous mass of religious

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246 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

prejudices which my education laid upon me. But I

leave the result to Providence; such gropings as mine,

upon record, may he profitable to minds destined to

shine in future on the way to improvement. One

particular feeling has been growing during the last

year in my breast—regret, bitter regret, at having,

unintentionally, helped the anti-Irish Party. Not a

word, indeed, of what I have published about the

tendencies of Catholicism could I alter, without

offending historical and philosophical truth. But I

was not aware of the circumstances of Ireland; I

did not know that the established Protestantism is

infinitely more injurious to its moral and political

interests than the old errors of Popery. I did not

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know what kind of tyrants I was assisting by my

true, but untimely, statements. My eyes have been

gradually opened to the bitter wrongs of that coun-

try, with which nature and the circumstances of my

early years have bound my affections. If the world

had less reason to suspect public professions, I would

not go to the grave without imploring the forgiveness

of Ireland. But I trust there will be some one who

will make my sentiments known, when death shall

have placed me beyond the reach of malice.

Liverpool, July 12th, 1836.

The subject of Ireland has continued to occupy my

mind, and my attention to it has been increased by

a correspondence which I have read in the Morning

Chronicle this morning. It seems that Mr. O'Sul-

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247

livan and Co. are about to have another meeting at

Exeter Hall, and that they have invited Mr. O'Con-

nell to be present at another examination of the

Theology of Peter Dens. Mr. O'Connell, as might

be expected, has returned a contemptuous answer,

which the Protestant bigots will not fail to turn to

then: own account. This has brought before me

several thoughts on the subject of Irish Popery,

which have crossed my mind since the time that my

residence in Ireland opened my eyes to the real state

of things in that Country. I have arrived at the

conclusion that, were it not for the Irish Church

Establishment, the indirect influence of English civi-

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lization would have produced a tacit reformation on

Irish Popery. I am indeed fully aware that the

Romanist system is incapable of a real reform; for

its principle—submission to a priesthood—is essen-

tially wrong and mischievous. But had it not been

for the constant irritation produced on both the

priesthood and laity of Catholic Ireland, by the poli-

tical ascendancy enjoyed and asserted by a small

minority of Protestants, Irish Popery would by this

time be but an empty name, for all the efficient intel-

lect of Ireland. It would be such Catholicism as

that of Spain and Italy, with this essential advantage,

that, being unsupported by the State, there would

be nothing to gain by professing it. The language

of O'Connell has always shown most clearly that, if

Protestantism were not made an engine of oppressive

ascendancy in Ireland, scarcely any sensible man

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would show the least concern about the abstract doc-

trines of Rome. With respect to the lower classes,

and to the mass of the Irish Catholics, these contro-

versial scenes must have an injurious result: they

must attach them more and more to their Church.

The Church of England invites the people with a

mere fragment of Popery—as wrong in principle as

Popery itself, and infinitely less attractive to the po-

pular mind. I saw some weeks ago a quotation from

Dr. Jebb, in which he declared that he found more

devotion among the Irish peasantry of the Romanist

than of the Protestant persuasion. Such must be the

case everywhere. That kind of devotion which the

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above-mentioned bishop wished to see diffused, can-

not be promoted among the lower classes by the

Protestantism of the Church of England: it requires

a degree of enthusiasm, which the dry and lame

theory of doctrines preserved in the 39 Articles

cannot raise. Hence the want which the English

peasantry felt of what the Methodists gave them, at

least for a time. The more therefore the English

Skeleton is brought out into direct comparison with

the well dressed-up image of Popery, the greater will

be the aversion of the lower classes to change; the

more their abhorrence of the name of Protestant.

Popery cannot stand the increase of intellectual light;

it must vanish before true knowledge and the effects

of civilization; but if Divines are set against Divines,

those of Rome will surely carry the lower classes

along with them.

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249

From Professor Norton.

Cambridge, (N. E.) July 12, 1836.

My dear Sir,

Had I not been prevented by ill healtb, which has, in a

considerable degree, unfitted me for exertion, and by press-

ing demands upon that portion of my time which it has left

at my disposal, I should sooner have had the pleasure of

thanking you for your letter. I reciprocate most cordially

all your expressions of regard, and assure you that after so

long an acquaintance with your character and writings, it

is very natural for Mrs. Norton and myself to feel to-

wards you as towards an old friend. I am sure you need

not fear that your sacrifices and labours have been in vain.
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You have planted seed which is already bearing fruit, and

will produce more abundantly in the next generation. Your

history will "be read with deep interest, and will tend to

make many feel that they must not palter with truth and duty,

but that in pursuing one and obeying the other, the cost is

not to be counted.

I have just been looking at the article in the last Edin-

burgh, on the manifestation of bigotry at Oxford, in the

case of Dr. Hampden, to which, I presume, you refer in your

letter. I incline to believe that the hostility shown to him

will produce good. For some time the policy of the church

of England has been to keep quiet, to assume its doctrines

as true, without explaining or defending them, to hush up

all discussion and elude controversy. Those doctrines, now

in their decrepitude, will not bear to be dragged out into

broad light, and exposed to the rough handling of opponents.

But the circumstances that have occurred at Oxford will

tend to fix the view of many upon them with no friendly

feeling. When zeal grows so fiery and mischievous, men

will be provoked to inquire into the pretended grounds of it.

And even as regards that portion of the Church who are the

objects of it, the strain which they are obliged to put upon

their consciences, in order to profess assent to their creeds, will

m5
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be brought into notice; and it will be perceived, how poor a

thing it is for a man who undertakes to teach religious truth,

to be continually struggling with his reason, lest it should

carry him over the prescribed bounds,—and measuring his

words, lest they should exceed the limit to which those of his

creed may be stretched by some extravagant licence of inter-

pretation.

You ascribe the evils which oppress Christianity to what

you call by a happy term, Bibliolatry. I was struck by the

coincidence of this with what was expressed to me long ago

by a highly respectable gentleman, formerly minister to this

country from Hollandj(Mr. Van Polanin), who from an un-

believer had, through the exercise of his own mind, become

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a rational Christian. He told me that he thought the doc-

trine* of the inspiration of the Bible was the support of all

errors concerning Christianity. It is remarkable how little

clearness of conception we find on the subject, and how often

the Bible and religion are confounded together, by those who

should know better. For myself, in regard to the Old Tes-

tament, though I believe the divine origin of the Mosaic

dispensation, I regard the Pentateuch as a book full of fa-

bles, compiled after the captivity: and the other historical

books as having no more claim to be divinely inspired than

the histories of Eusebius and his successors. In the prophe-

cies, as they are called, there are noble conceptions of re-

ligion and duty (considering the times when they were writ-

ten) ; but I do not believe that their authors claimed a mira-

culous power of predicting future events, or were supposed

by their contemporaries to possess it. When we come to the

New Testament, I put the highest value on the Gospels, as

an authentic record of the ministry of Jesus, and regard with

strong interest the Epistles of Paul, as exhibiting, in the

most striking manner, the workings of a powerful and admi-

rable mind under an all-pervading conviction of the truth of

Christianity. But I ascribe the authorship of neither the

Gospels nor Epistles to God, and cannot call them in any

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251

sense the Word of God. "When you ask whether, '* the

essential and saving duties of a Christian are connected with,

and dependent on, historical documents ?" I should answer it

by saying, that the being a good man, a truly religious man,

may not depend upon a knowledge or belief of the histori-

cal documents of our religion; but that the being a Chris-

tian does. One becomes a Christian by believing certain

facts, historical facts, which have been preserved in certain

documents ; facts, in my view, of the highest importance, as

evincing that God miraculously revealed himself by Christ,

and thus affording a support for religious faith (in the high-

est sense of those words) which nothing beside can furnish.

But I must not pursue these remarks. You mention that

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there is little encouragement for the publication of your

thoughts in England. I should rejoice to be able to turn

this circumstance to the benefit of my own country; and

wish I had any better channel of communication with the

public to propose than the Christian Examiner. But I know

that anything which you might furnish for that work would

be very thankfully received.

Mrs. Norton joins me in all expressions of interest and

respect, and I feel assured that you will continue to regard

us both as very truly and affectionately' your friends.

I am, my dear sir, yours,

Andrews Norton.

Letter from Dr. Charming.

Boston, July 29, 1836.

My dear Sir,

Your letter of April 1st was very cheering to me. I felt

that I had not laboured in vain in my little work on Slavery.

My aim was to oppose Slavery on principles, which, if ad-

mitted, would inspire resistance to all the wrongs, and reve-

rence for all the rights of human nature. I have no doubt

as to the triumph of these principles, and my confidence is

founded not on events, on outward progress, so much as on

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the power with which they work on my mind. In the re-

sponse of my own soul to any great unchangeable truth, I

hear the voice of universal humanity. I can conceive that

my feelings are individual, but not any great convictions of

the intellect, or lofty inspirations of the heart. These do not

belong to me. They are universal. They will live and spread,

when the individual who gave some faint utterance to them

is gone. This must comfort you amidst your trials. In

truth, who ought to hope as you should ? Your experience

is a type of the world's history. You have passed in your

short life through the stages which centuries are required to

accomplish in the case of the race. When I see in an indi-

vidual mind such transitions from error to large and sus-

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taining views of God and human destiny, I see a pledge

of the triumphs of truth in which the struggles of ages

are to terminate. By this I do not mean that you or I

have attained to much truth. I am speaking of your pre-

sent mind only in comparison with the past. Undoubtedly

what you and I call light seems obscurity to higher intelli-

gences, and will seem so to more improved periods of so-

ciety. But we have gained something through spiritual

effort, conflict,—and this is a pledge of greater attainment

to ourselves and the race. May our hearts swell with bright

anticipations!

I am glad that you are to write the history of your mind.

I grieve that I may not see it; but I would not precipitate its

publication. How I should delight to talk with ypu of the

doubts, trials, through which you have made your way. I

should be glad to know what you think of the probable re-

sults of the great efforts now made by Catholicism to regain

its lost sceptre. Some of the sects in this country are quite

alarmed—and, what is very striking, the greatest alarm is

among those who think themselves about as infallible as the

Pope. Have they a consciousness, that if men are to choose

between different infallibilities, they will be apt to choose the

Pope's as. the oldest, and sustained by most votes ? Have

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253

they a consciousness of laying down the very principles on

which Romanism rests, and do they therefore fear that con-

sistency will carry over their converts to the mother church ?

I have been thinking lately of preparing a few lectures on

the fundamental, great idea, on which each church or sect is

built, and of expounding by this the past history and future

prospects of each. I form plans however only to see them

fail. By much quiet, I feel myself in comfortable health,

and am advancing in life, accomplishing hardly any thing

which I propose. I do not however repine. I am not needed

by God. That T am suffered to do any thing, I owe to

his goodness, and that goodness, I trust, is leading me

onward wisely, by disappointment, privation, as well as suc-

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cess, to spheres of action beyond all imagination and hope.

May you have a still stronger trust. I shall always be happy

to hear from you. I will thank you to present my sincere

regards to Mr. Martineau and Mr. Thom.

Your sincere friend,

W. E. Channing.

To Miss L .

Liverpool, August 8, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

As Mr. Thom is going your way, I take this opportunity

of sending three small volumes of the amiable and pious

Mendelssohn, which I beg you to accept as a little souvenir

of myself. I think his free translation of Plato's Phsedo

will be interesting to you. It is close enough to the origi-

nal to give you a pretty correct idea of the style of one of

the most wonderful writers of antiquity, as well as of the

character of Socrates, whose moral worth is to me an object

of deep veneration. I conceive that a variety of reading in

German, will greatly advance you in the knowledge of that

beautiful and difficult language.

I return the portion of your translation which you sent

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me a considerable time ago. I would have returned it

sooner, were it not that both your letter and the marks of

difficulty experienced by yourself which I found in the spe-

cimen, induced me to think that the task is too dry and

laborious, considering the portion of leisure which you can

devote to it. But I request you not to be discouraged : all

efforts of this kind are useful, though the reward is not

perceived at the time. I also wish to advise you never to

write on both sides of a MS. which is likely to require cor-

rections. I could not proceed in my suggestions of im-

provement beyond the first and second page. I always

leave either every alternate page in blank, or a margin fully

one-half of each page.

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I have somewhat relaxed in the study of Ewald, owing to

great weakness, and other demands upon my time. But I

admire the work more and more as I get on. I understand

the principle of grammatical structure on which Ewald pro-

ceeds, though it would require a long and undivided atten-

tion to become familiar with its application in detail. The

philosophical study of language has made prodigious strides

in Germany. It may be said to be a new revelation of the

nature of the human mind.

I have at present the assistance of a young man, brought

up at two Universities and a public school in Germany, who,

being a native of Liverpool, has lately returned here. As

he went to Germany at the age of eleven, he is more a

German than an Englishman. He is clever, and has read a

great deal. His name is Migauld, of a French refugee

family. I had the pleasure of hearing of you from Mr.

W , whom I saw for a few minutes when he passed

through this place on his way to Wales. I understand that

you are at present on the Eastern coast, but this parcel will

wait for your return. I hope you will derive the greatest

benefit from the sea.

Believe me, with sincere esteem,

Ever faithfully yours,

J. Blanco- White.
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255

To Mrs. Lawrence.

Liverpool, Sept. 17, 1836.

My dear Mrs. Lawrence,

When I promised; a few days ago, to try if I could get

you a copy of the Conde Lucanor* I had quite forgotten

[• The rare book of which the transcript was thus kindly and

generously presented to Mrs. Lawrence is one of the most ancient

and most interesting in Spanish literature, the work of Don Juan

Manuel, grandson of Ferdinand III., (the Saint,) High Steward of the

kingdom in the reign of his cousin, Ferdinand IV., and one of the

three Regents of Spain during the stormy minority of Alphonso XI.

" Don Juan Manuel was born, (says his historian.) according to the in-

" scription on his tomb, and on the banners which still hang over it in
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" the church of the Predicadores in Penafiel, at that same place in the

" year of our Lord 1310, and he died in the City of Cordova in 1362."

This not long extended interval of a glorious and active life was

marked by a devotion to military pursuits, the most intense, and by an

attachment to literary acquirements, the most successful and the most

extraordinary, when the rank, situation, and age in which the author

lived, are taken into consideration. It appears from a MS. Catalogue

preserved in the Royal Library of Madrid, that he wrote upon a variety

of subjects ; on history, military tactics, ethics, besides being the author

of a collection of poems. The only one of his works which has been

published, is " El Conde Lucanor," of which a rare and valuable copy

was preserved in the library of the late Rev. Stephen Weston, which

passed, it is hoped, upon his death, into the possession of the British

Institution. It was printed in Seville in 1572. It appears from the

documents prefixed to it that no less than three MS. copies, preserved

in the archives of three of the most illustrious families in Spain, were

consulted and collated to furnish this printed edition : Zurita, the his-

torian of Arragon, furnished one of them.

The particulars of his life are derived from a biographical memoir

prefixed to it by his ardent admirer and editor, Gonzalo de Argote y

Molina. The Conde Lucanor consists of 49 tales or apologues, rich

in historical interest, and delightful for their invention, for the grace

and naivete with which they are related, and valuable for the pure and

antique Castilian, of which they remain an almost solitary example:

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they are introduced by a simple and inartificial prologue :—the Count

asks counsel from his friend Patronio, who is always ready to afford it,
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that I had, twelve years ago, made the following copious

extracts from that interesting work. I was in lodgings at

Chelsea, not far from Brompton, where a very remarkable

person, a Mrs. Howard, lived; an unmarried lady, then

about eighty years old, who had collected a most valuable

library of Greek, Latin, English, French, Italian, German,

and Spanish works. This lady, who at that advanced age

preserved her originally strong mental faculties in full vi-

gour, and delighted in the company of persons with whom

she might converse upon philosophical and literary subjects,

did me the honour to procure my acquaintance—a circum-

stance from which I derived great pleasure during the two

years which preceded my change of residence to Oxford.

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Among the curious Spanish books which Mrs. Howard

possessed, was a copy of the first edition of the Conde Luca-

nor, which, with many other books, she most liberallv al-

enforeed by an axiom, or illustrated by an example. In some of these

tales it is curious to trace the origin of many that are now familiar

to us: in cap. xlv. is the plot of Shakspeare's " Taming of the

Shrew." From another, the adventure of Donna Truhena and her jar

of honey, La Fontaine has taken his broken "pot de lait;" and both

have owed their origin probably to the Arabian Analaschar and his

overturned glass-basket. In all of these, some particular moral is in-

culcated, and there is none more amusing than the one which enforces

toleration, which relates the holy indignation of the dying and sainted

dervise, when it is intimated to him, that our English " Cceur de Lion "

is to be his companion in Paradise. The story of the Dean of Santiago

and the Magician, which is told with a grace and ease worthy of Cer-

vantes, or of our own Sir Walter, and which exhibits much of their

knowledge of the world, and intimate acquaintance with the human

heart, appears to have been taken from the Eastern apologue of the

Sultan who plunged his head into the vessel of water, so beautifully

introduced by Addison into one of the early numbers of his Spectator.

This tale from the Conde Lucanor (and perhaps it was impossible to

select a more perfect specimen of the author's manner) has been most

exquisitely and happily translated by Mr. Blanco White in the 64th

number of Campbell's New Monthly Magazine, for 1824.—R. L.]

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257

lowed me to use in my own lodgings.* It happened that,

in the spring of 1824, when I had Mrs. Howard's copy of

the Conde Lucanor with me, my landlord had the whole of

the front of the house painted, without giving me notice.

I was then in a still worse state of health than I am at pre-

sent ; and the smell of the paint was so intolerable, that I

took the resolution of passing about a week at a rather un-

comfortable inn, the almost classical Don Saltero. To

amuse myself during that absence from my own books I took

with me Mrs. H.'s copy of the Conde Lucanor, and copied

whatever I thought most valuable in that book. I preserved

the old orthography, and copied the titles of the chapters

which I omitted. By this means I drew up this manuscript,

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which, for those who love books, not for what they are

worth at a sale, but for their contents, is almost as useful as

the curious volume from which it was copied.

Without, therefore, withdrawing my promise of writing

to Spain for a full copy of the Conde, if it is to be had, I

request that you will accept these extracts, unconditionally,

and whether the perfect work be obtained or not. As an-

tiquity is apt to give value even to worthless things, I have

prefixed this account of the manuscript, in hopes that some

three hundred years hence, some future Dr. Dibdin may run

it up to about twenty guineas at an auction. I heartily wish

that for a considerable portion of that long period it may

be in your own hands, to remind you of the friendship and

high esteem of,

Yours sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

* Mrs. Howard, at her death, in 1827, left the whole of her valuable

library to Mr. Justice Gaselee. She had given to me a copy of the

Latin translation of Maimonides, and an old work against Popery, (a

thin 4to,) both of which, though of little value in themselves, 1 keep

as a memorial of my excellent friend.

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Liverpool, Sept. 19, 1836.

The religious principle, or that internal sponta-

neous impulse which produces what is called by the

comprehensive name of religion, is one and the same

in all mankind. In its primitive and most simple

form, it is an effort of the mind to remove or soften

the sense of necessity with which the laws of the

visible world oppress it, and to rely for assistance on

a principle endowed with will, and able to control the

blind power of the physical laws. The faculty origi-

nally employed in this process is Imagination. By

means of that most forward and precocious of all

man's internal powers, the savage endows any exter-

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nal object whatever with the divine attributes he

wants. He installs his Fetiche, as the protecting

Deity of himself and his family. To this he ad-

dresses his prayers, and even his threats. If the

natural course of events falls in with his wishes, the

faith in his Fetiche increases; if otherwise, he de-

poses him and takes another. Under all circum-

stances, he obtains the end towards which he was

urged by the religious principle; for whilst his imagi-

nation dwells upon the idea of protection against

inexorable external nature, hope is cherished and fear

allayed. Hence the natural charm of prayer, and all

the means of propitiation.

