Southampton, July 24, 1797

MR DEAR SIR,

YOUR letter would have been answered sooner if I had remained at home: but new places and faces have engaged me of late. I left London the 4th instant (soon after I received it,) passed a fortnight at Reading, with Mr. Cadogan’s widowed people, and came hither the 21st.

I hope the spirit for missions, which has of late been so generally awakened, will, in due time, by the Lord’s blessing, be productive of much good. The first and present good effect of it seems to be the concern excited for the multitudes in our own land, who are perishing for lack of knowledge. The evangelical dissenters amongst us are taking this matter into serious consideration, and are sending forth missionaries into all quarters. And though I am of the Establishment, and their zeal is not likely to aggrandize mother church; if they employ fit instruments, and the Lord is pleased to own their labours, I must and will rejoice; for I dare not wish the sheep should be starved, because their own reputed and official pastors, cannot, or will not, feed them.

I know not how you draw the Tine in your country, between preaching and exhorting, if I speak when the door is open to all comers, I call it preaching; but if I speak in a friend’s house to the family, or to a few more who come only by invitation or permission, I do not preach; for to preach is to speak publicly. A preacher is K»f ki, a herald; and thus the reading of the scriptures is called preaching, Acts xv. 21. The speaking upon a text, or without one, makes no difference: at least, I think not. It is possible to preach a very good sermon from an English or Scotch proverb. Modes and fashions alter in religious matters, as well as in dress. Our first reformers usually preached from common places; they did not take a text, but discussed a subject — such a»faith, repentance, holiness, &e. yet surely they were preachers of the gospel. The two volumes of Homilies, to which our clergy are obliged by law to subscribe their assent, are a valuable collection of sermons in this way.

I am no advocate for self-sent preachers at large. It seems a maxim in the present day, that if any man thinks himself qualified to preach, he is fully authorized to go forth and try. Some of these have done good; but I believe many of them have done mischief, diffused errors, multiplied contentions and division, and caused the ways of truth to be evil spoken of. But when men whose characters and abilities are approved by competent judges, whose motives are known to be pure, and whose labours are excited by the exigency of the occasion, lay themselves out to instruct the ignorant and rouse the careless, I think they deserve thanks and encouragement rather than reprehension, if they step a little over the bounds of church order. I know that many on your side of the Tweed deem Presbyterian order as dejure divino — a tabernacle made exactly according to the pattern on the mount, and that it would be criminal either to add, or to take away a single loop or pin. On our side of the river, many think as highly of Episcopal, or of Congregational order. Perhaps much of our differences of opinion on this head, may be ascribed to the air we breathed, and the milk which we drank in our infancy. If I had lived in Scotland, and known the Lord, my ministry, I suppose, would have been ia the Kirk, or the Relief, or the Secession; and if Dr. Erskine had been born and bred among us, and regarded according to his merit, he might perhaps have been Archbishop of Canterbury long ago.

Thus I have given you my free sentiments on your knotty point. I would not willingly offend any person. I claim the privilege of thinking for myself, and I am well content that others should enjoy the same. I hope I love all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. If they agree with me in this point, I would not waste half an hour in attempting to convert them to my opinion in smaller matters. I leave others to dispute whether the husk or the shell of the nut be the better of the two; I hope to be content with the kernel.

What is become of Colonel Blackador’s Letters? I hope you have not given up your purpose of making a selection.

My paper is nearly full. If it please the Lord that nothing unforeseen should call me home sooner, we shall stay here till about the middle of September. A letter from you will find me if enclosed to P. M. As this conveyance is always open, you never need wait for a frank. I believe your last was near three weeks old before I received it. When they come via Mr.*** I have them the day, and almost the hour, when the mail brings them.

Give my respects to * * *, &c. Please to tell the two latter that my heart and prayers are with them. May the Lord bless them in their own souls, and make them a blessing to many. Give my love likewise to my brother and sister when they come in your way. She knows that I wrote last, and I can seldom afford to send two letters for one.

The Lord be with you, dear Sir. Continue to pray for Your affectionate,