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LETTER TO JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH, Esq. UNFINISHED.

MY DEAR MR. B

THE enclosed packet was handed to me by Mr. Cooke, several days ago. If, therefore, it ought to have been sooner with you, I am the person in fault. The fact was, I wished to write to you; and that induced me to detain the packet a day or two. I began to write; but, as usual, my letter began to extend itself; and now, finding it in vain to hope for an immediate finishing of it, I send the packet, determinately, this day, after an attempt to do so before, and after continued, and repeated interruption. The truth is, if I did not give myself a little time, in the morning, I should be able to do little, or nothing; as, even at this time, when Dublin is emptiest, I meet such numerous avocations, by visits and incidental businesses, as would leave but a ragged account of the day, if it were not for the morning hour, and the domestic afternoon; it being my practice, never to dine abroad: a rule, however, which I should be sorry to recommend, at least, in the same degree of strictness, to almost any body else.

I was glad, sincerely so I assure you, to hear, from Mr. Cooke, of your advancing recovery. I only hope you will let it be complete; and not begin, too soon, to move about, in your customary way. It is good never to be precipitate; nor to be impatient of confinement. I do not agree, by any means, with the mystics, that natural self, and its movements, are

as substantially to be put down by the grace of our Saviour, as carnal self, and its movements. But, I do certainly think, that discipline, and thorough breaking (as a horse is broken), are fully as essential, in the one instance, as expulsion and extirpation, in the other: and, therefore, as there may, really, be as much unsubdued wilfulness, in our own ways of doing good, as in another's ways of doing evil; where the blessing of thorough instruction is afforded, one of the methods of it may be, to disable, wholly, for a time, from doing; that the pupil may learn to be quiet, as well as active; so that, when he comes to be active again, there may be more of the inner man, and less of the outward man, in his activity; that, even in his common movements, he may become less the servant of accident, and more his own master, so as never to be unduly hurried, or run away with, by the object of the moment; but to be ever above one's self, and, by that means, conqueror over every thing besides ; for, sure I am, He who reigns within, will never be vanquished by any thing external.

I believe this is an essential part of the meaning, of doing God's will on earth, as the angels do it in heaven; for, though they do it ardently, they do it calmly. To lose their tranquillity, would be, to lose their heaven. In fact, calmness gives effect to ardour. The cherubim, in Ezekiel, "ran and returned, as the appearance of a flash of lightning;”— yet, with all this rapidity, there was no perturbation: "they turned not when they went; they went, every one, straight forward." In all their movements, there was nothing vertiginous; and there was, also, the exactest harmony; "their wings were joined one to another;" that is, "their wings" were straight, the one toward the other." They kept

their position, without the slightest irregularity; and, because they were thus exquisitely regular themselves, the attendant machinery of Providence as strictly kept time with them:-"When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them." If I mistake not, there is sublime instruction in this intrinsically grand, and glorious representation.

But, even this falls far short of what we are elsewhere taught, on the self-same subject; I mean, by the example of incarnate Deity. There is nothing more uniformly conspicuous, in our Redeemer, than his majestic composure. A glorious serenity, like

that of the sun in the western heaven, marks his whole blessed and adorable course. Be the movement what it may; whether he feeds thousands in the wilderness, or walks in Solomon's Porch, like one who loved contemplative leisure, and liked to enjoy it, interchangeably, in perfect retirement, and in more frequented scenes; still, he is the consummate contrast, the infinitely impressive, and engaging counter-example to that dissipation and distraction, which he so emphatically reproved in his friend Martha.

But this will not do: my long letter' will say enough, when you receive it; this, therefore, shall be confined to passing occurrences. I have seen,

and had some conversation with, your very good friend. I like him much better, than probably he will like me before we part. In the honesty of his heart, he is set, like the rest of them, on protestantising the native Irish. I did not hesitate to say,

"Distribute Bibles to all that will take them; there can be no great error in that; but, beware how you whet the edge of a zeal, that is keen enough already; the priests will be stimulated by hostility, and the event will shew, who are most likely to suffer from it." The fact is, that proselytes to the Roman Catholic religion, are said to multiply. It may be; for, in rousing the Roman Catholic clergy, to defend their own interest, we equally arm them, for attacking ours; and they have it in their power, to carry the war into quarters, where, in the present circumstances of this scarcely emerging country, they can have little to counteract them.

I

I still, as firmly as ever, stick to my point, that there is, in all these matters, a much more profound mystery of Providence, than has yet, perhaps, entered fully into any human mind to conceive. feel, as much as any temperate, well-informed Protestant can feel, the abstract desirableness of a better religion. No member of the reformed body values his special privileges more than I do; but, most deliberately, do I deem it better, that the natives of this country should be, at this day, exactly what they are, than that they should be such dissenting Protestants, as I have seen before me in the North of Ireland; or such episcopal Protestants, as we have seen in English Militia Regiments. If I am asked, Would you wish, then, that all were what your natives are? I say, No. I am well aware of the value of Protestantism, and rejoice that it has extent and number enough, to secure its never going back. But, I conceive, Divine Providence adjusts different means, to different objects; all which objects, again, are to serve the final establishment of his kingdom. Amongst the means that are now in operation, I consider, most

certainly, the mass of nations, here, still adhering to the Roman Catholic religion, to be one, and, perhaps, a highly important one; I consider Great Britain of inconceivable importance to the world; I consider Ireland, as of vast importance to England; and I consider the extraordinary poise and balance of three great distinctions of religion here, as profoundly, and most influentially connected with the great scheme. I cannot explain myself, on such a point, in a letter which I mean to be very short; and, perhaps, repeated explanation would be little enough, to rescue me from the suspicion of extreme fancifulness. But, let me point your attention, to one obvious instance of utility, in the existing state of things. Is it not of great moment, that there should be an urgent necessity for the general notion of religion to be introduced, every now and then, into Parliament? It has no tendency, I grant, to cherish pious sentiment, directly; but, does it not tend to keep the room for it far more open, than if no importance whatever were publicly attributed to the subject? Let it be observed that, all that Christianity indispensably needs, in order to its making some way, at least, is, that it be not absolutely overlooked or neglected. That it should be spoken against, is no bad omen; but, that it should not be spoken of at all, is fatal. The point, then, is, to keep attention directed to it, by whatever means; and it will, to some hearts, at least, speak for itself. What was the great end of miracles, at the beginning, but to draw attention? It was, evidently, not to make converts; for, if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." But, to a business of such noiseless commencement in itself, some accompanying means of