An advance in civilization produces the deification

of Nature's phenomena, and the world becomes

peopled with invisible beings, the belief in whom an-

swers the same purpose—namely, to have some being

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capable of being persuaded to assist us. The most

capricious and cruel Being which the Imagination

can create, provided he is supposed to possess intelli-

gence and will, is less fearful to the human mind,

before the full development of its rationality, than

the unconscious power of unalterable Nature.

The distinguishing character of fully-developed

humanity is man's reconcilement to the invariable

order of the Universe, from a rational persuasion

that that Order originates in a power endowed with

supreme wisdom. Of all the forms of religion with

which we are acquainted, Christianity is that which

most decidedly aims at this rectification of the reli-

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gious principle within us. Under the influence of

true Christianity, man acknowledges the invariable-

ness of Nature's laws, and submits to them, under

the persuasion that they are not the result of a blind

necessity, but of an all-wise and good Being. The

true Christian does not relieve his fears of physical

evil by the childish resource of urgent prayer that

the laws of nature be controlled in his favour, but

by a well-grounded resignation to the will of God,

expressed in the invariable course of natural events.

The true Christian uses no mysterious means of

averting evil: that is the character of all false reli-

gions ; all of which abound more or less in sacrifices,

or charms, or peculiar forms of prayer, supposed to

have that effect. Christianity, therefore, has no

priesthood; for the peculiar office of all priesthoods

is to teach, superintend, and administer such "pre-

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tended means of safety. The true Christian is con-

vinced that God knows better than himself what is

good for him; and he seeks for mental repose, not

by vain endeavours to bend the will of God to his

own, but by habituating his Will to indulge no desires

independently of the Divine Will. Of that Will he

is informed by the dictates of his conscientious Rea-

son which is a ray of the Supreme Wisdom; by the

knowledge of the laws of the external universe, and

of the full extent of his legitimate control over those

laws, through the scientific modification of the natu-

ral laws through each other.

To Miss L .
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Liverpool, October 4th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

You will probably be sorry to hear that your letter, which

came yesterday to my hands, cast a gloom over my mind.

But you ask my opinion of your newly-established Society,

and I will give it without reserve. The spirit and the very

forms of Methodism have found their way among you. Such

meetings never had a healthy effect upon the minds of those

who frequent them. The craving of excitement which pro-

motes them is totally morbid, and the state of the sensitive

faculties which attends them, cannot lead to any thing use-

ful, and must, in various degrees, create habits of an inju-

rious tendency. Affectation is totally unavoidable in all such

cases. All the members meet in full expectation of effect;

and if they found themselves as unmoved when leaving the

room as when they entered it, they would be extremely dis-

appointed. Hence the general desire of deep excitement,

which naturally places the mind in the power of the most

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261

excitable, who is naturally the least judicious of those pre-

sent. Enthusiasm is extremely catching, and particularly -

so among those whose desires are previously in accordance

with the nature of its workings. A more unfavourable state

of things to understand the Scriptures, or any thing which

requires deliberate and calm consideration, cannot well be

conceived. Add to this, that the resolutions which form the

basis of your Society are erroneous and contradictory. They

suppose a divine appointment of the Scriptures, for purposes

directly connected with the attainment of Heaven. If it is

meant that they contain views and doctrines favourable to

virtue,—not exclusively of other books, this is true; but

then they must be considered as appointed by God, in the

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same way as every thing is appointed by Him which can

contribute to the development of the higher part of our

Nature. Even on the supposition of Inspiration, which the

Society excludes, it is impossible to prove that Christ or his

Apostles ever conceived that Christianity was to depend on

any written documents. If, on the other hand, you give up

(as every person wlio can judge the question dispassionately

must) the Inspiration of the Scripture, where can you find

the divine appointment of those supposed written-means of

Salvation ? I see you are involved in a maze of words, and

misled by deep-seated habits which, if you are consistent,

must take you to the feet of the Pope, or, what in my opi-

nion is worse, to those of some self-constituted oracle. Your

argument, derived from the word Our in the Lord's Prayer,

belongs to a system of interpretation which leads directly

to absolute puerility. To attempt the deduction of princi-

ples from singulars and plurals, and such roinutire of gram-

matical structure, is unworthy of any well-regulated mind.

The feeling contained in that sublime address is that of pa-

ternity among mankind, and that feeling is more likely to

pervade the mind in solitude, than in the petty and, by their

nature, exclusive coteries of any set of pietists.

Excuse me, my dear young friend, if in what I have writ-

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ten there is anything that can hurt you. Your honest efforts

after truth, your early struggles against inherited error, raised

a great interest in my breast when I first became acquainted

with your circumstances. This interest increased after I

knew you personally, as you may infer from my desire of

helping your studies ; and this feeling of sympathy with

your mind is the source of the straightforward language

which I use on this occasion. Can Mr. W be silent, or

is he ignorant of your danger? But I must say no more on

this topic.

May God enlighten and direct you.

Ever yours sincerely,

J. Blanco White.
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To Miss L .

Liverpool, Oct. 7th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

Though I am suffering under a very severe attack of my

habitual complaint, I cannot delay the acknowledging of

vour very judicious and modest letter. I have no right

whatever to speak as by authority. If on certain points, I

use decided language, it only expresses a deep-seated con-

viction, not so much of theoretical truths, as of the expe-

rience which I have of certain evils. Having gone through

almost every modification of the spirit of devotion, except

those which bear the stamp of gross extravagance, I must

possess a practical knowledge of the artful disguises of

superstition, which no natural talent, no powers of thought

can give by means of study and meditation. It is the

results of that individual experience, and not any new doc-

trine or theoretical system, which I have thought it a duty

of Christian friendship to give you, without disguise. The

tone of your last letter convinces me that I have not thrown

aw^y my advice. I should not be equally satisfied if you

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263

had instantly acquiesced in my views; for none but very

superficial minds, in which nothing takes root, can sud-

denly cast off the notions of their early education. I am

quite satisfied by perceiving that you are alive to the dangers

which I pointed out. This is enough; none but a dogmatic

tyrant could ask for more. Trusting, however, in your

candour, I will repeat my notions in regard to prayer, and

the Bible. Prayer, properly speaking—dxii, is longing, or

desire, an act of the heart : to make it an act also of the

lips, in regard to God, may be excusable, under certain cir-

cumstances ; but, like all other externals in religion, has a

natural tendency to formalism, and superstition. Though

Jesus, according to the imperfect accounts of him contained

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in the three first Gospels—accounts into which the Jewish

notions of the compilers have unquestionably found their

way—used to pray, it is not said that he called his disciples

to hear him. The Lord's Prayer, which is a collection of

petitions previously in use among the learned Jews, was in

some degree extorted by the apostles, and evidently given

in condescension to their carnal minds. The " Worship in

Spirit and in Truth" is always degraded by that supersti-

tious fear of want of success in pious undertakings, which

is the real source of the regular falling upon the knees at

your Dorcas Societies, and your expounding meetings.

The heart should always beat, as it were, in prayer: not

telling God how good and excellent, &c, &c, he is, or how

poor and needy, and imperfect we are; but feeling con-

stantly these truths : identifying its desires, tvxat, with the

will of God ; desiring to desire nothing but to live in Him

and for Him. This is what we should aim at. I do not

say that social verbal prayer is wrong ; I only remind you

that it has a bad tendency, which must be guarded against.

The silent social prayer of the Quakers is .infinitely better.

In regard to the Bibliolatry of which you are still far from

being free, I have nothing to add besides what I have stated

to you in former letters. The Bible is a collection of writings

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of very unequal merit: the New Testament contains the

purest Spirit of Christianity, but that pure spirit must be

drawn from it by means of the Spirit within us. That

Spirit (the Conscientious Reason, which is God himself)

must make the selection between what is human and what

is divine in those books. The notion that those books are

the source of Christianity, is, in my view, a great and mis-

chievous error: it deserves your serious examination, in

total independence of previous habits. But this must be

your own work ; nor shall I trouble you upon these points

unless you particularly ask me. My earnest wish is that

you may be preserved from enthusiasm, in order that the

honest exertions through which you have escaped from the

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gross errors of established Orthodoxy may not be finally

lost. The Unitarians alone can form a nucleus in this

country for a thorough Reformation of Christianity ; but

for that purpose they must be incessantly on their guard

against the early tendencies implanted in their minds : they

should remember that a corrupt tree does not bear good

fruit; and, acting upon that principle, they should distrust

everything which they have received from that stock in the

way of inheritance. Believe me, with sincere esteem,

Ever faithfully yours,

J. Blanco White.

Liverpool, Oct. 14th, 1836.

There is a delightful feeling connected with my

first freedom from great bodily pain and suffering.

It is not a mere animal enjoyment; the delight

arises from a peculiar activity of that part of the

mind, which may be considered as the source and seat

of Taste. Scenes of beauty present themselves to

me with particular vividness : I feel at the same time

my total exclusion from such enjoyment in reality;

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265

but this perception gives rise to a gentle regret, which

casts an agreeable softness over the field of my vision.

But broad conceptions of works connected with Taste

and Morals are the main objects of these recovering

dreams. This morning, just as I came down from

my bedroom after a feverish night, and the endurance

of two hours of pain which made me faint,—when

nothing but the extreme weakness resulting from all

this remained for about a half hour, I had a most in-

teresting view of the Life of Cervantes, which I had

consented to attempt, but which I fear I shall not be

able to accomplish. If it had been possible to exe-

cute my conception within that space, I doubt not

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that the performance would have been a worthy

monument to the memory of that singularly amiable

and highly-gifted man. The characteristic of the

work would have been a tracing of all the beautiful

passages of Cervantes' works to the moral part of the

writer—to that compound of his natural mind and

the circumstances of his age and times, which may

be properly considered as the true moral being in

every man. At the moment when I write this—even

now after the vision has vanished, and my bodily dis-

comforts rise again, I still keep a clear idea of the

lesson which the vision contained: and if I should

(which I much doubt) be able to set about the work,

I think that lesson will not have been in vain.

VOL. II.

N
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Letter to Miss L .

Liverpool, Oct. 30th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

Your last letter found me in a state of great suffering.

It is now more than two months since I entirely lost that

tolerable state of health, which, in exchange for a certain

degree of daily pain, allowed me a quiet enjoyment of my

mental powers, and some repose from the discomfort of

actual indisposition. Feverish attacks have succeeded each

other, and the last fortnight I have been perfectly unable to

exert myself, except in the difficult task of being patient.

To-day I have ventured out for a short walk; but so feeble,

so depressed, that I could derive no benefit from the frosty

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air, and the autumnal repose of the atmosphere. In such a

state, you may well suppose I feel no energy of thought,

especially in connection with the hopeless subject on which

you wish to have my views. I call the question " What is

Christianity ?" a hopeless subject, because I scarcely ever

found any one who was not pre-determined to discover the

answer just in the identical direction in which thousands

of inquirers have been, in vain, searching after it, since the

Reformation. That question may be compared to a long

and crooked blind-lane. A crowd enter it, and proceed

eagerly till they find themselves stopt by a wall too high to

be climbed over; but there they remain, tearing their nails

off in various attempts to surmount it, never, on any ac-

count, thinking of turning back, and getting out of the lane.

The lane is the theory of verbal revelation from God, sup-

posed to contain the means of the highest certainty relating

to man's future destination in the invisible world. Out of

this lane no thinking mind will ever find its way. My

former letters to you contain the principles that I have been

able to discover—not to climb the insuperable wall—but to

make my way back out of the narrow and suffocating pas-

sage where enthusiasts of all sorts drag and pull you, as

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267

they would tear you to pieces. Iu the little work on Heresy

and Orthodoxy those principles are just indicated; for when

I wrote that book, my mind had not yet had sufficient

courage to let them develope themselves freely. You will

observe that the important question which I think I exa-

mined there, more deliberately than any writer with whose

works I am acquainted—namely, whether Christianity con-

sists in the admission of a certain number of propositions as

infallibly true—is settled without in the least attempting to

decline the supposed infallibility of the Bible. This me-

thod was absolutely necessary to the success of my design ;

which was to show, upon the received grounds of theology,

that every system of Orthodoxy is wrong, because, even

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upon the hypothesis of verbal inspiration, the founder, and

original preachers of the new view of religion published in

the name of Jesus of Nazareth, never thought of demand-

ing a mental surrender to any logical conclusions, grounded

in the passages of any books whatever. But I pointed out

besides, that the writings which we have, as from the imme-

diate disciples of Christ, have been accidentally preserved,

and were not intended, even by the writers, to form a mental

and practical code for the disciples of Jesus throughout all

ages. That they are valuable to all Christians, is true; but

that, if it were not for those writings, Christianity could

not exist, is false; for it existed for a considerable period

without them. What then is Christianity ? you ask ; deli-

berately (I fear) adhering still to the old supposition, that it

must be some theory of which no man ever thought before

Christ. Now, in this state of mind, you will be inevitably

bewildered in every pursuit which you may imagine as lead-

ing to the answer. You must get out of that narrow lane.

Christianity is the renunciation of all positive systems of

practices and creeds, falsely called religions. Christianity was

properly expressed by Jesus himself as liberty; liberty from

dogmas and practices, as means of spiritual safety, i. e. sal-

vation ; under the acknowledgment of God as our father,

N2
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and of conscience as His voice. Thousands of difficulties

will occur to you against this view ; but as every one of

them will have its source in the deep-rooted habits of your

mode of thinking, no one can be able to solve them for

you. The laborious and painful task must be performed by

yourself.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

To Miss L .

Liverpool, Dec. 13th, 1836.

My dear Miss L ,

The continual sense of weakness which I have now, when

I am not in pain, deprives me of all animation and spirit

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when I wish to write upon the important subject of religious

inquiry. Though I am strong in faith and hope in regard

to the moral improvement of our portion of mankind, the

darkness of the present moment, especially in England,

combined with the dejection natural to a sickly and solitary

old man, occasions a prostration of the mental faculties

which allows me only to receive the thoughts of others, but

makes me averse from the exertion of bringing out my own.

In regard, however, to the view of conformity with the Will

of God which you seem to have adopted with the clearness

of conviction, all I am able to say is reduced to a piece of

practical advice. Be on your guard against the fear of its

being too simple. The notion of religion given to Christians

of all denominations, by their parents, and their priests, is

so complicated, that to adopt such a simple view as the one

I recommend, requires a most painful effort. Devotion, in

particular, appears inconceivable in the absence of ascetic

practices, both external and internal. People either want

incomprehensible and contradictory articles of faith, to which

they may bend a reluctant understanding ; or they wish for

regular forms of piety which may attest the desire of reli-

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269

gious improvement, and act upon the imagination as tangible

pledges between God and ourselves : a covenant with exter-

nal and visible conditions is required, in some shape or other,

by all who wish to have a particular ground of security for

their souls. Such is the selfish, and, really, interested reli-

gion, to which we are accustomed from our earliest youth.

When, therefore, having found the unsoundness of all such

grounds of spiritual safety, we are, step by step, led to the

only true communication with God of which Man is capable,

by means of the light within us, and arrive at the conclu-

sion that to will and do, as much as it may be in our power,

what that light, undisturbed by selfishness, shows us as best,

and consequently as identical with the Will of Him who is

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supremely good, we are apt to fear that we have renounced

all religion, and that we are trusting our eternal happiness

on things without shape or form. And so it is, if we take

the word religion in its common acceptation; and so it is

unquestionably in regard to the loss of every thing that can

affect the imagination. Our religion is perfectly spiritual,

i. e. it does not address itself to the lower but the higher

faculties of the soul: our faith reposes not on covenants

supposed to be made in time, but on that which, arising from

the derivation of our distinguishing faculty—conscientious

reason—from the eternal source of our being, must be as

eternal as Himself. As to the supposed want of religious

occupation, such an objection cannot come from any one

who understands the meaning of conformity with the will of

God ; for any one who obtains a glimpse of the true mean-

ing of those words, must instantly perceive that the whole

existence of a human being who sincerely endeavours to

adopt that rule, must be an uninterrupted act of piety. Add

to this, the activity of research which it implies, and the self-

control which it demands, and tell me whether a worthier

view of our relation to an intelligent moral Creator can be

conceived. To ask by what rule we are to be guided, is

the same as to ask by what rule we are to use our eyes. All
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that we have to do is to be on our guard against selfishness,

and to decide against our tendencies in case of doubt. Er-

ror, under such moral determination, cannot do any sub-

stantial harm.

I am glad that you begin to perceive the high moral

worth of Socrates. In estimating his intellectual qualities,

you must not forget that he wanted most of the external

advantages of positive knowledge derived from accumulated

observation, which even a well-educated child enjoys among

us.

Believe me ever sincerely yours,

J. Blanco White.

Dec. 18, 1836.

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Religion is an habitual aspiration to the eternal

source of, what we call, the intellectual and moral

part of our being. That aspiring implies, of course,

love and reverence, and, consequently, cultivation of

that best part of ourselves. In this respect indivi-

duals are extremely different; but in their ignorance

of the object which the religious man wishes to find

and approach, they are all equal. No man can pos-

sibly know any thing of God except what he finds in

himself.

I have been reading the remarkable work of

Strauss, Leben Jem. My last printed works, as well

as my manuscript Notes, show that I have long been

convinced that Christianity does not depend on the

authority of Books. I had lately advanced farther :

I was persuaded that the account which we have of

Jesus of Nazareth was made up of the real events of

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271

his life, and of the Messianish expectations of a nu-

merous Jewish religious party, which seems to have

existed since the time of the Maccabees. When this

party (which seems, indeed, to have been the most

moral portion of a horribly perverted nation) be-

came convinced that Jesus had the marks (the signs)

of the Messiah, especially when their feelings be-

came highly engaged in his support, in consequence

of the barbarous and most unjust death to which he

was doomed by the bigotry of the Priests and Phari-

sees, the believers in the Messiahship of Jesus must

have been extremely disposed to find in him, what

they had expected in consequence of their misinter-

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pretation of the Old Testament. Whoever believes

in Prophecy is under a religious duty of finding it

realized as history, at some time or other. Reports

about Jesus would circulate, and if they agreed with

the supposed prophecies, no Messianite would hesitate

a moment to receive them as facts. In this manner

were the Gospels compiled. They contain an original

moral and intellectual sketch of the individual Jesus,

which the right moral feeling of every man may

recognize, and fill up. This is the only historical

element of Christianity.
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( 273 )

CHAPTER VII.

EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

1837.—iEtat. 62.

Liverpool, Jan. 18th, 1837.

I am just returned from seeing the Rev. Mr. Perry—

a Unitarian Minister, who, living near me, had called

three or four times upon me—laid in his grave. This

is the only funeral which I have attended, on purpose,

during my long residence in England. But, I knew

there would be very few at the funeral, and wished to

show this mark of respect to the deceased, as well as to

my new religious connection. The more I know of

that small body of people, the greater is my regard for

them. There were but three members of our society

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present; Mr. Martineau, who officiated; Mr.Thom

and Mr. Archer, as mourners; to these I made a

fourth, in the character of a sympathising friend.

Sunt lachrynue rerum,—and I could not prevent one

from rolling down when the coffin was let down.

There is, indeed, much of my sensibility which is

nervous; yet a mind so stored with baffled affections

and regrets, as mine, may be excused for its weak-

ness. My efforts to suppress external marks of feel-

ing are indeed very great, but not equal to the in-

n5
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274 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

tended object. My tear, however, was not for Mr.

Perry personally, with whom I was not at all inti-

mate ; it was for humanity—suffering, struggling,

aspiring, and daily perishing and renewed, humanity.

