Chapter XLIV: Letter XLIII: To Mr. M

July 27, 1777.

GO-TO!--the man who visits church twice in one day, must either be religious--curious--or idle--whichever you please, my dear friend;--turn it the way which best likes you, I will cheerily subscribe to it.--By the way, H----n was inspired this morning; his text was from Romans--chapter the--verse the--both forgot;--but the subject was to present heart, mind, soul, and all the affections--a living sacrifice to God;--he was most gloriously animated, and seemed to have imbibed the very spirit and manners of the Great Apostle. Our afternoon Orator was a stranger to me--he was blest with a good, clear, and well-toned articulate voice:--he preached from the Psalms--and took great pains to prove that God knew more than we--that letters were the fountain of our knowledge--that a man in Westminster was totally ignorant of what was going forward in Whitechapel--that we might have some memory of what we did last week--but have no sort of conjecture of what we shall do to-morrow, &c. &c.--Now H----n’s whole drift was, that we should live the life of angels here--in order to be so in reality hereafter:--the other good soul gave us wholesome matter of fact;--they were both right--(but I fear not to speak my mind to my M----, who, if he condemns my head, will, I am sure, acquit my heart.)--You have read and admired Sterne’s Sermons--which chiefly inculcate practical duties, and paint brotherly love--and the true Christian charities--in such beauteous glowing colours--that one cannot help wishing to feed the hungry--cloathe the naked, &c. &c.--I would to God, my friend, that the great lights of the church would exercise their oratorical powers upon Yorick’s plan:--the heart and passions once listed under the banners of blest philanthropy--would naturally ascend to the redeeming God--flaming with grateful rapture.--Now I have observed among the modern Saints--who profess to pray without ceasing--that they are so fully taken up with pious meditations--and so wholy absorbed in the love of God--that they have little if any room for the love of man:--if I am wrong, tell me so honestly--the censure of a friend is of more value than his money--and to submit to conviction, is a proof of good sense.--I made my bow to-night to Mrs. H----; the rest of the rogues were out--bright-eyed S---- and all.--Mrs. H---- says that you are hypped--nonsense!--few can rise superior to pain--and the head, I will allow, is a part the most _sensible_, if affected;--but even then you are not obliged to use more motion than you like--though I can partly feel the aukward sensations and uneasy reflections, which will often arise upon the least ail of so precious a member as the eye--yet certain I am, the more you can be master of yourself (I mean as to chearfulness, if not gaiety of mind) the better it will of course be with you.--I hope G---- is well--and that you ride often to see him I make no doubt.--I like the monkey--I know not for why, nor does it signify a button--but sure he is good-tempered and grateful;--but what’s that to me?--Good-night:---- the clock talks of eleven.

Yours, &c.

I. SANCHO.