As to the grave, and the descent of the coffin, and

the strange noise of the sliding ropes—those things

raise no melancholy feelings within me. I know not

how soon I shall be laid in that same ground—for I

have desired in my Will to be buried in Renshaw

Street Chapel—and the thought of my last home

came vividly before me. No: it is not death that

moves me; but the contemplation of the rough path,

and the darkened mental atmosphere, which the hu-

man passions, and interests, disguised as Religion,

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oblige us to tread and cross, on our way to the

grave. What uncharitable, nay, what barbarous

feelings, under the name of Religious fears, would

the view of the good and, I believe, long-tried man

whom we committed to the ground, have raised in

the bosom of many otherwise kind-hearted persons I

know ! How they would have shrunk from the ex-

cellent men—and I am not acquainted with three

more worthy souls—who, having for a long period

administered consolation to the deceased, now paid

him the last offices of humanity! What a shock

would my presence have given to a multitude of

Orthodox persons who, but for my secession from

the Church, would proclaim themselves my attached

friends I

Is there no hope that the notion of Orthodoxy—

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275

that most deadly moral poison—shall be well sub-

dued—if not totally conquered in this country ? The

thought whether I should again take the pen against

that monstrous evil, keeps me in continual uneasi-

ness. The hopelessness of such a task, at present,

makes me quite shrink from it. The love of informa-

tion—of which I have found an inexhaustible mine

in the German language—attracts me almost irre-

sistibly to the works which I see already on my

shelves, and those whose valuable contents I know

by report. If I open the treasures of Literature

which nourished my mind in youth—especially the

Italian Poets—I feel young again, and my mind feels

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transported to the region of love and beauty, which

I can now better enjoy than during the fever of the

passions. I am reading Tasso, after more than thirty

years of neglect, with a far higher perception of the

immortal beauties of his great poem, than I ever

had in the period of my aesthetic self-instruction.

How can I quit this Elysium of the mind, to plunge

into the Stygian floods of controversy ! And yet I

cannot quiet myself upon the point of duty. Could

I but perceive one single spot of solid ground for

hope of future usefulness, I would instantly engage

again in the thorny path of theology. Oh, that I

might hope that any thing I have said or done would

contribute to the extinction of that delusive, and

most mischievous phantom! But when I look about

me, and perceive that even many of my brother-

Unitarians would shrink from what I have to tell

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them, I find that my mind will hardly guide my pen

upon such subjects. If I write upon Christianity,

it will certainly be under the encouragement which

the Liverpool Unitarians give me by their high mo-

ral character, and their love of truth. I look upon

the English Unitarians as the nucleus of an exten-

sive Society of reasonable Christians, which shall

stand, in this country, between the two extremes of

Fanaticism and Atheism, checking the evils of both,

and attracting individuals from both parties, to that

habitual trust in, and love of God, which, indepen-

dently from all dogmas concerning his objective na-

ture, is the only religion fitted for mankind in its

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mental and moral maturity.—I wish, with all my

heart, I could bestow still another mite towards that

glorious consummation.

To Miss h .

Liverpool, Jan. 6, 1837.

My dear Miss L ,

My copy of Paulus's Life of Christ has been in the hands

of two friends for a long time. Mr. Thom has it now ; and

if, when he has finished the first volume, you should be in-

clined to read it, I will send it to you. But though there

are excellent things in that work, the attempt to account for

the narratives of the miracles by natural events, modified to

the perception of the narrators by the ignorance and pre-

judices of their age and condition, is, upon the whole, to-

tally unsatisfactory. The other work to which you allude is

Strauss's Leben Jesu. It is a performance of great ability

and knowledge. The author, as you have heard, proves

the unsatisfactory nature of the explanations given both by

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277

the believers in supernaturalism, and by Paulus, as the best

representative of the Rationalists. His conclusion is, that

the Gospels are not the writing of personal witnesses ; but

of Christians who received the accounts of Jesus's life at

second or third hand, and mixed them up with their pre-

vious notions of what the Messiah must have been, and

what must have been the events of his life, according to

the interpretations of several passages of the Old Testa-

ment, which had been for a long time current among the

Jews. There is no copy to be had of this work at pre-.

sent, among the booksellers. A second edition is preparing

in Germany. I have read the work, and if you follow my,

advice, you will not attempt reading it till you understand

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German with ease. I believe besides that it would not give

you much light, in regard to the difficulties with which you

have to contend at present. I would advise you to suspend

your judgment, and furnish your mind with collateral in-

formation—especially history, and as much philosophy as you

can obtain by means of the books within your reach, and

your own reflection.

I do not believe there is any more difference between

Reason and Reasoning, than between Love and Loving. Such

verbal distinctions will never throw light on the great ques-

tions concerning our mind. If, for the sake of arrangement

and nomenclature, we agree to call the primitive grounds

of all knowledge, the laws of our minds—Reason, and their

application through successive inferences, Reasoning; well

and good. But we must not suppose that there are two

faculties in us, corresponding to those names. Is the Tri-

nity (you ask) against Reason, or against Reasoning ? Where

is the Trinity to which your question applies ? Is it a phe-

nomenon ? or is it not a notion, formed upon the supposed

meaning of certain books ? If that notion is contradictory,

i. e. asserts in some terms, what it denies in others—then

the notion of the Trinity is against Reason, or, in other

words, against the primitive laws of our intellectual nature.

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Conscientious Reason is a verbal form which I have pro-

posed, in order to embrace the notion of practical as well

as speculative Reason. It explains nothing ; but it may be

a means of avoiding theological evasions, in regard to the

duty of using our Reason, i. e. reasoning conscientiously

and under the sense of responsibility.

I feel a little better than I have been for some time past;

but I am fatigued by the least exertion.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

(After rising from a severe attack of illness.)

Feb. 2.

I believe in, trust in, love, worship and obey One

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God, who reveals himself to Mankind through his

Spirit of benevolence, justice, and mercy, as it ap-

pears to us in the form of that internal voice, gene-

rally called Conscience, the ground of which is Rea-

son. I am convinced that this is the essence of true

Christianity: nothing, in the shape of critical his-

tory, i. e. of historical certainty founded on critical

judgment respecting written documents, can be ne-

cessarily connected with the only true religion, namely,

that which is suited to the whole of mankind.

J.B. W.

Feb. 3.

Still very, very ill. While putting on a few clothes

and washing, I fainted with fatigue. Read,—five

minutes at time,—Viardot's Life of Cervantes.

The moral picture of Jesus of Nazareth, which

may be drawn from the Gospels, is, in spite of their

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279

greatly corrupted historical character, the most fit

vehicle for popular instruction, which, I believe, was

ever known; but the original picture must be re-

stored, as artists of genius restore an ancient statue,

by means of its incomplete fragments. The work

here is not difficult, provided the love of the miracu-

lous does not disturb the moral sense: the fragments,

for the most part, breathe the spirit of the whole.

The image thus conceived by minds of congenial

spirit, is the only Christ we can possibly know.

Feb. 10th, 1837.

Just perceiving some relief; but extremely weak.

I have past the last five or six days on my sofa,

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sitting up, now and then, to read for about five mi-

nutes, and lying down again exhausted. My head

has been so much affected by this disease, that I

could not give attention to any serious subject.

Fortunately my friend Don Antonio de Zulueta

sent me the recent Paris edition of Gil Bias, that I

might amuse myself by looking at the numerous

vignettes with which it is embellished.

I had made an attempt many years ago to read

Gil Bias a second time, in order to form a well-

grounded opinion of its merits; for I have never

considered it as a work worthy of the reputation it

enjoys; but I was soon tired by the never-ending

string of stories, which are brought from every corner

of the domains of invention, to swell up the history

of a worthless rogue. I have this time surmounted

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my reluctance: and my final judgment is this. The

whole merit of the Romance in question consists in

the smoothness of the narrative; and that kind of

ingenuity which, by a certain disregard of probabi-

lity, can turn common life into a source of adven-

tures, interesting to idle curiosity, especially that of

the young. But I declare that, in a moral point of

view, it is impossible to read anything more revolt-

ing, more palsying to the soul. There is not one

trait of disinterested virtue in the whole of the work.

Tom J ones is not a flattering representation of life;

but how full it is of invigorating pictures of the noble

qualities with which nature endows many a heart. In

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Gil Bias, mankind, without exception, consists of

odious reptiles; another Mosaic Deluge, but with no

Ark, would be the fittest end for them: nothing

else can satisfy the mind when wishing to free the

earth from such a disgusting tribe of reptiles. Moses

must have read Gil Bias prophetically before he de-

scribed his Cataclysmos.

The Spaniards need not be jealous of Gil Bias.

In my opinion Le Sage must have made use of a

large collection of detached Spanish Novelas, which

abounded in manuscript from the time of Philip II.

to that of the Bourbons. But the talent with which

the materials are managed is entirely his own. The

most obvious proof of this conjecture arises from the

frequent mangling of Spanish names. Le Sage must'

have been often puzzled by the Spanish hand, in

words which are either formed according to no gene-

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281

ral analogy, or express such allusions as must escape

a foreigner—especially one who (as it is ascertained)

had never been in the country. I cannot guess, for

instance, what word he distorted into La Cosclina,

the name he gives to the gypsy, the mother of

Scipion; but any Spaniard will instantly perceive

that the combination of s, c, 1, is repugnant to his

language. There are numerous instances of this

kind.

Le Sage's mind might have for its symbol a snake,

agile, flexible, smooth, and cold, with a great readi-

ness to use its sharp teeth. He had no sense of

beauty whatever—either physical or moral. There

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is not a description of scenery in the whole work :

his female beauties are slightly described, and just

so far as to be made appetissantes. Virtue, to him,

is as an accident arising from circumstances; and he

is anxious to caution his readers that it is a most

dangerous and, after all, a most useless thing, in the

world. The moral of the whole work is—Be a clever

villain.

I shall carry a thorough hatred of Gil Bias to my

grave.

February 19th, 1837.

I have finished to-day Fichte's Thatsachen des

Bewusslseyns, into which I had looked at different

times. I have now read it connectedly from begin-

ning to end. It is a book of immense difficulty;

yet in spite of the many passages which I could not

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thoroughly understand, I have felt the greatest inte-

rest during the perusal. My greatest pleasure was

derived from the last part, where Fichte developes

the moral view as the highest point of his philosophi-

cal system. People who cannot conceive religion

apart from authority, imagine that every one whose

reason rejects that ground, must remain in a state of

insensibility towards the final object of true religion

—God. They cannot conceive the deep religious

sense which such a book as that of Fichte can pro-

duce in some souls, independently of the truth of

the whole as a system. With respect to myself,

such is the longing after the eternal source of my

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mind which habitually possesses my soul, that even

a detached observation, in a philosophical book, which

imparts a clear glimpse of divine truth, quite enrap-

tures my whole being. But why do I not feel the

same, when I attempt to rise to God according to the

theological method ? The answer is plain : because I

am convinced that I attempt to rise upon a false

foundation. Upon that ground God becomes to me

a mere Idol.*

February 24th.

I have just read, for the third or fourth time,

Bishop Butler's Sermons on Human Nature, and

• During the period of my efforts to become evangelical, I used to

force myself to read such books as Doddridge's Rise and Progress, the

Whole Duty of Man, evangelized by Mr. Venn, &c. &c. After having

regularly nauseated myself every day, secundum artem, if I happened to

light upon any philosophical observations on God and virtue, I was

frequently affected to tears.—Liverpool, August 21, 1839.

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283

their value has increased in my judgment. Butler's

Analogy is an inferior work : the argument of Ana-

logy, especially when applied to the Christianity of

Churches, is totally unsatisfactory. But in regard to

the great principle upon which the true theory of

morals is founded, Bishop Butler attained and ex-

pressed a perfectly clear view. The starting point,

the first ground of all that man can know concerning

himself as he is Man, is his own Rationality. This

may be unquestionably established by self-observa-

tion : when once truly and clearly recognized, all the

mental concerns of mankind may be said to be set-

tled. Is there Rationality in the world ? Then we

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may be sure that it has the supremacy over all that

is not Rational. The rational man (in other words,

the conscientious man,) is identified with the Ruler

of the Universe.

February 28th.

According to the constitution of our minds, the

knowledge which we have of ourselves and of the

external world leads us, with absolute necessity, to

conclude that if the World was created by the free

act of a conscious Being, that Being must either be

limited in power or in goodness. Out of this dilemma

neither philosophy nor theology can extricate the

thinking and unsuperstitious mind. What, then, is

to be done ? Man must turn to the light within him

—the highest, the purest, the best guide he knows.

He must follow that light; he must sacrifice his

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selfish Will to the duties which Conscience points

out, and, forgetting the dark mystery of his exist-

ence, use that existence so, that, if it depended upon

him exclusively, the universe would be free from evil.

Any conduct but this is madness.

March 3rd.

The twenty-seventh anniversary of my arrival in

England, for which I still continue thankful to Pro-

vidence, though the sufferings attached to my posi-

tion increase with age.

He that wishes to leap over the stream of fashion

and habits along which the world proceeds, must take

a pretty long run from out of the crowd. To attempt

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the leap on the border of the stream, and as one of

those who are resolved to follow its course, can only

insure a plunge, with a laugh on the part of the

spectators.

March 6th.

Why should I repine under the external evils of

my situation ? Why, on the contrary, am I not con-

stantly breathing out feelings of thankfulness, that

the power which has ordained the course of my life

has, in a certain sense, forced me, at an early period,

from the path of what is considered a happy life,

thereby compelling my mind to exert itself to the

utmost of its powers ? While millions are raised but

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very little above the brutes,—thousands are made to

pant in the production of wealth,—and a vast num-

ber, under the false description of educated men,

employ themselves in rivetting the chains and im-

peding the progress of the human mind—it has

pleased Providence to urge me on, through an un-

common combination of events, to the noble work of

combatting error, promoting mental liberty, and con-

tributing to the great end (though, alas! how far do I

still see that end) of subduing enthusiasm and priest-

craft, the two most mortal enemies of Humanity.—

Thank God!

March 10th.

There are beautiful hints in the New Testament in

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reference to the spirituality of true religion ; but

they are generally unheeded : Church-Christianity

has perverted the sense of the word spiritual, and its

derivatives. True Spirituality is incompatible with

the idolatrous nature of the Christianity known

among us. A religion which presents an incarnate

God as the supreme object of worship, is essentially

idolatrous. Idolatry does not consist in worshipping

material figures; but in reducing the Deity to an

object of the imagination. If God is made Man, it

signifies little whether you worship the image within

you, or whether you represent that image in wood or

stone, according to the Roman Catholic practice. It

is childish to make the evil of idolatry consist in the

materiality of the idol: that evil arises from the in-

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evitable degradation of the Deity, when conceived as

a Man. All spirituality disappears in that case; and,

whatever you do, the association of human passions

and feelings with the idea of God (an association to

which we have a most decided natural tendency) will

take place in a higher or lower degree, according to

the power or weakness of every individual mind.

One of the most pernicious consequences of this

refined idolatry, is the restlessness which it commu-

nicates to Christian devotion. The idea of service to

a Master represented as a human being, must give

uneasiness to the sensitive mind. It is a real

0|orj(TK6ia, in which the zealous servant must always

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be in doubt whether he has done enough. Here I

would observe, by the way, that the passage about

the " unprofitable servants," has to me the clearest

internal marks of being an interpolation of the age

when the ascetic notions began to corrupt Chris-

tianity. That this anxiety has no bounds, whenever

it takes root in an earnest mind, either Catholic or

Protestant, is a fact; and the clearest proof which

experience could give of my speculative conclusion.

How different the true, spiritual, conception of the

Deity, such as the light within us offers it to the in-

dividual who has no other sanctuary but the con-

science ! Whenever the ideas of wisdom, order, love,

blend together into an imageless conception, and that

conception draws the soul into the Infinite, in an act

of longing love after the eternal source of our being,

how pure, how tranquil, how confident is the adora-

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287

tion which the soul performs! Tears indeed suffuse

the eyes—for the longing itself reminds us of a state

of suffering, of evil, and of struggle; but the mind

turns back to the business and the pains of life,

full of filial confidence, without a thought about

acts of propitiation, about practical measures of

safety against the wrath of the Idol-God of the mul-

titude. It feels assured that life itself under a con-

scientious faithfulness to Reason, is the only accept-

able service which the true, the spiritual, God

expects from his creatures. This is true Faith;

Would you wish to have a test by which to try the

genuineness of passages in the New Testament?

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Observe the consequences which they have produced,

taken as rules of conduct, especially as rules of per-

fection. All those which, in the most direct manner,

have been the origin of monachism—in a more gene-

ral term, of Ascetism—must be excluded. The pas-

sage alluded to in the preceding Note is one of

them. It belongs to the system of flattering devotion

to that method of praying, and addressing the Deity,

which supposes him to have all the habits and feelings

"of an Oriental despot, who likes to hear the people

approaching him call themselves Dogs, dead Dogs,

&c, &c.
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March 14th, 1837.

The insuperahle difficulty of the theory which

makes personally-divine authority the basis of religion

is, that such authority must be inevitably humanized,

i.e. made doubtful and fallible by passing through

man. It is like fairy gold; to-day sterling wealth;

to-morrow dross.

March 16th.

It is curious that my Admiration of the great poets

has regularly increased with Age. This especially

happens to me in regard to Shakspeare. When I

came to England, though to a certain degree I had

spoken the Language of the country from Childhood,

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I did not understand it sufficiently to enter into the

spirit of Shakspeare's Plays. Nevertheless there

were in them Characters, and passages, which I ad-

mired, and which, by their peculiar attraction, brought

me constantly back to those Compositions. Without

making his dramatic Works a peculiar Study, at any

time, I have never dropt them for any considerable

period. The Marks in my old little Copy prove this.

Unfortunately I had it originally only stitched; and

upon getting it bound, many of those Marks were

pared off with part of the Margins: else I could

show the progress of my Approbation by the gradual

addition of the parallel Lines, which I have long

used as a Sign of liking a Passage.

For a person whose original Standard of Taste

has been the ancient Classics, especially if (as it

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289

happened to me) he has studied the French Writers

anterior to the Revolution, the stumbling-block in

Shakspeare is found not so much in the want of the

Unities, as in the novelty and boldness of his Me-

taphors. It requires a perfect familiarity with the

living World of the Poet's Imagination, to perceive,

at once, the Analogies from which his Metaphors

proceed. In external Character and Form those

Metaphors are so like the figurative Language of

Euphuism, that any one who knows and properly

detests it in the extravagant compositions of certain

Italian and Spanish Poets, feels an instinctive dislike

to many Passages of Shakspeare, merely from that

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external resemblance. But the difference between

the Bombast of the former, and the true and natural

Richness of the English Poet, is immense. The two

styles have nothing in common except the Novelty of

the Figures. The Euphuist seeks that Novelty

blindly, rashly, extravagantly: Shakspeare finds it

without effort, under the Inspiration of his Genius.

His Metaphors are full of the truest and most vigo-

rous Life. He shows you the secret ties of Relation-

ship by which Nature connects the, apparently, most

distant notions.

But it must be confessed that he fails in a few in-

stances, and runs into something like the Bombast

which, in his time, had begun to corrupt the Taste of

all Europe. Here, as in all cases of superstitious

Veneration, the blind Worshippers will stop their

ears and cry,—Heresy ! Such want of Discrimina-

VOL. II. o
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tion, however, shows that the Taste, of which such

people boast, is more Profession than Reality. Much

indeed has been written on Shakspeare; but I con-

ceive that there is still room for—or rather a real Want

of—a work to guide the young Mind in the Study

of his Plays.—I sball probably be laughed at when I

say that I think I could write such a Work.—Let

the scorning doubt continue: I am not likely to

make the Trial.

March 17th.

The Work above suggested should begin by a View

of the Nature of the Drama—disproving the old

notions about the Necessity of the Unities :—show-

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ing that Dramas written upon that Plan form a dis-

tinct Class of Compositions; but that the Stage may

be employed with good effect for the exhibition of

acted Tales. In this other Class of Plays, Shakspeare

is the great and unrivalled Model. (See what I have

said in an Article on Spanish Literature, in the 1st

No. of the London Review.)

This little Treatise should be followed by another

—on Style—showing the essential Difference be-

tween the poetical Style and the prosaic—the multi-

tude of Gradations through which they run into each

other—and the strong Marks of Distinction which

Prose and Verse show at their opposite Extremities.

The principal Object of this Discourse should be

Metaphor, as the great source of Ornament in Lan-

guage. Here the young Reader of Shakspeare

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291

should be warned against the Fascination which

might easily blind him to the occasional Errors of

the great Model: and abundant Examples of splendid

and genuine, as well as of shining but false ornament,

should be given.

After this Introduction, the best Plays of Shaks-

peare should be examined. A young Person might

be imagined to have attentively read—Lear for in-

stance. Upon this supposition his attention should

now be drawn to the Characters—an excellent

opportunity of moral Instruction, without formal

Preaching:—to the development of Lear's Madness—

an admirable ground for psychological observations

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—without Pedantry—and of useful Remarks on the

Passions—without Moralizing. Whenever Passages

hitherto improperly expounded might occur—a fresh

Attempt to explain them, if properly made, would be

a peculiar source of interest. Every Play might, in

this manner, be made a vehicle of most useful In-

struction.

The Work should be called, "A Guide for the

Young in reading Shakspeare."

March 23rd.

"Do not disturb the timid."—What a strange,

unreasonable demand! It amounts to this: let the

Thinking be, all over the world, the Slaves of the

Unthinking. Mankind, under that System, might

be compared to a Family, where the Children had

the Privilege of filling the Rooms with Houses of

o2
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292 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

Cards, obliging the grown people to declare they

beheld substantial Buildings, and preventing, never-

theless, their moving about, from fear of accidents to

the little structures.

March 27th.

I am listening to one of the newly-invented hand

Harpsichords, which, being in pretty good Tune,

rather pleases me. Patricks Day in the Morning is

the best in its Collection of Tunes. And what a

wonderfully characteristic Expression that simple

Tune possesses: it makes my Heart beat with an

accelerated but most soft and cheerful Motion. If I

was asked what the Tune does express, I should say

that it expresses Reasonableness, Cheerfulness, and so-

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cial Feeling, most exquisitely combined in female

Beauty. Let those for whom Music is only Noise,

laugh if they please.

March 27th.

Last night, just before going to bed, I opened

Hamlet, and, reading on for awhile, came to one of

the most beautifully tender, as well as original illus-

trations, which can be met with in any Poet. It had

never struck me in the same degree as it did this

time. The Genius of Shakspeare seems here to have

dropt a Simile of the greatest beauty almost uncon-

sciously, as the Queen of the Fairies would drop a

pearl of immense value, without much thinking

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293

where, when, or how. It is in the beginning of

Laertes' leave-taking Speech to Ophelia.

" For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour,

Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood ;

A violet in the youth of primy nature.

Forward, not permanent; sweet, not lasting ;

The perfume and suppliance of a minute;

No more."

The himile is so appropriate, and yet so novel; it is

so full of Tenderness and Life, that I cannot well

express all I feel in its Presence. But I was offended

by the word Suppliance, which the Verse, as it is

generally printed, requires to have the Accent on the

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i, as coming from the verb to supply. Here a rash

Ingenuity, to which I confess that I am not a

stranger in similar cases, fully possessed my mind,

making me rejoice exceedingly in a conjectural Read-

ing, which I immediately wrote at the bottom of the

page.

" The pirfume and (the) suppliance of a minute."

Suppliance, as derived from Suppliant, and mean-

ing the act of Supplication, is not in the common

Dictionaries. But what of that ? The infallible Dr.

Johnson has not even Suppliance, as derived from

Supply; though either of the two must be recognized

in the Passage before us. And how irresistibly beau-

tiful does the Simile become when Suppliance is

understood as Supplication—the Prayer of a Lover,

accompanied by the Perfume,—the Incense attendant

on Worship ! You see the tender Violet, the Repre-

sentative of the youthful Lover, courting a Look,

from its humble Bed, and enveloping its Petition for

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294 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

Favour in an invisible Cloud of her delicious In-

cense. But alas! the spirit of soberness came upon

me this Morning, and dispelled the charming Delu-

sion. SuppUance (that Spirit suggested to me) ex-

presses the same, and through a similar material

Notion, as satis-faction, or grati-fication. The Act of

affording, or supplying, is naturally associated with

the idea of Pleasure. Chaucer, by a similar Ana-

logy, uses Suffiance for Satisfaction and Pleasure.—

So farewell my pretty suppliant Violet! I lose you with

much Regret!—Will nobody help me to recover you ?

From Professor Norton.

Cambridge, March 27, 1837.

My dear Sir,
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I immediately returned an answer to your very kind let-

ter, dated more than a year ago (25th Feb. 1836), recipro-

cating, as you could not doubt I should, most cordially the

feelings it expresses. I should be sorry to learn that you

had not received it, and much more so, to know that you

had been prevented by ill health, or any other painful cir-

cumstance, from gratifying my hopes of hearing from you

again. I assure you that both Mrs. Norton and myself

think of you, not as a new acquaintance, but an old friend.

I have deferred writing again till I could ask the favour

of you to accept the accompanying volume. I shall be

much pleased if it afford you any satisfaction. Should any

circumstance prevent me from hearing from you directly, I

trust I shall through my friends, the Miss Parks.

I am, my dear Sir,

With sincere respect and regard,

Your Friend,

Andrews Norton.
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295

March 30th.

Good Society is a Representation of what Society

at large should be. I do not know how a young

Person might better be told what truly good Society

means, than by saying, that it is a meeting of People

where every one forgets himself for the sake of the

rest.

April 1st.

Supreme Reason is that which harmonizes the

universe, reconciling all things that appear to clash

and contend with each other. Finite Reason will

therefore approach to the Supreme, in proportion as

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it imitates her work. This is practically recognized

in every reasonable man.

Letter to Miss L .

Liverpool, April 2nd, 1837.

My dear Miss L ,

It is a very long time since I wrote to you, or you to me.

During the greatest part of that period I have been wretch-

edly ill; and, what is worse, continue still unable to rally.

The Influenza attacked me severely about the end of Janu-

ary, and left me so weak, that I am still a prisoner, moving

only from my bedroom to my study. For several days I

was obliged to read and lie down alternately every five

minutes; but my head recovered its usual strength soon

after, and my reading has not been disturbed for the last

month, except in a trifling degree. At first I attempted

books of amusement; but could not bear them. It was

like sweets to a nauseated stomach. Fortunately I took up

one of Fichte's (the Father) works, The Facts of Conscious-

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ness, which I had tried once or twice, but had found too

difficult to be read cursorily, and became so deeply inte-

rested in it, that I got through it in a few days. The

metaphysical taste being thus excited, I took up a work of

Immanuel Hermann Fichte, the only child of the celebrated

philosopher. Its title is Uber Gegensatz, Wendepunkt und

Ziel heutiger Philosophie, in three (independent) volumes.

The first is an historical and critical introduction ; the next

is what might be called an examination of Thought (a mas-

terly, but most difficult work), the third an Ontology. This

work has been my great resource in my illness. I have not

yet finished the third volume ; but it is my intention, if my

mental powers do not fail me, to return to the study of the

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second volume as soon as I shall have finished the third ;

and, if possible, to write an extract of it, which I should be

inclined to call the Philosophy of Logic. But considering

my state of health, this cannot be any thing but an amusing

dream—one of those gleams of hope which play upon cer-

tain minds, almost till the last moment of existence.

I was practically convinced of the profound ignorance

on these subjects which prevails in England; but had no

conception of the extent of that ignorance before I had gone

through this rather difficult study. I hardly venture to

hope that the attention of any considerable number of real

students will ever be drawn to this kind of mental science.

People have not leisure for such speculations in a country

where all are harrassed and hurried by the desire of wealth;

some, indeed, with a view to make a splendid fortune ; others

by the necessity of keeping up a certain style of living,

without which no one is considered a gentleman. In Ger-

many, where a scholar may live upon very little, and yet

escape degradation in the eyes of the world, there will

always be a certain number of individuals who live exclu-

sively for the purpose of advancing, not only material but,

mental civilization.
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297

I hope the influenza has spared hoth you and the rest of

your family. I feel fatigued by writing.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

April 3, 1837.*

I have just now received the two last volumes of

Wordsworth's Poems, stereotyped edition. My ef-

forts to find out that extraordinary excellency which

W.'s friends would proclaim in the tone of a Crusade

against the infidels who do not think with them,

have been repeated and sincere ; but I remain still a

heretic. In this extensive collection there are in-

deed compositions of a very high merit: but there is

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also a great mass of things which, though scarcely

ever without some merit, may be said to be pub-

lished by an act of wilfulness, and for no other rea-

son whatever. Wordsworth has been spoilt by a

coterie, who, having formed a joint-stock company of

wit (wit in the old sense) at school, have carried on its

concerns with the most inflexible perseverance. By

admiring and praising each other for half a century,

they have, as it were, dunned a great part of the

public into their interest. Whatever, therefore,

owing to habit, to early friendship, to association

with the scenery among which the poet has spent his

life,—nay, with his wife and children (all of whom, I

hear, are amiable)—whatever, I say, revives in the

Poet's friends any pleasant recollection, be it even

* I am not quite confident that I am right here.—Aug. 23, 1839.

o5
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the most childish baby-rhymes, produces delight; and

that delight is proclaimed over the country, through

Papers, some way or other, in their interest.

To those who have not such associations, the Col-

lection in six volumes is exceedingly fatiguing. One

is angry almost at every other page, and yet there is

so much that makes one respect the writer, that

there is no avenging the annoyance by throwing the

book away.

But, in regard to myself, the most unpleasant re-

sult of reading a considerable part of this Collection,

page after page, is the incessant perception of some-

thing like a wailing note, uninterruptedly sounding,

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with no other change but that which arises from its

approaching not unfrequently to a howl, like that of

a man under the impression of inspiration, at the

sight of sin. This mental drone-pipe is to me into-

lerable. " Wail, wail, daughters of the English

Jerusalem, for all men are not priests, and all the

world is not Tory; there are still wicked men who

do not think Buonaparte a fiend incarnate. Woe,

woe! Woe to the Church, Woe to the Constitu-

tion!"

In a word, Mr. Wordsworth is too frequently a

party poet, and not a small portion of his inspiration

comes from fanaticism.

P.S. If a good musician took it into his head

to write down every thing he whistles to him-

self, or to his children—every idle voluntary which

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299

comes up when, he sits at the piano, he would pro-

duce a collection of music similar to that of Words-

worth's poetry. I do not deny that, if the musician

were as eminent in his art as W. is in his, there

would be many excellent pieces in the collection;

but it would contain a great quantity of trash.

April 11.

The name of Biondo Flavio, or Flavio Biondo,

Secretary to Eugenius IV., and one of the earliest

antiquarians, presents a curious coincidence with my

own. Flavius and Biondo mean the same—-fair, as

Blanco and White mean one and the same colour.

It will be found in various papers concerning myself,

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that I am called White Blanco, in an inverse order

to that in which I have signed my name ever since

I came to England. Biondo must have been the

antiquarian's true name, as White is mine.—See

Hallam, Lit. of Eur. vol. i. p. 234.

April 13.

Would you have a clear, practical conception of

Virtue ? Study the early, the mythic history of Rome,

and try to sympathise with her heroes—those men

who lived only for the State; who appear to have lost

their own personality, and to have identified them-

selves with the Republic. Having done this, reflect

upon the incompleteness, and (one may well say)

absurdity of limiting our moral relations to any por-

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tion of the whole mass of mankind, and embrace

the only immoveable conviction, on this point, that

every individual man belongs to the whole race, or

more properly speaking to the Universe, and above

all to the source of that Universe, more truly than

Roman patriots conceived themselves to belong to

the State. And now you will have obtained the true

idea of rational, real virtue, if you conceive your

duties to God and his Creation, to be exactly analo-

gous to those of those ancient Heroes.

I have heard a man of great talents, and con-

scientious besides, speak of the immortality of the

soul as if virtue were absolutely dependent upon it.

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There is (as it has been frequently observed) a happy

inconsistency which, in many cases, corrects the evil

tendencies of mischievous abstract principles: and

this happens in the instance to which I allude; else

I would not give a straw for that man's virtue.

Men who check their appetites upon speculation—

who lay out their abstinence, or moderation (as they

think) at a high interest, are most unsafe to deal

with : for if, by some mistake or other, they were to

believe that there was a cent, per cent, of happiness

to be earned by a bold stroke, they would not hesi-

tate a moment to sacrifice one half of mankind to

their own private gain. I do not care whether they

call that gain spiritual, or by any other name they

please; it is all the same to me whether the payment

is to take place in Heaven, or the Mahometan Para-

dise. The name of Virtue is desecrated by its being

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301

given to that truly gross, though perfectly disguised

selfishness. Virtue and Self are at open war. No

man can be said to be virtuous who is not, like the

American Calvinists mentioned somewhere by Dr.

Channing, ready to submit to reprobation, as a

necessary iink in the chain of events predetermined

by infinite Wisdom. There are few such Christian

Curtii.

To the Rev. George Armstrong.

Liverpool, April 14th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Long indeed have I been desirous to inquire after you,

in the hope to hear that you have recovered from the severe
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affliction which you communicated to me many months ago.

But my health has been wretched, especially since the latter

end of January, when I was attacked by the Influenza to such

a degree that I am still unable to walk out. A valued friend,

the Rev. Mr. Tayler, Unitarian Minister, at Manchester,

called to see me a few days ago, on his way to Dublin,

where he was to preach on the occasion of a Unitarian

Meeting. I had not however time to give him a line for

you; but hoping that you might happen to meet him, I

requested him to convey to you the assurance of my con-

stant interest in your welfare. I now avail myself of the

kindness of another friend, an Undergraduate of Trinity

College, Dublin. It occurs to me that you may be resident

in that city ; but as I have not the means to ascertain the

place of your present abode, I direct according to what you

told me regarding your plans, in the last letter I received

from you.

Every succeeding year of my life increases my separation

from the world, and reduces me more and more to the life
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of a Hermit. As long however as I shall preserve the

power of reading as well as of thinking deeply over what I

read, there will be no reason to pity me ; for such intellec-

tual pleasures are more than sufficient for my happiness in

this world. I am very fortunate besides in the frequent so-

ciety of a young Minister, in this town, the Rev. John H.

Thom, a native of Ireland—the land which I shall never

cease to love. * * *

My studies are chiefly in German Philosophy, especially

that of Fichte, Junior, the only son of the celebrated Johann

Gottlieb Fichte. This is an unexplored mine in this coun-

try. I wish I had undertaken this study several years ago,

that I might have endeavoured to recommend it to English

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readers. It is true that German Philosophy has been guilty

of strange aberrations ; but it is also true that, without the

free impulse of the philosophical mind which has occasioned

those instances of extravagance, it would have been impos-

sible to advance beyond the artificial limits which priestly

domination, and its vast system of organized error, had set

to the European mind. The Theology which still cramps

the national intellect in these countries is nothing but false

Philosophy. Philosophy, therefore, true Philosophy alone,

can free the world from that monstrous evil.

I shall be glad to hear from you at all times. I can

never forget that you were the immediate instrument in the

hands of Providence, to awake me into the exertion which

was required in order to snap the disguised mental fetters

which I might otherwise have allowed to cripple me to the

last day of my life.

Believe me, with sincere respect and gratitude,

My dear Sir,

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.
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303

April 28.

The pains and troubles of life—which are indeed,

when considered by themselves, an immense burden,

—are not too high a price for the enjoyment of a

truly rational conviction that the universe is the work

of an intelligent, and supremely rational (therefore

just) Being.

To Professor Norton.

Liverpool, May 1, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Your kind letter of the 27th March, with the 1st vol. of

your work on the Genuineness of the Gospels, came to

my hands yesterday. Glad as I was to hear from you, and

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grateful for the honour of your presentation copy, the feel-

ing of dissatisfaction against myself for not having written

to you during a long period nevertheless prevailed. I will

not acquit myself on the ground of the continued illness,

which has kept me, and still keeps me, confined to the

house, ever since the end of January. In addition to my

habitual sufferings, I was then severely attacked by Influenza,

which has prevailed in various parts of Europe, and con-

tinues, as it were, making a tour through different coun-

tries. I hear that it is now raging in my native town of

Seville. But, even during the worst and most depressing

stage of my disease, I have now and then been able to take

up the pen. Why then did I not write to you ? I will tell

you the reason which, upon examination of the petty work-

ings of an invalid mind, I conceive to be the true one.

Your last letter could not be answered without entering

upon a most difficult controversy. I perceived (and your

work on the Gospels confirms my impression) that you make

an historical conviction,—the belief in the genuineness of

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the historical documents of the New Testament, and in the

perfect truth of their statements, miraculous or not,—the

basis and indispensable condition of Christianity. I do not

discover in your answer to a general question of mine, the

least disposition to allow a hesitation on this point. That

point, however, is the last, which, after many years of

anxious inquiry, I have settled with myself in a totally

different light. Whenever, therefore, I thought of writing

to you, I was compelled by my bodily weakness to postpone

an effort of attention, which could not be avoided, if I was

to say anything on the question at issue between us. But

I might have lashed myself into exertion if my letter could

have been a fresh means of sympathy between us. Unhap-

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pily it could not be so ; and the repeated pain which I have

had to endure, in the course of a now closing life, from the

necessity of differing upon theological subjects with persons

whom, instead of repelling, I eagerly wished to draw to-

wards me, has almost deprived me of the necessary courage,

which even the most friendly theological controversy re-

quires. It is true that, daring the period in question, my

mind was so full of arguments against the theory which

makes history and criticism the basis of Christianity, that I

wrote several pages in order to unburden my head from

those perpetually recurring thoughts; yet by addressing

them to a person in whom I perceived a tendency towards

my own view, I saved myself from the harrassing idea of

producing a mental shock. This is the plain truth of the

case as I find it in my own heart. But nothing could give

me more pain than that you should mistake my reluctance

to address you controversially, for a doubt of your candour

and readiness to listen to the reasons of an opponent.

From every thing I observe in your writings, I find my-

self most willing, not to say bound in justice, to give you

credit for a sincere love of the truth. I only recoil from direct

opposition, and I fear that opposition is inevitable between

us in relation to the point in question. I promise you how-

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305

ever to read your book with friendly candour and a fair

attention ; and, unless my weakness increases so as to de-

prive me of the power of close thinking, to give you a

general notion of the impression it makes upon me. I only

beg you to remember that I am reduced to very great bodily

helplessness, and that I have reason to fear that my mental

activity will soon be essentially affected by a protracted state

of the weakness which I have suffered.

Have the kindness to assure Mrs. Norton that I feel

thankful for her expressions of friendship towards me. If

you should have an opportunity of seeing Dr. Channing,

you will oblige me by telling him that though illness has

prevented my writing to him, I have nevertheless made re-

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peated inquiries about him from his friend Miss Dix, and

through our common friend Mr. Thom. This is, however,

the only means of intercourse which I have had for many

months with the interesting fellow-sufferer whose personal

acquaintance I had the pleasure to make upon her arrival

from America. Miss Dix is still prevented from moving

about, and I have long been a close prisoner. I am happy

to hear that she is improving. Believe me with sincere

esteem and friendship, my dear sir,

Yours truly,

J. Blanco White.

To Mrs. Lawrence.

May 6, 1837.

My dear Mrs. Lawrence,

I was this very morning thinking of making inquiries

about your health. I am glad that the fine weather is be-

ginning to restore you. So it must when you can enjoy

every beauty that adorns " the youth of primary nature ;"

but fine weather brings to me only the inconvenience of

noise and bustle in the streets, and the glare reflected from

a dirty piece of ground and the opposite walls.

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I have had a relapse of the Influenza, which threatened

to choke me, and which was relieved by a large blister. I

continue extremely weak : to reach my hand for a book is

an effort which makes me think twice. I feel not the least

desire to go out.

Nevertheless I read—and this is all I want in the shape

of life. What you say of Hallam's work only confirms my

good opinion of your taste and judgment. Did you ever

read a paper which I published in the Variedades, on the

Celestina ? * I have not the book ; else I would send it to

[• " La Celestina, Tragi-comedia de Calisto y Melibea."

No Spanish work, with the exception of Don Quixote, has ever

possessed the celebrity of the Celestina, the witch or fortune-teller,

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whose strangely-chosen name has given its title to this dramatic

novel. She is a sort of modern Canidia, whose arts are most mi-

nutely described. The description given by the servant Parmenio to

his master, Calisto, of the obscure abode of the witch—of the philtres,

medicaments, and cosmetics—by which she exercises her powers, is

abundantly curious (for the author has managed to bestow on his vile

sorceress some of the gloomy dignity with which Shakspeare has in-

vested his Hecate): and the whole work is interesting, not only for the

richness and beauty of its style, but for the singular picture which it

exhibits of manners and society in Spain at the close of the 15th cen-

tury.

The influence which this abandoned woman exercises over the

minds and fate of the two lovers, Calisto and Melibea,—the wiles by

which she drags down to ruin the innocent and lovely Melibea, whose

pure and artless character is finely relieved by the darkness of her own,

give a very extraordinary degree of force and interest to this work;

and the exquisite pathos and tenderness of its conclusion, the picture

of the youthful happiness and subsequent affliction of the lovers, which

it exhibits, reminds one forcibly of that of Romeo. and Juliet. But

while such fame and admiration were awarded to his production, the

modesty or timidity of the author kept him silent, and he persisted in

literary incognotism which has left his name a question still unde-

cided among the literati of his country. Still ^farther to puzzle his

critics, he assumes in his preface that the conclusion of his novel is by

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another hand. Blanco White assigned the whole of it to Rojas de

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307

you. I believe I made it clear that Rojas is the sole and

exclusive author of that extraordinary dramatic poem. It

is absurd to suppose that the numerous threads thrown out

in the first Act could be taken up and woven so skilfully

by one who was not the inventor of the whole plot. People

will not think for themselves, and copy some established

report without discrimination. They want besides a living

knowledge of the countries whose writers they undertake

to examine ; else, in regard to Spain, they would be aware

that, even down to the time when I was a boy, professional

men feared to ruin their characters by having any thing to

do with works of mere pleasure. Rojas in his preface pro-

tests that it was only during a vacation that he concluded

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(a word of double meaning, which supports the fiction that

another had begun) the Celestina. Such fictions—of a

foreign original fas in the case of Amadis)—or some hap-

pily discovered Manuscript, were a part of every work of

imagination, which writers of professional reputation could

not omit. You may observe that Cervantes makes the ex-

istence of an Arabic Manuscript an important circumstance

in the imitation of a book of Chivalry. The weight, how-

ever, of these considerations, in determining the authorship

Montalvan, amid a host of competitors, and had no respect for the claims

of Rodrigo Cota, which are advocated by Bouterwek, and which it is

thought were somewhat supported by the spirit of philosophic refine-

ment exhibited in the whole tone and drift of his little poem, " Love

shut out of the Flower Garden," of which there is a translation in a

little vol. called " The Last Autumn," &c, by Mrs. Lawrence.

The Celestina has been translated, Blanco White says, into all the

European languages, and different versions of it are to be found in the

rarest collections of old English, Douce, Heber's, &c.—yet the writer

does not remember the slightest literary notice of it, except Bouterwek's,

and, copied from him, Sismondi's:—and, more lately, Hallam's,—all

very imperfect. This curious, and in many respects beautiful novel

was written in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and, as it appears

from one particular text, previous to the taking of Granada from the

Moors.—R. L.]
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of such a work as the Celestina, is not perceived by any

one who has not seen the feeling from which such dis-

guises arose, still in action, as has been my case. That

feeling, however, was not peculiar to Spain. The absurd

titles of the Italian Academies arose from the desire of

giving people to understand that the Academicians con-

sidered their meetings as a piece of frolic. The fear of

interference from a suspicious government might have some

share in all this ; but I remember when at the age of four-

teen I was instrumental in forming un Academy for examin-

ing the beauties of Don Quixote, and holding disputations

upon that work, in the style of Scholastic Theology, our

friends took care that every external circumstance should

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bear the character of a mascarade; because any thing of

that kind, undertaken seriously, would appear pert and con-

ceited. But I had the pleasure of seeing that prejudice

nearly subdued, by the exertions of myself and some very

able young friends. "We had a serious Academy of Belles

Lettres, to which I chiefly owe the original development of

my mind, till we were all about the age of four or five and

twenty. We even held open meetings for the distribution

of Prizes, at which men of the first rank were present.

Ugo Foscolo was decidedly of my opinion in regard to the

origin of the grotesque names of the Italian Academies.

- Many thanks for your kind offer of wine. I want no-

thing of that sort. I have had much trouble and vexation

from my servants. The housekeeper, a well-meaning but

very silly person, is going. I hope her successor will have

common sense. But really the class from which servants

are taken is so generally perverted, that if I could do with-

out them, I should consider myself a happy creature. But

what can I do ? Lodgings at my time of life, and in my

state of health, are to me a perfect horror. It is easier,

after all, to change my two servants, than my several hun-

dreds of books from place to place,

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309

I have scribbled away till I am giddy, and probably have

produced the same sensation in your head.

I congratulate you on the return of your " sodier boy,"

as Burns, I believe, calls a soldier lad with (to me at least)

exquisite effect.

I wish you all manner of happiness.

Yours faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

From Dr. Charming.

Boston, Dec. 17th, 1836.

My dear Sir,

An article of mine, hastily written for a periodical, has

been published by the editor as a pamphlet.—I send you a

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copy for one reason only. It treats chiefly of Catholicism,

a subject you understand very much better than I do. I

submit it to you simply to get your views of its correctness,

which I shall value the more, as I may pursue the subject.

I trust you will confide in me enough to speak with perfect

frankness, if you speak at all—and I assure you your silence

would give me no pain. I do not think of writing any

thing on Catholicism separately ; but, if I have strength,

I wish to give some views, which seem to be overlooked,

respecting the great sects or divisions of the Christian

world.

Very respectfully, your friend,

W. E. Channing.

Letter to Dr. Channing.

Liverpool, May 9th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

It was only last night that I had the pleasure of receiving

both your kind note to me and your printed letter on Ca-

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310 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

tholicism. Though in a miserable state of bodily weakness,

I did not go to bed till I had read your admirable Essay,

marking every striking passage with my pencil. The pages

are full of my usual marks of approbation. I can only say

that you have given utterance to thoughts which my expe-

rience has for many years made habitual to my mind. But

your manner of stating those views is so eloquent, so pro-

found and philosophical, that I might say with truth, they

came to me with all the charms of novelty. But it is in

your first and fundamental principles of Christianity that I

find the most heartfelt satisfaction. The words, p. 8, be-

ginning, " A common mistake is," and ending " as the

nearest fellow-creature," should be engraved in view of

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every pulpit. I admire also your observations on the " yoke

of opinion" which is unfortunately laid on the neck of even

Unitarian Ministers, in direct contradiction of the true Pro-

testant principle which delivered them from the fetters of

Creeds. That, in regard to civil life, the power of opinion

*' suppresses the grosser vices, rather than favours the

higher virtues," (p. 6.) is a profound observation. Unfor-

tunately, it is that restraint which has the highest attrac-

tions in the eyes of the mass of a wealthy and thriving

population. Whatever love of virtue the generality of such

a mass of people usually feel, has its root in absolute selfish-

ness and love of ease. Religion to them supplies the place

of a strict police, which enables them to enjoy themselves

without disturbance. But you wish to have my opinion

respecting your views of Catholicism : I will therefore enter

more particularly upon that point.

I have already said, that my habitual thoughts on that

subject coincide with yours. But to the reasons which you

so ably state why Protestantism must fail in every attempt

to have its churches visited out of the regular times for ser-

vice, I have frequently added one which you seem to have

overlooked—the supposed bodily presence of Christ in the

consecrated wafers which are constantly kept in most Ca-

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311

tholic churches. Any one may easily conceive the power

of this attraction for a credulous and affectionate mind.

Add to this, the sanctity and inviolability which it gives to

churches in the eyes even of the otherwise most profligate

believers. Hence it is that a very slight superintendence

preserves the utmost quiet in the Roman Catholic temples.

But it is absurd to wish for the coexistence of things incom-

patible by their nature; to desire to be both Protestant and

Catholic; to encourage and oppose superstition; to deny

the sanctity of any particular place, and to wish people to

go to church, because the walls of the building are holy.

There is only one query among my marks; it relates to

your observations on the variety of Protestant sects. That

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such a variety was inevitable, when the supreme authority

of the Church of Rome had been effectually opposed, is

perfectly true. Yet I see less of good in this necessary

evil than you appear to discover. It is true that their tenets

suit the various tendencies of the human mind, as these ten-

dencies show themselves at different stages of mental deve-

lopment. I, however, lament that all sects proceed upon

the ground that their respective characteristic views are a

complete and perfect whole ; thus banishing from the minds

of their followers all idea of future progress. Such bodies

of Christians have never taken their ground as an encamp-

ment,—but as fortified positions, to be made the centre of

hostile operations, or at least points of resistance to all who

wish to move on. We experience this evil most bitterly in

this country. All Dissenters, except ourselves, are ready to

join with the Established Church in opposing progress.

But I must conclude. The root of all the evils which

oppress true Christianity lies concealed in the idea of some

infallibility residing somewhere among men, and ready to

serve their purposes, as well as to spare them the watchful-

ness and constant exertion of a truly spiritual life. This is

the source of the progress which Catholicism is certainly

making: Protestants sow the seeds of Popery, and then

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complain of the harvest. If Religion is grounded upon

some infallibility which man must infallibly distinguish from

error, we must all unquestionably go to Rome for salvation.

I have been more than four months confined to the house

in consequence of an attack of the Influenza, over and above

my habitual sufferings. Excuse, therefore, the confusion of

a letter written in a state of great weakness. I am told

that there is a probability of your visiting England. It

would give me the greatest pleasure to be able to shake you

by the hand, and talk to you upon these subjects. Many

thanks for your very kind remembrance of me, and for the

high gratification which your letter has afforded me.

Believe me, with most sincere esteem,

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My dear Sir,

Yours ever faithfully,

J. Blanco White.

May 25th.

Of what importance can it be to the world that the

delight which I have derived this day from my various

reading, uninterrupted by any external call on my

attention, has partaken of the character of sublime

enthusiasm, and has made me live, many hours to-

gether, in conscious gratitude to the eternal Source of

my life, the Giver of all its blessings ? The world

cannot take any interest in this fact; but I should

contradict the feeling of gratitude which I have just

mentioned, if, being in the habit of recording certain

states of my mind, I neglected to enter this testimony

to the power which mental activity has over external

circumstances, in the way of making us independent,

for happiness, from things which the greatest portion

of mankind think indispensable for it.

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313

One great source of pleasure in this last and trying

period of my life, arises from my renovated acquaint-

ance with the French and Italian writers who were

the companions and instructors of my youth. During

the long study of English literature which I begun

when more than seven and twenty years ago I settled

in this country, I had neglected my old literary

friends. Now when I turn back to them, far from

having lost my early taste for their beauties, I find

it so much enlarged and strengthened, I have so

many objects of comparison for the purposes of con-

trast and relief, that my enjoyment is much greater

than before. In endeavouring to cure myself of

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an attachment to those writers, which I suspected

had been excessive, I fell into considerable exaggera-

tions. These however have vanished with age and

experience; and now I find that, without being ex-

clusive, I can fully enter into the peculiar spirit of

the various ages and nations, having nevertheless the

eternal and invariable standard of Nature for my

guide.

What I chiefly rejoice in is, that these mental en-

joyments of my old age lead me to God, and fill me

with increased trust in him.

To Mrs. Lawrence.

May 29th, 1837.

My dear Mrs. Lawrence,

I return Roberts' Views, with many thanks. As works

of Art they are admirable ; but they are faithless Beauties.

VOL. II. P
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The architectural parts are true in regard to individual

Buildings. The Giralda of Seville, for instance, is very

correct, but, like the House of LoreMo.it seems to have been

removed with the foundations to a place which I cannot re-

cognise. The Artist has, in fact, disposed of his detached

sketches according to his fancy, and, for the sake of effect,

grouped them without any regard to truth. What is abso-

lutely odious to me is the living part of the views. His

figures are like broken Spanish to me—false—incongruous

—exaggerated. He thought the Monks more picturesque

than the Clergy, and he crowds the Cathedrals with those

most inappropriate figures. How would an Englishman

like views of London with the whole costume disturbed and

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caricatured ? But so it happens with everything that comes

into the English Market. It is the same with books of

Travels—very few, indeed, excepted. ....

I will say little of myself. I attempted a walk a few days

ago, which made me exceedingly ill. I cannot gain ground

—I feel totally exhausted.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.

P.S.—I recommended my Bookseller to send you a

German collection of Modern Spanish poetry, which he

sent for my inspection. Many of the pieces in the Second

Volume were originally read in the Juvenile Academy at.

Seville, which I have mentioned to you. I could hardly

bear the impression they made upon me when I looked over

the collection. I am sincerely thankful to those who fur-

nished the editor with that part of his materials, that they

did not mention me.

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

315

June 3rd.

Extract from J. G. Mchte.

" The whole of moral existence is nothing but

an uninterrupted Lawgiving of the rational Being to

himself; where the Lawgiving ceases, there Immo-

rality begins."

Why do I receive an indescribable pleasure when

I find such a sentence as this ? Can any other be

the cause, but that my whole spiritual being responds

to this great truth, and delights in it ?—No: I am

sure of this more than of anything else. The sen-

tence is in itself simple enough.

June 11th.
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All the ancient Asiatic Temples had an Establish-

ment of Slaves, who belonged to the Priesthood.—

That Custom has revived, in a spiritual shape, among

us. I have just been looking at a long double row of

Girls and Boys, walking slowly towards Mr. S—-—'s

Church. What a monstrous medley will the Minds

of those Children present if they actually take in the

Instruction of their Priest! No one can form to

himself an Idea of such a state of Mind who does not

know Mr. S , one of the greatest Luminaries of

the Evangelicals. It is probable, however, that the

children will keep very little of what they hear under

the name of Religion; but, unfortunately in most

cases, the mental Distortion will continue through

life, disabling the priestly Slaves from all healthy and

p2
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316 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS

vigorous use of their Faculties.—It is melancholy to

consider the Numbers who are thus mentally crippled

by the activity of the various Priesthoods. Mr.

S 's School appears to me to consist of from two

to three hundred Children.—Does Mr. S and

his Compeers love Education ?—Yes; passionately—

they love the Education which produces Slaves to

their own priestly Class. Allured by the name Edu-

cation, the deluded Parents lend their Children that

the Priest may break them in, and fit them to his

Service.—Until all Priesthoods shall be abolished,

Mankind cannot move on steadily towards the Point

of moral and intellectual dignity which belongs to

our Nature.
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To Dr. Channing.

Liverpool, June 27th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Though much exhausted in Body and Mind, I will not

let pass the Opportunity which Miss Tuckerman's return

presents me of sending you a Line. It has been to me a

real Satisfaction to have enjoyed, though for a short Time,

the Friendship of one that glories in calling you her Second

Father. We lose Miss Tuckerman with sincere Regret.

I wrote to you on the 9th of May, last, and committed

the Letter immediately after to my dear Friend the Rev.

Mr. Thom, who engaged to procure it a conveyance. I

hope the Acknowledgment it contained of the Pleasure with

which I had read your Letter on Catholicism, has reached

you.

Since in January last I was attacked by the Influenza, my

Weakness has kept me constantly confined to my House.

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317

I am, however, generally able to read, not only with Atten-

tion, but frequently with the most heartfelt Pleasure and

Interest. As long as it shall please God to grant me this

Enjoyment I shall not be tempted to complain of my Lot.

But I feel unable to undertake anything that requires a

more active mental Exertion.

Excuse therefore the shortness of this Note; which is

intended only as a testimony of my constant Respect and

Esteem towards you.

Believe me, my dear Sir,

Ever your sincere friend,

J. Blanco White.

To Professor Norton.
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Liverpool, June 27, 1837.

My dear Sir,

On the 30th of April last, I had the pleasure of receiving

your 1st volume on the Authenticity [Genuineness] of the

Gospels, and a kind letter from you. Anxious to acknow-

ledge your kindness without delay, I wrote to you immedi-

ately, requesting my friend, the Rev. Mr. Thom, to forward

the letter through some American house of this place. I hoped

at that time to recover so far out of the weakness in which a

severe attack of the Influenza had left me, as to be able to give

you a detailed account of the impressions which your work

should leave upon me when I had read it through. I, in-

deed, perused it without delay; but I have been and con-

tinue to be in such a state of exhaustion, that I cannot

write even a common letter without great fatigue. I have,

therefore, taken up the pen only not to lose the opportu-

nity of private conveyance which the return of Miss Tuck-

erman of Boston offers me at this moment. I must confine

myself to some very general observations.

Whatever Ability and Learning can do, you have cer -

tainly accomplished in the defence of the Authenticity of

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the Gospels. But I cannot raise my conviction upon that

point to any degree of certainty strong enough to bear up

my religion. It is, after all, a most complicated and

evanescent critical evidence that lies at the bottom of purely

Historical Christianity, a religion of books and documents,

which, unless it be ultimately grounded upon the infallibility

of a Priesthood, is totally unfit for the mass of mankind.

Christianity must consist in things on which every morally

living conscience can pass its judgment. Otherwise, like

all other religions, it would require a Priesthood. The value

of the Christian documents is great, but when that value is

made to depend upon their authority, it vanishes in regard

to the mass of mankind. The critical basis upon which

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such an authority must be established is accessible but to a

very few individuals, and even to many among those privi-

leged judges, that basis appears wavering and insecure.

My conclusion is, that Christianity cannot depend upon such

questions.

I am, however, exhausted by the effort which I have made

to convey to you the plain state of my mind upon the sub-

ject of your work. I must add, nevertheless, that I differ

from your estimate of the general character of the early

Christians. I have touched upon this subject in my answer

to Moore's Travels of an Irish Gentleman in search of a Re-

ligion—which I entitled Second Travels of an Irish Gentle-

man, &c., without my name. I have only one copy of that

work, else I would send you the book itself to supply, in

part, the scantiness of this answer. I trust, however, that

in spite of its total unfitness for the purpose which it should

fulfil, you will receive it as a proof of my sincere respect for

you, and my consideration for whatever comes from your pen.

Believe me, with great esteem, my dear Sir,

Your ever sincere friend,

J. Blanco White.
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319

July 3rd.

It is remarkable that when any Man manifests

strong Convictions, especially if he does not share

them with a Party, he is said to have strong Preju-

dices. The Reason of this Perversion of Language

appears to me to be the Scarcity of strong individual

Convictions. Observing that unhesitating Assurance

is generally the effect of early-imbibed and never-

examined Views, people conceive that every steady

Conviction must proceed from the same source. The

World is indeed divided, with very few exceptions,

into two large Portions; those who believe steadily,

by early Habit and Prejudice,—and those who have

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no steady Belief. When a Man, therefore, has, by

deliberate individual Examination and Experience

formed to himself settled Convictions, in opposition

to the various Parties which divide Society, such a

mental Phenomenon is attributed to Prejudice—the

only Cause, known to the Generality, which produces

external Symptoms similar to those of real Convic-

tion. My immoveable persuasion of the Evils of

Popery is called Prejudice; though it is unquestion-

able that however erroneous it might be, that inti-

mate Persuasion has not taken Root in my Mind

previous to judgment,—which is Prejudice—prcejudi-

dum, but in consequence of a long and intimate Ac-

quaintance with the Popish system and its practical

Effects. My present strong conviction of the Mis-

chiefs attached to all manner of Priesthoods and

Churches united by Dogmas, will be called Preju-

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dice, though it has required the labour of more

than twenty years, and the most painful sacrifices

of Feeling, to overcome my early-imbibed Attach-

ment to such Systems—in a word, to conquer my

Prejudices.

July 5th.

It is a universal mistake among People who make

the essence of Religion consist in the acceptance of

certain Doctrines, that strong fear and reluctance

to deny such Doctrines are identical with a Belief in

them. Having carefully examined myself, I am bound

to declare that, since I became a Protestant, I never

had any other Belief in the great Dogmas of the

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Church. For a long time I would not for the World

have denied those Tenets; yet I was not rationally

convinced of their Truth. I shrank instinctively

whenever an opportunity presented itself to prove

them to others. All that I could do was to de-

claim on the general Topics of Faith and Unbelief:

meaning by the latter, what is certainly wrong, a

total Disregard of the eternal Source of our Being—

a confining of our Views to this present Life of Sense.

The following sentence from Goethe's Life may be

of infinite service to many. I have, for many years,

acted in agreement with its spirit, though it is only

this day that I have read it.

Die Zeit ist unendlich lang, und ein jeder Tag ein

Gefass, in das sich sehr viel eingiessen lasst, wenn

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321

man es wirklich ausfiillen will* III. Band, p. 418.

ed. Paris.

Liverpool, July 30th.

Immortality.

In conformity with my Maxim, that every thinking

Man should put his Fellow-Men in possession of the

results of his internal Experience, I wish to record

a mental Fact relating to myself which, as far as I

can judge, is not wanting in importance. I remem-

ber that even in my Childhood I had a Fear of a

future Life, and shrunk from all the Pictures of

Heaven which abound in the Catholic Books of De-

votion. I preserve a pretty distinct recollection of

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a Dream, which I had about my eleventh or twelfth

year. In that Dream I felt disembodied and climb-

ing up (it was a laborious Motion) through a dimly-

lighted passage, at the end of which I found myself

—'as if I had been a Swedenborgian—in a House

very like those to which I was accustomed in Spain,

full of Angels such as I saw daily in Pictures, who

welcomed me and told me I was really in Heaven.

Though I had now nothing to fear from the Place

of Torments, which I almost distinguished at the

foot of a long flight of Stairs, the deepest Melan-

choly took hold of me, because Heaven appeared to

me a very dull habitation, and I did not know what

[* Time is infinitely long, and each day a vessel, into which a great

deal may be poured if we really desire to fill it.]

p5
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to do with myself through a long, long Eternity. I

was relieved, when waking, I found that I was still on

Earth.

" What a childish Dream," some People will say.

I suspect that the charge of Childishness lies at the

Door of those who make it. The Child did not con-

trive the Dream for himself: it was the pure sponta-

neous result of those Pictures of Heaven which are

supposed to have the greatest Power to bribe Man-

kind into Virtue. Now, if such Allurements had any

real influence they would chiefly exert it upon such

a being as I then was—a stranger to the Passions

and Interests which bind Men to this Life. Yet the

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most glowing Pictures of a future Life had no at-

traction for me. The Fear of an interminable, suf-

fering Existence possessed my Soul, and, though I

had never thought on Annihilation, I remember that

I preferred not to be, to the Chance of living for ever

with the Angels, which I felt somewhat in the cha-

racter of living in a Church.

The same indifference for every modification of

Heaven, as a Picture addressed to the Imagination,

has shown itself within my Heart's core, during

the most devout Periods of my Life, both in the Ca-

tholic and the Protestant Church. Whenever, only

a few years ago, I endeavoured to enliven my Chris-

tian Hope by thinking of that local Heaven where I

was to go after Death, the effect was so opposed to

that which I intended, that I was obliged to turn

my Thoughts another way. In a word—that second

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323

Life, similar to this, that Resurrection in the Body,

was always oppressive to my Mind. Is it that Life

in the Body has been so devoid of Happiness to me,

so laborious and up-hill, that my Feelings shrink from

the notion of Perpetuity in every conceivable modi-

fication of it ? It may be so. But why did this Feel-

ing begin before I had tasted Unhappiness? Or

was it that Unhappiness was actually lodged in my

Soul, by means of the religious Education to which

I was so anxiously subjected from the first opening of

my Mind ? Had the name of Heaven poured into my

dawning Sensibility some drops of that Bitterness,

which has infected every Sweet of Life to me ? I

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cannot answer these questions; but I am able to

state a plain Fact. My Mind is possessed by a sense

of the most filial Confidence in the Supreme Source

of its spiritual, rational Existence. I do not think it

probable that any real Existence in the World shall

be annihilated. But I am averse to the activity of

the Imagination on this Point. I hope to die full of

Confidence that no Evil awaits me : but any Picture

whatever of a future Life distresses me: I feel as if

eternal Existence was already an insupportable Bur-

den laid upon my Soul.—I have never felt any horror

of Annihilation; I will not prescribe, even by Wishes,

to my God; but I would take it at his Hands without

Complaint.
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To the Rev. John James Tayler.

Liverpool, Aug. 6th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Mr. Thom, on bis return from your Neighbourhood

yesterday evening, communicated to me your wish to borrow

my Guigniaut-Kreuzer. Nothing, indeed, can give me more

Pleasure than an opportunity of doing something pleasing

to you. I send the whole of what I possess of that Work,

and beg that you will keep it freely and without limitation

of Time. I have read the early Part of the Work, and am

not likely to have an occasion of looking into it again for

a long while. I am sorry that, allured by the praises of

Benjamin Constant, I sent for Gurgniaut's Translation. What-

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ever may be the Value of his Notes, the irregularity of the

Publication, and the danger, which appears to me at present

a certainty, of never having it completed, are objections

which no advantages of detail can overcome. All my En-

quiries have hitherto failed to inform me whether any other

Volume has been published since 1835, or whether the

Plates belonging to the last-published Portion—the Mytho7

logy of Greece and Rome—have appeared. I fully intend,

if ever I can afford the Expense, to get the German Ori-

ginal ; for in reading the imperfect Translation I feel as if

I was trifled with and almost mocked. The wretched French

Politics I believe are the source of these Irregularities in

the labours of the most eminent literary Men of that

Country. Guizot and Cousin have deserted Literature, in

which they gave the most abundant Promise of Usefulness,

and become Dabblers in Politics. I am thoroughly sick

of the World; I find my Mind growing more and more

desolate every Day. Nothing but my strong Faith in Truth

supports me. You are, my dear Sir, among the very few

whom I know to live by the same Faith. I wish we were

nearer, that we might have frequent communication, " that

I might be comforted together with you by the mutual

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325

Faith both of you and me." What would be the Astonish-

ment of many on seeing me applying these Words to my

all-reforming Principles !

Some time hence, if I find myself with sufficient Strength

and Leisure, I shall beg the use of your Gesenius's Isaiah.

I will let you know when I am ready.

I am very much disheartened by the present aspect of

things in this Country. I fear the Conservatives will take

the Reins of Government erelong. There are no Convictions

among us, except those of long-established Prejudice. The

Reformers of all kinds are like a Rope of Sand.

Yours, ever with great Esteem,

J. Blanco White.
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Aug. 8th.

Expecting to see Mrs. Whately and two of her

daughters, I could not settle to any reading. A

little after two o'clock I had the great and deeply

agitating pleasure of seeing those dear Friends. Re-

ceived some German books from Senior, and a most

kind letter from the Archbishop, urging me to change

my residence to a warmer place.

Liverpool, Aug. 9th.

Yesterday, Mrs. Whately, and her daughters Jane and

Mary, came to see me. It is nearly three years since

I tore myself from them with such Pain and Anguish

as few will be able to conceive. In my present state

of nervous Weakness, my emotion was such that I

feared I could not preserve a full command over me

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—and even that I should physically sink under it.

Conscious of my own deep and ardent Love of them,

and certain of their great Attachment to me, it yet

seems as if this Meeting alone could have revealed

to us the full extent of our mutual Attachment.

The children, as Mrs. Whately assures me, never

forget me. When my God-daughter Blanche wrote to

me a few lines some time ago, and I sent her a short

answer, her mother tells me that she actually mois-

tened the paper with her tears. When, after all my

efforts not to give way to the Impulse of Feeling, I

went to bed last night, the tears flowed irresistibly

from my eyes, and I could hardly compose myself

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to sleep. Those who have spent their Lives in the

enjoyment of regular, every-day, unimpeded Affec-

tions, will perhaps reproach me with Unmanliness.

But little do they know what it is for a Heart, over-

flowing with kindness from the earliest dawn of my

rational Life, and repeatedly torn away by the external

power of circumstances from every Object to which

it has attached itself—little do such People know

how cruelly painful it is for such a Heart to have the

whole course of its sufferings brought home at the

close of Life, by the transient Presence of the dear

Beings to which it clung last, with a prospect of

final Best, and whom the same inflexible Destiny

compelled it to forsake.

The delight, however, which this Meeting has left

in my heart's core is a treasure which I would not

have missed for the world. Our parting was such as

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327

might be expected from such pure and ardent Love.

And yet the accursed Poison of Orthodoxy—the

- notion that eternal happiness must depend upon the

acquiescence in some at least of the Doctrines of

that unknown Being—the Church—poured one drop

of bitterness into our cup of friendship. My dear

Friend, Mrs. Whately, in tears, declared to me her

secret hope that I should return to the Divinitarian

Faith. She said she had studied that point accord-

ing to my method, (I never attempted to explain

any such method to her, because I knew that she

was in circumstances which absolutely prevented its

application,) and that she was convinced I was wrong.

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What could I say to this ? I could not harrow her

heart by the suggestion of any fundamental doubts

invalidating her conviction. I begged her not to

allow her kindness towards me to excite alarm in

her breast about my spiritual safety. I told her I

was sure she was safe in following her convictions,

and -that I felt the same or greater certainty in

regard to myself:—" the more I have studied those

points (I added), the more calm and steady has been

my conviction." " Oh, that is what I fear \" she

answered, while tears flowed down her cheeks.

No one, of course, who has not pursued these sub-

jects with the long, earnest, deliberate attention

which I have employed upon them, can conceive the

deep-seated horror which such repeated experiences

of the poisonous effects of dogmatic Belief raise in

my soul. And yet I would not, if I had the best

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opportunities, attempt to eradicate it from such

hearts as Mrs. Whately's. It would be like dissect-

ing a person alive. There is such an immense mass

of undisturbed Error, of Error which has become

incorporated with the best and noblest feelings of

her spiritual being, that to attempt a separation

would be worse than a deadly blow at her heart.

What would be her condition, if it were possible that

she saw all that I see in that subject! It is dreadful

to consider such an event, though I know it to be

morally impossible.

I am sure that the most difficult kind of toleration

is that which I have used towards my best friends.

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To leave them undisturbed, whilst my Forbearance

appears Distrust of my own Views, is very hard.

But I will not allow my Pride to assume the appear-

ance of Zeal. Let them think what they please,

provided I do not make them unhappy. If there

were the remotest hope of delivering them from that

monster — Dogmatical Superstition — I would- not

spare myself; but England has provided the most

ample and most treacherous means to fetter men's

understandings.

August 18th.

Finished Carlyle's French Revolution, which I read

through with intense interest. He has made a revo-

lution in the method of writing History.

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329

August 28, 1837.

(For an Album.)

To write in an Album !—a difficult Task,

Though the Paper be glazed, and though Beauty may ask.

For Ink, you must use the first Tints of the Spring;

Your Pen, you should take from a Butterfly's wing ;

Of Gossamer words all your Lines should be wrought,

Then beware lest you crush the whole work—with a

Thought.

For rny Goose-quill, believe me, such Books are too

thin;

Wait till Albums are bound in Deal-boards and Calf-

skin.
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August 29.

(A Thought suggested by the Custom of writing a few

Lines to be kept as a Memorial of the Writer.)

Mysterious Lines ! the Heart is loth to tell

The gloomy Sources of your wonted Spell.

Absence and Death, these are the magic springs

That turn to Treasures e'en such worthless things.

—But why complain ? The softness that pervades

Man's truest Virtues, springs beneath Death's shades.

'Tis Sorrow tempers Joy's too dangerous glare ;

Too proud would be the Eve ne'er moistened by a tear.

J. B. W.
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August 30, 1837.

(Proofs of Idleness, not of Conceit, under Suffering.)

Why this Displeasure rankling in the Breast ?

Shall Anger calm the Soul, restore my Rest ?

An idle aim, to reason Pain away,

O'er suffering Sense thy Reason has no sway.

" Endure," such her command, " and know thy lot,

Taste all its Bitterness, hut curse it not.

The Power that made thee did not act from spite,

Else would thy Heart be closed to all Delight;

Else would thy Soul be bound by such a spell,

As would make Life and Thought much worse than Hell.

Wilt thou be thankless ? Wilt thou God accuse ?

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Have not his Blessings oft, like morning dews,

Called you to Life again, refreshed your Soul,

Healed, for a time, your Wounds, and made you whole ?

To thee the power of Thought was freely given,

And boundless Love, the noblest gift of Heaven.

Though often feeling the paternal rod,

Hast thou not been a Minister of Good ?

Scanty, 'tis true ; yet God's, and not thy own ;

He would not then his Instrument disown.

Sure of his Love, cheer up ; short is the way,

Bestow one kindness more, and close your weary Day."

Sept. 3rd.

Civil Liberty is morally useful, only inasmuch as

it makes the free individuals respect themselves.

When Liberty does not produce this effect, it is mere

License, its end Anarchy, and, through Anarchy,

Slavery. Despotism is preferable to Liberty, when it

fails to produce individual Self-Respect, for Despotism

is, at all events, Order. The difficulty of establish-

ing free institutions in such countries as Spain, Por-

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331

tugal, Greece, arises from the total absence of every

seed of that Self-Respect which Liberty may indeed

raise in a rude Soul, but which it will never produce

in a degraded one.

Sept. 10th, 1837.

Baden Powell came to see me in the afternoon.

From Dr. Charming.

My dear Sir, Sept. 10th, 1837.

I thank you for the effort you made to write me in May

last, when you were labouring under severe indisposition.

You will be rewarded, when I tell you how much pleasure

your letter gave me. I am so liable to self-distrust, that

the confirmation of my views by those who have had pecu-

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liar advantages for judging them wisely, gives me relief

and strength. I know no one, whose opinion of my Letter

on Catholicism I should value as much as your own. The

Essay, indeed, was a humble one, hardly worth the notice

you gave it. Still, to know that I have expressed some

great truth, even in so humble a form, is a happiness. To

know that I have escaped the extravagances and prejudices

into which difference of faith so commonly leads, is a relief.

The fear of giving circulation to error has made me almost

too cautious about giving my mind to the public. In this

state of mind, it has been a comfort to me to see my writ-

ings subjected to unsparing criticism. If I have published

little myself, I have drawn out a great many publications

from others ; so that I trust that my mistakes will do no

great harm. Should a few years of tolerable health be

given me, I shall not regret that I have deferred writing on

many subjects; for many mists which once hung over them

have been scattered, and I shall write with greater con-

sciousness of seeing my way plain before me.

Your remarks about infallibility in your letter and various

publications are very interesting. One thing must make

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us indulgent towards many of the ardent champions of in-

fallibility. They feel as if there were no medium between

this and utter scepticism. The dread of losing hold of

vital truths is what produces in multitudes a shrinking from

doubt and investigation. They suspect little that they are

betraying a singular distrust of these truths, by their anxiety

to keep them from being called in question. It is not suf-

ficiently considered that infallibility, to be good for any

thing, must be sustained by infallible reasoning : and this

furnishes an argument against Catholicism which is not

always brought out with sufficient clearness. The Catholic

Church, starting from the fallibleness of individuals, requires

them to bow to an infallible head or tribunal. But unless

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the individual be infallible, in settling the question where

the infallibleness resides, he is left in as much uncertainty

as if it did not exist. Individual infallibleness is thus essen-

tially involved in Romanism, although the denial of it is the

very foundation on which the system rests.

I hope when I next hear from you, that I shall receive

better accounts of your health. I desire for you, after the

storms you have passed through, an easy, peaceful, cheerful

decline of life; and this tranquillity, though it can only

flow from within, requires, as one of its conditions, that the

nervous system should be in health.

I have told you how interesting your history is to me,

and I hope you will leave it to us. The conflicts and pro-

gress of such a mind take stronger hold on me than the

most exciting details of outward events.

I have just published a tract, partly political, on the rela-

tion of this country to Texas. I name it, only to apolo-

gize for not sending you a copy. It is so local, that I

doubted whether it would interest you. If you wish to see

it, you can obtain it from Mr. Martineau.

The legible handwriting of your letters is quite a reproof

to me. I hope I do not tax your eyes too much.

Very respectfully your friend,

Wm. E. Channing.
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333

Liverpool, Oct. 6th, 1837.

My dear Baden Powell,

Thanks to my critical Eyes, I soon discovered the Inter-

polation of your Letter ; and, to prove the Danger of those

heretical Practices, I fell into a Fit of Laughing which

might have unsettled my nervous System for the important

Process of Digestion (for, to be accurate, I was at Dinner)

if I had not tempered my unbecoming Levity with a Dose

of Orthodox Anger. I clearly and at once perceived the

Perils that beset you, and calling up my whole knowledge

of the Methods by which proud Spirits may be tamed, I

made out the following Prescription to be applied secundum

artem.
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Ten Pages of Tracts for the Times, to be taken daily

before Breakfast.

One grain of V. Ts's Controversial Wit before Dinner.

N.B., this Medicine is as powerful as Arsenic, and must be

used cautiously.

To dilute the whole, take large Doses of University Ser-

mons ad libitum.

By Perseverance in this Method, and great Abstinence

from the Exercise of Thinking (which heats the blood) you

may bring down your dangerous companion to the Oxford

Standard, and save her from being proctorized, or made to

do Penance before the C. C. C. Committee.

Well now, you have tempted me into something like a

Frolic, in spite of my Solitude. But, as you well know,

I have a quick Sympathy with the Happiness of my Friends ;

and never did I indulge it more sincerely than in regard to

both of you. I wish with all my Heart I could witness it in

your own House ; but there is a physical Impossibility, on

the one Hand, and a moral one on the other, to prevent it.

There are too many things which I love dearly at Oxford,

and which to behold in the present state of that Place,

would really break my Heart. There are others the sight

of which I could not endure. No ; I must not even think

of such things.
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I reserve the next page for your Lady, to whom as in

Duty bound I would have given the Precedence, but for the

important matter of the Interpolation with which I was

obliged to begin.

Ever your affectionate Friend and Well-wisher,

J. Blanco White.

To Mrs. B. Powell.

My dear Friend,

I fully expected that you would be happy, and you are so.

This is a great source of Pleasure to me.—You want the

Verses I read to B. Powell, and they will take up the whole

of this Page. But you must blame yourself for the Waste

of Paper. Here they are.

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Lines written on a Leaf of Miss Rathbone's Album, of

Liverpool.

Reader, thou look'st upon a barren Page :

The blighting Hand of Pain, the Snows of Age,

Have quenched the Spark that might have made it glow.

Long has the writer wandered here below

Not friendless, but alone; for the foul Hand

Of Superstition snapped every Band

That knit him to his Kindred : then he fled,

But after him the hideous Monster sped

In various Shapes, and raised a stirring Cry :

" That Villain will not act a pious Lie."

Men, Women, stare, discuss, but all insist,

" The Man must be a shocking Atheist."

Brother, or Sister, whosoe'er thou art!

Couldst thou but see the Fang that gnaws my Heart,

Thou wouldst forgive this transient Gush of Scorn,

Wouldst shed a Tear, in Pity wouldst thou mourn

For one, who 'spite the Wrongs that lacerate

His weary Soul, has never learnt to hate.

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God bless you, my dear Friend, and all those you love :

though I perceive, in that case, I am imploring a Blessing

upon myself; but there is no Law against it. Am I not

vain ?

Your affectionate Friend,

J. Blanco White.

Letter from Dr. Tuckerman.

Boston, Oct. 24th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Among the incidental pleasures of my daughter's return

to us from England, one of the greatest was, that of re-

ceiving the note from you which she brought to me. I

am aware that I am indebted for that note to her solicita-

tion, that you would give me a few lines by her. Still I

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heartily thank you for it. I had hoped, when I was in

Ireland, in the spring of 1834, that I should have seen

you at Archbishop Whateh/s. I had long known you

through your writings. But you was then absent. I saw,

however, a small marble bust of you, the impression of

which is still very distinct upon my mind ; and I have great

pleasure in having even this association with your counte-

nance. Yours has been a life of peculiarly interesting and

instructive changes; and your position now,—mentally I

mean,—seems to me to be one upon which I may most

heartily congratulate you. What greater, or even what

comparative good, is there, or can there be in this world,

than the consciousness at once of true intellectual and moral

freedom, of increasing light upon the great subjects of God

and of humanity, and of having done something, and

desired and sought infinitely more, for our own, and the

moral advancement of our race ? I hope that you will

leave for publication such records of yourself as you have

not been willing to give during your life. You express your

anxiety for America. I am not surprised at this. Yet,

in truth, my dear Sir, there is little or no ground for it.

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We are acting out here some of the extravagances of free-

dom. But when I consider through how long a series of

generations the human mind has been enslaved, and the

world divided between the two classes of the oppressed and

the oppressors of our race, and how very partially fitted,

from this very circumstance, are more than ninety-nine

hundredths of us for either civil or religious freedom, my

wonder is, that Society goes on as well as it does. We

have occasional outbreaks and excesses, which occasion a

loud hue and cry, the echo of which soon reaches you.

But you may be assured that intelligence, freedom and vir-

tue, are steadily, though slowly, advancing among us.

There is no ground whatever for a fear of a retrograde

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movement of Society here. The Slave question, from

causes well understood here, and but very partially under-

stood in England, has called forth some of the worst ex-

pressions of the worst passions of the human heart. But

the progress of the question can no more be arrested, than

that of time ; and the most effective instruments of emanci-

pation will be the Slave-holders, and the most hot-headed

advocates of slavery. You will have heard of the deter-

mination of this class of our Republicans to obtain the an-

nexation of Texas to the Union ; and thus, by making ten

or a dozen New States, to secure a decided preponderance

of slave-holding power in the country. Texas,—I mean

as it stands upon the map,—will be the field of long and

most angry battles in our Congress next winter. But fear

nothing. Should a vote for this object be obtained, the

Union will be dissolved; and, as I believe without a doubt,

the emancipation of our slaves will thus be greatly hastened.

Or, should the South fail in this project, its desperation

will be increased; which will, with equal certainty, though

not, I think, so soon, be fatal to their cause. Has human

society ever been advanced in great principles, but by some

great and terrible shaking of its elements ? The moral

progress of society has, indeed, been very slow. Yet pro-

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337

gress has been made. Christianity has done but little for

the world compared with what it seems that it might have

done. But still it has done much. Slavery, where it has

been abolished, can never again be established in Christian

Europe, nor in the Free States of America. The poor and

ignorant in your country and my own, are more and more

recognized as beings of a common nature with the educated

and the rich. England has taken some important steps to-

wards the voluntary principle for the support of religious

institutions ; and America has given a practical demonstra-

tion, not only of its sufficiency, but of its immense advan-

tages for this object. The evils of legalized monopolies in

all their forms, and the rights and claims of free trade and
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commerce, and of free competition in all the departments

of industrial enterprise, are better and better understood ;

and governments are acting more and more wisely upon

these great interests. The education of the people, in the

best sense, is advancing. Never let us despair of human

nature. My long connection with the poor has filled me

not only with hope, but with confidence, in respect to this

great class. I have a thousand times more painful feelings

in respect to the rich and powerful, than to the humbler

classes. Great as is the vice to be found among these

classes, far greater is the amount of their virtue. My ex-

perience among them has brought me to the conviction,

that a degree and extent of moral good yet undreamed of

is attainable among them, would but the rich suitably de-

mand the proper instruments for it, and co-operate, as they

might, for its attainment. But I must stop. I would that

I could be near you, and discuss with you the great interests

of our common humanity. My term of active service, or

of free intercourse with the poor, has gone by. I no

longer have strength for it. But the work of the ministry

at large is in a very prosperous state here. I have three

efficient young colleagues in the service, one of whom is

VOL. II. Q
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to be ordained next Sunday evening. The other two were

set apart for the work in 1834.

May 1 not hope to hear from you again ? My daughter

remembers you with reverential affection. I heartily thank

you for your kindness to her. We talk of you, and love

you as a friend. We have lately been reading, and greatly

enjoying, your " Second Travels of an Irish Gentleman,

&c." May God crown your closing days with ever-increas-

ing hope, and peace, and joy in believing! So prays your

sincere friend,

Joseph Tuckerman.

From Professor Norton.

Cambridge, (N. E.) Nov. 8th, 1837.

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My dear Sir,

I should have acknowledged before, the favour of vour last

two letters, but have myself been suffering from severe

illness during the greater part of the summer, from which

I am now slowly recovering. I earnestly hope that your

health is restored, and that you may be able to pass the

remainder of your useful and honourable life in ease and

satisfaction. I beg you to be assured that no difference

of opinion, however important, can affect my belief of your

fairness of mind and integrity of purpose ; and in making

a few remarks to explain my own views, I am sure they will

be such as will not give you pain.

Opinions I regard as of the greatest importance ; for men,

when not self-condemned, act as they believe, or endeavour

at least to reconcile their actions with their belief, and the

whole history of the world is one lesson of the disastrous

consequences of different errors of opinion. But a great

majority of men, I do not mean of reading and thinking

men, but of men, of human beings, are not morally re-

sponsible for their opinions. These have been determined

for them by circumstances which they could not control.

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339

Whether they are right or wrong is simply a misfortune or

an advantage. Even of reading and thinking men, taking

the whole class, there are few indeed whose religious belief

has, to the same degree with your own, been the result of

personal inquiry and reasoning. Most men are incapaci-

tated both for acquiring a full knowledge of the evidence

of important truths, and for estimating that evidence cor-

rectly, by the prejudices of education, by the circumstances

of life, and by the actual want of the intellectual powers

required. They believe on authority— through their trust

in the good faith, information, and judgment of others;

and so we are all of us on many subjects compelled to do.

The opinions of the world, so far as they have been de-

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termined correctly, have been determined by the gradual

progress of information to which many have contributed,

by the lessons of experience, and especially by the wisdom

and efforts of a very few, the philosophers and guides of

others. It is then no argument against any truth, should

the fact be admitted, that its evidence is not fully to be ap-

prehended even by the generality of common readers, and

that those ignorant of the subject may raise doubts and

cavils, proceeding perhaps from their very ignorance. The

simple question we are to ask ourselves is, whether the evi-

dence be sufficient to establish the truth, and then to con-

tribute our authority towards its reception by giving testi-

mony that, in our opinion, it has been established. There

are no truths, not those most intimately connected with

virtue and happiness, the evidence of which, however de-

cisive, is so intuitive and unassailable, that we can say,

this is evidence by which all must be convinced. The Ger-

man Theologian, Schleiermacher, so highly reputed among

his countrymen, was a pantheist, an admirer of Spinoza,

a disbeliever in the personal immortality of man, and de-

nied any connection between religion and morality. Fichte,

at one period, taught Atheism, however he might pretend

that he recognized a God, in what an English philosopher

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might call the moral sense ; and Pantheism or Atheism has

continued to be a marked characteristic of German meta-

physics. In the last century, the sensual philosophy of

France denied not only all religion, but attacked all mo-

rality, except so far as it might be founded upon self-

gratification, the purpose of securing as many of the plea-

sures of this life as were attainable by an individual. I

do not doubt in consequence the satisfactory nature of the

evidence of any of the truths denied, because that evidence

has not been convincing to the individuals in question.

But I am aware that it could not be fully stated, and the

subject freed from all misapprehension, perversion, and

doubt, without a process of reasoning, which it might re-

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quire more than common natural power and cultivation of

intellect to follow in all its steps.

Religion, in any proper sense of the word, is not an in-

tuitive thing. The history of man, to say nothing of the

very nature of the human mind, proves the contrary. Nor

can it consist in feelings alone. Our feelings, to have any

rational origin or foundation, must refer to objects and

facts; and of the existence of these objects and facts we

must have proof. To this proof no objection is to be

raised a priori, that it requires thought and investigation.

You will not, I trust, suspect me of an intention to draw

you into a controversy, though I should be much gratified

by the communication of your thoughts on any subject.

Mrs. Norton begs you to accept her best regards, and I am,

My dear Sir, respectfully and affectionately yours,

Andrews Norton.
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341

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

Liverpool, Nov. 16th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

I never had the remotest suspicion that you had treated

my Article with offensive Neglect. I have too much in-

sight into Character to be guilty of such a blunder. Open-

hearted, honest people know each other at a Glance ; and

from the moment 1 made your acquaintance, I felt and

have preserved the Attachment and Trust of an old Friend-

ship towards you. What you communicate to me about

the changes in the plan of the Review I had clearly inferred

from the Tone of the Numbers which have been published

since that change took place. Though I found myself ex-

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cluded, I assure you most candidly that, far from taking

offence at the mere fact of the exclusion, I entered fully

into the Spirit of the new Arrangement, acknowledged the

Necessity of it, and declared to my Friends here my sense

of the improvement which began to appear in the Work.

It was not, it is true, the Periodical which you had planned,

but it was something better suited to the Wants of the

Times. As to the exclusion of my Article, I was perfectly

convinced that it was judicious. A word of Explanation

would have sufficed to satisfy me; and now that I know

why I did not receive that Explanation, I only regret that

my Letter to Senior has occasioned to you the trouble of

laying before me the whole History of the altered Review.

I thank you, nevertheless, from my Heart for the great

Kindness of your Letter. * * * I am fully aware that such

Articles as I can write cannot produce any Interest among

the Readers whom you wish to gain over to the important

political Object of the Review. I sincerely declare to you

that I am glad my last Article was not published. From

what I recollect of it, it wanted Unity and Keeping. This

is the effect of my total want of Strength :—my Mind

flags and hastens to a conclusion before it has thoroughly

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worked through the Subject. If, however, at any Time

you should conceive that I might be of use in treating any

particular Point, or reviewing some Book or other, let me

know and I will exert myself.

I must tell you that since the Beginning of the new Plan

I have read through every Number. The last is full of

Talent. Your two Articles have given me great pleasure,

especially that on Armand Carrel. It is (if I may use the

Expression) nourishing to the Mind ; after reading it, one

feels morally stronger than before. * **

My Health is very bad. I do not go out at all ; my only

Enjoyment of Life arises from my Books. I have never-

theless nearly finished the Translation of a Psychology by

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Fichte, the Son. I fear I shall nor live to recast it into

such a Shape and Language as would make its Publication

advisable. At all events I have made myself pretty well

acquainted with German Philosophy and its technical Lan-

guage.

Believe me, with sincere Esteem and Friendship,

Yours ever,

J. Blanco White.

To Miss L .

22, Upper Stanhope-street, Liverpool,

Nov. 17th, 1837.

My dear Miss L ,

It is a fact that, since, on Mr. Thorn's return from Li ,

I received the agreeable information that Mr. W was

about to become a member of your family, not a week has

passed without my intending to write to you. Congratula-

tion, according to custom, would now be too late; but ac-

cording to Reason, it should never be considered out of

season as long as there is happiness resulting from the

event which called forth a friendly sympathy. As I feel,

therefore, certain, from what I know of the persons chiefly

concerned, that time will only confirm the fair prospects of

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343

their union, I do not hesitate to begin by begging you and

Mrs. L to believe that, in spite of my long silence, I

have taken a most sincere interest in Mr. and Mrs. W 's

marriage.

My experience in regard to orders given here for German

books, makes me feel certain that the Hebrew Lexicon

which I desired my bookseller to get for you will never

come. I advise you to try whether you can obtain it

through London.

Your attempt to read Virgil, in order to be able to un-

derstand the Latin of Lexicons, does not appear to me well

suited to the object. Even if you succeeded in thoroughly

understanding the Latin Poet, which I do not expect, unless

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you made your way through many other Latin writers, you

would find yourself a stranger to the modern Latin of Ger-

many. Your opinion of Virgil arises from want of a fami-

liar acquaintance with the Latin tongue, especially with its

poetical language. The beauties of Virgil's Poetry are

chiefly of expression. Nothing can exceed the delicacy of

his pencil, the exquisite tenderness of his style. All this

must be lost to any one who laboriously endeavours to make

out, as it were, the material sense. You would probably

have been more pleased with the sentences of Lucan, though

he is infinitely inferior to Virgil. I would never recommend

Poetry till very late in the study of a language. If in He-

brew, you had gone through the historical books once at

least, before you read the Prophets, you would have saved

yourself much trouble. I have done so, and feel the advan-

tage. There is another probable benefit in this course of

biblical reading. I know, from attentive observation, that

there are very few, even among Divines, who have read the

historical books of the Old Testament accurately. If they

have gone through them, which is not frequently the case,

you will seldom find that they have ever stopt to remove a

single difficulty. They take up certain supposed results of

the narrative, just as the Commentators wish to make them

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out. But whoever reads those books with the degree of

attention which the study of the original requires, unless

he is totally blinded by superstition, will soon be cured of

that miserable Bibliolatry which so widely prevails in

England. The vague theory of Inspiration could not keep

its ground among the thinking part of those who call

themselves, and wish really to be, Christians, if the Old

Testament were generally studied like any other ancient

book. The difficulty which you find in the celebrated pas-

sage of Job arises from the inseparable association of cer-

tain theological notions with the words of the translation.

Redeemer is now incurably what Divines have made it.

The Last Day is of course the Day of Judgment, and so on.

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Remember, however, as a general rule of interpretation,

that such doctrines as that of a general resurrection, had

they been established, would not have shown themselves in

an insulated passage; especially in a book, the subject of

which invites the mention of such doctrines in almost every

verse. This rule is applicable to Original Sin, the Trinity,

&c. If the Book of Genesis, such as we have it, had been

as ancient as it is supposed, and had asserted Original Sin,

all subsequent books must have been full of that view.

Ecclesiastes is now believed by the best critics to be of a

verv late date. But a thorough study of the origin and

history of these books requires a whole life, as well as

high accomplishments. My conclusion from this fact is

simple enough. Can the acceptance of those books, as

unquestionable oracles, be demanded by God as a pre-

vious condition of Christianity ? Such Christianity must

entirely depend upon the infallible authority of a Church—

as the Roman Catholics urge with very popular effect.

I have not read any thing of Dr. Wiseman. He is a

native of Seville, the son of an Irishman, a friend of my

family, whom I knew very well.

Yours ever sincerely,

J. Blanco White.
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345

P.S. I have been much worse for many months. I had

lately a severe attack of fever. My bodily weakness is so

great that I never go out of the house ; and yet people say

that I do not look very ill. I thank God that I can read,

and even write, which, though more exhausting, I can still

manage to indulge in.

To Dr. Channing.

Liverpool, Nov. 30th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Day by day, since I received your interesting letter of

September lUth, have I been trying to find time and

strength to acknowledge your kindness ; but I had been

consulted by a friend upon a subject which required a de-

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tailed and pretty long answer ; and as I cannot exert the

active thought required for composition beyond an hour and

a half or two hours a-day, I constantly found myself to-

tally exhausted at the end of my task, and was obliged to

plit off the intended and really wished-for answer to you.

Yesterday morning I did finish the Notes, which I had been

collecting, and to-day I gladly take the pen to address you.

Let men talk of Physico-Theologies, and Demonstrations

of the Existence and Personality of God, as they please ; to

me, the only satisfactory, soul-filling proof of that sublime

truth, is the human Mind, as I observe it wonderfully at

work in such intellectual and moral communication as it is

my happiness to hold with you and a few other friends.

We do not know each other externally, and yet how sur-

prisingly do our thoughts and our most spiritual feelings (we

have no better name) meet and strengthen each other!

Distance vanishes, and we find ourselves together, impart-

ing and receiving hopes which raise us above the actual

condition of humanity, whilst, without the labour of any

logical deduction, we feel fully convinced that supreme Love

and Wisdom lead, though mysteriously, the mighty, but

Q5
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changeful concerns of this world. I have enjoyed this

highest of all gratifications whilst reading your letter on

Texas, which Mr. Thom had the goodness to lend me. I

read it without interruption, and, I may add, without any

consciousness of fatigue. It is a noble moral Protest against

political Profligacy—the last sin which men are likely to

acknowledge as such, and renounce; for when acting in

bodies, the individuals have a tempting opportunity of shift-

ing their own responsibility upon all the rest; the result of

which is a moral Monster endowed with the collective power

of all, and without a particle of the conscience of each.

Your Letter, I am convinced, will find an echo in every ho-

nest heart, not only in the sound part of America, but

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wherever the English language is understood. It will, be-

sides, I am willing to believe, have practical consequences

beneficial to the great people of whom you are one. The

vigour of its youth is leading it astray from the path of vir-

tue, tempting it to do every thing that seems to promote

the tangible and material interests of the moment; and un-

less a powerful voice—the voice of the Deity himself, through

the unperverted conscience of those who love Him—should

startle the unthinking and the profligate, and call the ener-

gies of the upright into action, there might be a fearful

check on the part of the now insulted laws of our common

humanity. But I fully expect that, when roused into acti-

vity, the millions among you who are still worthy of their

republican liberty, will be able, without resorting to vio-

lence, to bring their deluded brethren of the South to a

clear sense of their duty.

I fear that my Memoirs will be understood but by few.

I have written them at different periods, and as my mind

has been constantly in a state of transition, the colouring of

the language must necessarily want consistency. But even

this circumstance may help such as have the power of read-

ing in other men's souls, to penetrate more deeply into the

internal work, the long process that has been going on

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347

within me for many, many years. One important thing

will after all be evident: it will be seen that if my Will had

been allowed to prevail, that Will, with its affections, would

have fixed me on the side of conformity with Church Au-

thority. The ground of that propensity is a strong love of

sympathy implanted in my nature. Whatsoever prejudices

I have had, were certainly on the side which I have quitted.

But not a shadow of that tendency remains at present.

I had, not long ago, the pleasure of a conversation with

your colleague, Mr. Gannet, and his Lady. My residence

in Liverpool has made me acquainted with several of your

countrymen and countrywomen. The latter, especially, have

increased the good opinion which I had theoretically formed

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of the moral and intellectual effects of your political state

in the North. Books of Travels are seldom to be trusted ;

the author's wish is to be striking, even at the expense of

correctness ; and, what is as bad, they all see things through

their own prejudices. I have lately read a sort of novel—

Marie, ou I'Esclavage, by M. de Beaumont. In the Notes,

which are confined to what the author deems naked facts,

there is the most absurd account of the state of religion in

America: the description of Unitarianism is almost ludi-

crous. The author does you justice, only that he could not

conceive how a Unitarian can be a Christian. It is impos-

sible for a Frenchman, believer or unbeliever, to separate

Christianity from Popery.

Believe me, with sincere esteem and friendship,

Yours ever truly,

J. Blanco White.

Liverpool, Dec. 2nd, 1837.

The distressing Case of an industrious Cabinet-

Maker, frequently employed by me, is one of the ten

thousand instances of this kind, which occur in this

country, and prove that the Poor are left quite un-
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protected by the Law. We hear many high-sounding

Assertions of the Equality of all Classes before the

Law—but nothing can be more evident than that

such Equality is only true in Theory. The Expen-

siveness and Complication of the Law, as it is admi-

nistered, put it entirely out of the Poor Man's reach,

when he wants it for his own Protection. Much of

the personal Liberty enjoyed by English subjects

belongs exclusively to the worst Class of them: a

Man or Woman, who loses all sense of Self-Respect

and Shame enjoys in England a vast privilege of

Mischief. Such Individuals may destroy the Peace

and Comfort of those whom they may wish to annoy,

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without the possibility of a legal Remedy. A wealthy

and influential Man, who can fee an able or crafty

Lawyer, may, after considerable trouble and expense,

abate the Nuisance; but People in humbler circum-

stances must submit to it. The injurious Person is a

particular object of the Law's Tenderness. In him

the Freedom of the Subject is respected; for Freedom

is understood in an active Sense; the Freedom to be

quiet, seems scarcely to exist in the Eye of the Law.

This is particularly true in subjects of mere Police :

any one who sets up a Nuisance, may be sure that

he has two-thirds of the Law on his side, especially,

(as it must generally be the case,) if Magistrate's Law

has to decide.

The Poor Man whose troubles suggest these ob-

servations, has a desperate drunken Virago to his

Wife. Fearing, as he declares, for his Life, he

quitted his House, and proposed a Maintenance to

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349

his domestic Fury. But she had other Views; she

wished to ruin him; she withdrew the Furniture and

sold it; hroke the windows, only that her husband

should have to pay for them to the Landlord; bor-

rowed money in his Name, and whenever any one

called to give him employment, she told him people

were wrong in employing a Villain. Now she follows

the unfortunate man in the streets, throws stones

at him, and is determined to weary him out of his

Life. When the Man observed that the Furniture

was disappearing, he cautioned the associate of his

Wife who was employed in absconding it, that he

would have him taken up as a Thief: and finding

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him, after this warning, with some Articles upon his

person, he committed him to Bridewell. Whether

this was or was not the properest Measure, I am not

able to say; but much less could an uneducated Man

form a correct notion of the course he ought to

pursue. He could not pay for legal Advice, and

probably acted as some ignorant person desired him.

The case was to be heard two Days ago, and the

poor Man, in great Distress—(for he assured me that

his Heart ached at having been obliged to charge his

Wife's Accomplice with Theft)—came to ask that I

would give him a Note to the Mayor, attesting a

general good character—which I did. The case, of

course, was dismissed by Mr. H , (the Mayor

was too late to be present,) but that Gentleman did

not content himself with non-suiting the injured

Husband: he would also have a Joke against him.

" He laughed at me, Sir,"—said the Man, with great

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simplicity, " and told me that if my Wife broke my

Head, I might come to, him for a Plaister." If, as

I believe, this information is correct, I cannot well

express my indignation at such an unbecoming

levity. But from everything I have been able to

collect relative to Police Magistrates, it seems that

they generally acquire something of the Tone of the

Persons who most frequently come before them. The

London Reports of the Police Offices are quite dis-

gusting in that respect: it seems as if the Magis-

trates wished to impress upon the Rogues and Vaga-

bonds, that though there is a Necessity now and then

to send a few of them to the Tread-Mill, their Tricks

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are amusing, and their Impudence (if not directed

against the Worshipful Bench) appears in the eyes

of its occupant, in the light of Spirit and Manliness.

A Plaintiff, who betrays shyness or awkwardness, is

almost invariably a subject of Magisterial Sport.

Well then, to return to my Case : the Law has no

Remedy within the reach of my poor Cabinet Maker,

and he is not bad enough to apply a stout stick as a

Family Prescription. Who knows whether Mr.

H would be inclined to give the Wife a Lini-

ment, or whether he might think of the House

of Correction for the Husband? What, then, if

hai'rassed, distressed, disturbed in his occupation,

this Man was to take to Drinking ?—Who cares for

that ? One poor Man more would sink; but neither

his moral Loss, nor that of thousands in his Rank of

Life, is sufficiently felt to give a moment's uneasi-

ness to the Wealthy Classes.—Is this too severe a

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351

Statement ?—I wish I were mistaken. I acknow-

ledge with Sympathy the Exertions of Benevolence

which are made by the better Classes, but cannot

conceal from myself that most of those Exertions

arise from a Desire to soothe themselves—to remove

the painful Impression which the Mass of Misery

and Crime, of which they cannot but hear some Re-

ports and behold a few Specimens, make upon Hearts

generally abounding with the best Feelings of Hu-

manity, but wanting the moral Discipline which con-

verts mere Sympathies into Virtues. Their Exertions

are usually confined to the comparatively easy Matter

of giving away a Guinea; but the Sacrifice of Time

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and Ease is too painful for them; and the Thought,

Inquiry, and Reflection, without which Benevolence

is universally mischievous, quite overwhelming to their

ill-trained,half-dreaming,or merely sauntering Minds.

Extensively as the Spirit of Association has been

applied in this Country for benevolent Purposes, I

nevertheless conceive that this powerful moral Instru-

ment is frequently employed without proper Discri-

mination. Enthusiastic and Party Feeling are con-

stantly misdirecting and, in a considerable Degree,

discrediting it. We want to see it used without

Bustle and Display, especially in favour of the poorer

Classes. The Case which I have above stated sug-

gests to me the advisableness of forming Societies, in

Towns like Liverpool, whose Object should be that

Of giving MORAL AND LEGAL ADVICE TO THE MEMBERS

of the Working Classes, and of petty Trades. I

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cannot conceive a more effectual Method of befriend-

ing the industrious Poor, than that of taking a visible

Interest in their Troubles and Difficulties, and im-

parting to them such Portions of Knowledge as they

are most in want of, and which they cannot acquire

otherwise than by verbal communication. The

friendly Advice of an educated Man, given when

the Poor may most perceive its Usefulness, would be

more powerful than any Lectures that can be given

at the Mechanics' Institutes.

A single moral Principle explained and applied to

a poor Man's present Difficulties, would raise him in

the intellectual Scale, by an Impulse which his Soul,

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unpractised in Thought, might be inclined to regard

as almost supernatural. No Instruction, especially

in moral points, can have the least effect, unless the

Mind for which it is intended, feels a degree of Thirst

after it;—a State into which our Spirit must at first

be stimulated by external wants, not to be supplied by

mere Externals. To make a poor Man perceive the

importance and sacredness of moral and civil Rights,

he must feel his own in danger. Instruction, in that

case, will be received with Avidity, dwelt upon with

Interest, and converted into spiritual Nourishment.—

But I must briefly state the general character of the

Institution which I wish to recommend. If the mere

Idea of it should not be deemed fanciful, the practi-

cal details would easily be added to my rough and

general Sketch, by such as are versed in such

Matters.
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353

The Association I propose should have for its object

the Establishment of a Court of Friendly Advice.

For difficult cases, it should have an able and respect-

able Lawyer to assist it. It should annually appoint six

of its most respectable Members, virtuous, practical

Men, well-known for clearness of Head and sound-

ness of Judgment: any two should make a quorum,

and compose a friendly Court of Equity. Any indi-

vidual of the working classes, who might be in want

of Advice, should have the liberty of asking it at

stated Hours. To save unnecessary Attendance to the

Members of the Board, for the time being, a Secre-

tary, resident in the House of the Society, might,

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at the request of the Party or Parties wanting Ad-

vice, give Notice to the Board that the Services at

least of two of them would be required the next

Day. These Individuals would hear the ex parte

Statement, and, if possible, endeavour to induce the

other Person concerned to come before them. In a

Word, they should act as a Court of Umpires, and ac-

cording to the spirit in which the Sessions for the

Peace originated, but which Magistrates who can

employ Compulsion, and whose Hearts are flattered

by the exercise of Power, cannot maintain for any

length of time.

The Defects of the present unpaid Magistracy arise

chiefly from the incompatible Mixture of the Ideas

of friendly Interference, and legal Compulsion,

which are attempted to be combined in the Office of

Justice of the Peace. The Poor want the Advice

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(which they cannot obtain from the Police Magis-

trates) and the moral Authority of Men, to whom

they may spontaneously apply, and to whose Judg-

ment they may or may not submit. In a Multitude

of cases they want Judges, armed with no other

weapons than those of Persuasion.

As an Apology for what, to many, will appear as

a Day-Dream of an Old Recluse, I must add that of

the early Institutions of Rome in the time of its

moral Vigour; none breathes a more wise and bene-

volent Spirit than that according to which the Patri-

cians employed themselves at the earliest Dawn of

Day, in explaining the Law, and giving moral Advice

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to their Clients among the Plebeians. A more noble

occupation cannot be conceived : it almost reconciles

the Mind to the otherwise exorbitant Privileges of

the Roman Nobility.

To J. S. Mill, Esq.

Liverpool, December 15th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Your parcel has just been delivered at my door. Only

my strong desire to thank you for your valuable present of

the CEdipus Judaicus can excuse me for troubling you with

a letter. It is a very great kindness in you to part with so

rare a book. I accept it with every feeling of friendship for

the donor.

I wish I had known your wishes respecting the Article in

the last Quarterly, for I should have been able to write more

to the Point. But I will get the Number as soon as I can,

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355

and study it through. If you have received my Notes, you

will have seen that I entertain a strong suspicion of a Pioua

Conspiracy extending from Germany to England. Pusey,

in his better days, visited Germany, and made several ac-

quaintances among the German Divines. At that time he

was bitten with Rationalism, and perhaps you will remember

that he came forward against Rose, the champion of English

Orthodoxy. Newman is a real enthusiast; I do not be-

lieve that Pusey deserves that name, though I should be

sorry to believe him a Hypocrite. But the Mysteries of

Churchism are inscrutable. The Oxford Society of Saints

have for some time been publishing a collection of Tracts

called Tracts for the Times. Newman, Pusey, and Keble,

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the simple-hearted Poet, have been the chief contributors.

The aim of the whole collection is to restore Popery, ex-

cluding the Pope. Fasting, the use of the Cross, the keep-

ing of Saints' Days, and Lent, are strongly recommended.

These practices are becoming pretty general. The Saints

have undertaken Translations of the Works of the Fathers.

I have a detailed Prospectus of the intended Work, but

have not been able to ascertain whether any publication has

taken place already. I have no doubt that they will be

able to do immense mischief. That portion of the English

Mind upon which they build, has closed itself against every

source of light, which might save the country from this de-

ception. People send their children to Oxford, because it

is Oxford, not caring a straw what kind of education they

receive there. These young men are soon after sent out

over the face of the country, in a state of rabid Toryism,

and still more rabid Saintship. It is the combination of

these two spirits that, in my opinion, threaten this country

with a most dangerous reaction against that small por-

tion of the Spirit of the Age which has been at work

among us.

I thank you for the trouble you have taken to send back

poor Seelman's MSS. He has been dead many months, and

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it was indeed happy for the old man to get out of a life of

trouble and poverty.

With sincere esteem and friendship,

I am, my dear Sir, yours ever truly,

J. Blanco Whitb.

Dec. 16th.

In bed the whole day; wretchedly ill; and awake

in pain all night.

17th.

Got up, and scraped together a few lines of a trans-

lation of Fichte. Desultory reading by snatches.

Went to Bed with a most furious cough; my pulse

at 104. Opium made me sleep.

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18th.

Very ill. Began a Letter to the President of the

Domestic Mission Society.

To William Rathbone, Esq.

22, Upper Stanhope-street,

My dear Sir. December 21, 1837.

In proportion to the satisfaction I enjoyed in being one

of those who took an active part in the first Meeting of our

" Domestic Mission Society," is the regret with which I find

myself compelled, by my daily growing infirmities, not to ap-

pear at the second Meeting. I trust that, knowing, as you

do, the deep interest I take in our Society, you will acquit me

of intrusion when I am about to take the liberty of stating

to you the leading impressions which the Report * of our

worthy Minister has left upon my mind.

[* First Annual Report to the Liverpool Domestic Mission Society,

by their Minister to the Poor, the Rev. J. Johns.]

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357

Taking what has been already done, as a whole, and com-

paring it with the collective mass of obstacles which stood

in our way, I rejoice to be able to say, that our progress is

cheering. In my view of the subject, the greatest difficulties

with which we had to contend, were the established Preju-

dices, from which we could not expect to find the minds of

even the very best men, among whom we were to choose

our Minister, quite free. That most excusable, one might

say amiable error—Blind benevolence, which at all times

will threaten Ruin to our Undertaking, could not but be

more or less in possession of a Man who should be ready to

step among the scenes of Misery and Woe to which his

Ministry was directed. And surely a person, who had

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never fallen into that practical Error, would raise my suspi-

cion of his being totally unfit to go among the wretohed

Poor as a friend. The fittest Messenger, in my opinion, is

he who, having originally given up his Heart to the amiable

delusion, that Poverty and Misery can be removed by-

Alms, has a sufficient strength of Mind to perceive his mis-

jtake, and to act as Reason and Experience direct, though

doing violence to his feelings. The candour of our good

and benevolent Minister has put us in possession of the im-

portant Fact, that he is exactly in the circumstances which

I have described. Now my greatest fear has been removed.

I find that our Minister has been daily gaining strength

against the soft and almost irresistible voice of mere ani-

mal sympathy, and therefore 1 feel confident that our moral

Experiment is carried on, on proper grounds, and that, if

we ourselves submit to the same discipline, and do not

spoil our own work by haste and inconsiderateness, we may

rest assured that we have established what may be a source

of great Good to future Generations.

I highly approve of the Principle, as it now bursts out

(p. 7 of the Report) with spontaneous growth, out of a

daily Experience to which a candid Mind could not possibly

close itself. " I have had it still more deeply at Heart, (says

r
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our Minister) to induce my poor People to help themselves."

To this simple Method, the whole Art and Science of doing

Good to Mankind is exclusively reduced. The human lieing

who does not sincerely wish to help himself, will always be

the worse for any external Help. I need not guard against

the absurd construction of supposing, that I apply that great

Principle to such as Nature has already rendered helpless.

Our Minister shows excellent discrimination on that Point.

When Life is in extreme Danger from' external Wants,

Humanity imperiously demands that the poorest individual

may (if possible) be snatched out of the grasp of Death.

But in all cases whatever, every hope should be removed that

the granted Relief can be permanent; every expectation of

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some Chance-gain in Money or Valuables from the kind

Visitor of the Poor, must be mercilessly strangled in its

growth.—The Reason is clear : the moral truth and strength

with which a person in the lower Ranks of Life might help

himself, is wasted and degraded by such low cunning,

truly beggarly side-views to Gain : they are absolutely

inseparable from Hypocrisy.

Another Principle nearly allied to the former, but which,

owing to the perverted Maxims of an ascetic Morality, is

little attended to, is this : the only Root of Moral Reform is

revived Self-Respect. In spite of Misconduct, especially

when Vice has not yet become a second Nature, the blessed

seed of Self-Respect—the Respect due to that Light of God

within us, which makes us rational Beings, may still be

found unchoked. I am inclined to say that to seek out such

Individuals in order to keep the sacred spark alive in them,

is the truest Abstract of the Purposes, the Efforts, the

ardent Wishes of this Society.—Shall it be necessary to

stop the clamour of Bigots and Enthusiasts, by a proper

mixture of technical Phrases about Grace and previous Help ?

I should not feel sure of my Reverence "for Him " in whom

we live and move, and have our being," if at every turn of

Phrase, I introduced some school maxim, lest it might be

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359

thought that I made Man's soul independent from God.

But we are here concerned, not with theological Theories,

but with the practical study of God's own Laws, according

to which the human Mind, when degraded from its Dig-

nity, may be roused to the Exertion necessary for the Re-

covery of its natural Rank.

I have already intruded too long upon you, and yet im-

portant subjects crowd into my mind, all springing from

various parts of the Report. Our Minister has most dis-

tinctly expressed his own true conception of the character

of his office. He wishes to be known among the Poor as a

friend. Oh ! that there were many who took appropriate

pains to establish that character among the Unhappy ! But

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we must not expect too much : it is impossible to appear as

a friend to souls, themselves too selfish and low to know

what friendship is. There is an immense difficulty in

making most individuals of the uneducated classes conceive,

that a Gentleman who gives them no money, can be their

friend. But it is well worth labouring among a multitude

of selfish wretches, for the sake of discovering a single per-

son, man or woman, who can make the distinction between

pecuniary bounty, and sincere, brotherly goodwill.

I heartily join in the wish of our Minister, to have a

Room where he may assemble the best disposed among his

Poor; but I deprecate every thing that might give to such a

place the formality of a chapel. Useful reading; Conversa-

tion upon what has been read, if any one present should

feel inclined to put a question; Prayer, but not at stated

times, which would soon turn it into a mere ceremony ;—

in a word, friendly intercourse with the best disposed, in a

Room devoted to such a purpose, could not fail to increase

our Minister's powers for good.

I must now close these detached expressions of my hopes,

and my ulterior views, respecting our Society. I need not

excuse myself to you, by mentioning that I have been wri-

ting under severe illness. Though my thoughts must want

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development and connection, I feel certain that yu will

find no difficulty as to their general meaning. The promi-

nent result, in my mind, cannot be better expressed than in

the words of our excellent Minister, " I have felt (he says) a

calm and growing conviction, that good is doing in the dieary

agency which has been assigned to me." Had we heard

early boastings of moral Miracles among the poor, I should

totally have despaired. But I recognize the voice of Na-

ture and Truth in the modest words which I have quoted.

With my individual thanks to you, for your exertions du-

ring the time of your Presidency, and most ardent prayers

to God for a full and beneficial development of our Society,

I have the honour to be, my dear Sir,

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Your sincere friend and servant,

Joseph Blanco White.

22nd.

At half past two the Archbishop of Dublin and

Edward came : they staid till a quarter to four.

To Professor Norton.

Liverpool, Dec. 28th, 1837.

My dear Sir,

Your letter of 8th Nov. last found me confined to my

bed with a very severe attack of my habitual complaint.

I was so ill that I could not read, even for a few minutes ;

the letter was therefore left unopened till the following day,

when, in spite of the utmost weakness and dejection, I

can assure you it gave me very great pleasure. I have so

seldom met with practical toleration, that the unquestionable

instance of it which I find in yourself will be a source of

comfort and satisfaction to me as long as I live. My love

of veracity has put you to a severe trial, out of which your

tolerant sp;rit has come unruffled, and perfectly self-pos-

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AND CORRESPONDENCE.

361

sessed. We differ on most essential points; but you allow

me full liberty without a grudge, without the least diminu-

tion of esteem and friendship. I thank God that I have

found you so perfectly true to the great principles, to the

promotion of which I have devoted my life, and for the

take of which I am slowly and painfully sinking into the

grave, without a domestic friend to speak a soothing word

to me in the midst of my anguish. Yet I do not in the

least regret the determination of which I am now experi-

encing the bitterest consequences.

There is unquestionably a great deal of misdirected ac-

tivity in the German world of mind; but we are never-

theless indebted to it for very important results, the fruits

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of patient thought and investigation. The tendency which

yon observe to Pantheism, I consider as inevitable. In

regard to the Deity, our mind is necessarily placed between

the extremes of Idolatry (in the broadest etymological sense

of (1Su\ov) and of Pantheism, or Identification of God with

the World. But the notion of an extra-mundane Deity is

so contradictory, that no sooner does the human intellect

become its own master, than we are compelled to cast off

the Anthropomorphitical God, as we would a material idol;

for indeed such a God is material, i. e. is made up of ele-

ments which the imagination borrows from the material

world. Then begin the enlarged but indistinct conceptions

of a pervading power. Even St. Paul, a Jew whose reli-

gion takes the lead in the various modifications of the God-

idol, breaks out into expressions directly tending to Pan-

theism : " In him we live and move and have our being."

In fact, Pantheism is the form of the improving and reflect-

ing mind. Both systems are necessarily in close connection

with gross errors; but I think the coarsest Pantheism less

mischievous than the most refined Idolatry, which is the

parent of Superstition, Fanaticism, Priesthoods, &c. The

great thing is to preserve the conviction of the separate

personality of the Deity, of its being the eternal self-con-

VOL. II.
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B
362 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNALS, ETC.

sciousness. This must be done by the religious Pantheist

on the ground of his own consciousness, which being the

greatest of all realities, possesses at the same time the most

unquestionable evidence of its not being primitive. The

admiration of Spinoza's philosophical powers will grow.

It is evident that his whole system is founded upon the

erroneous principle, that the consequences of a subjective

definition (such as that of substance) must have objective

validity. But the work is a wonderful piece of reasoning.

I have not yet been relieved from the last severe attack :

the fever does not entirely leave me, and here I am writing

as it were in a dream, under a feeling of fainting which

attends every thing I do. I am convinced that death would

be a blessing to me; but I trust in the great and good

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Power who gave me life, that he will resume his gift when

it is fittest.

My best regards to Mrs. Norton. I beg you to accept my

best thanks for the great satisfaction I now enjoy, that dif-

ference of opinion has not, and will not, deprive me of your

friendship.

Yours ever most truly,

J. Blanco White.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

PRINTED BY RICHARD KINDER, URKKN ARBOUR COURT, OLD BAILKV.

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