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    Extracts of Letters from Dr . Middletonto Lord Harvey , communicated by kit ? Lordship ' s Brother to the Rev . Mr .-Talboty of Kyneton , in Warwickshire .

    July i , 1733 . It is my misfortune to have had so early a taste of Pagan sense , as to mak £ me very squeamish in my Christian studies *

    Aug . 35 , 1 733 . I had pleased myself with the thoughts of spending one day philosophically with Chubb . Sept . 15 , 1 733 .

    The Orthodox think to tame me , as they do wild beasts , by suffering- me to take no rest : but I shall have the grace still to follow my own reason , in spite of all their nonsense ; and am more thankful to God for what / do not believe thaii

    for what I do : in the one , I may possibly be biassed by custom 3 authority , interest ; but the other is the triumph of reason over prejudices that involve the rest of mankind . If I am so happy as to please by my performances , &c . 1 can

    only say , ' ecce opus manuum tuarum ; an inviolable attachment to her majesty and her family , is the only merit and virtue that I pretend to . Oct . % i ,

    1733-Dr , Berriman ' s Preface is void of all candour and good sense . Dr . Waterland ' s . Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity , " is a surprising piece of nontense and irreligion , Augt . 10 , 1734 .

    Sunday is my only day of rest , but not of liberty ; for I am bound to a double attendance at church to wipe off the stain of infidelity ; when I have recovered my credit , in which I make daily

    progress , I may use more freedom ; but at present the subjection I am under of keeping all forms , obliges me to put an end to your lordship ' s trouble . July 37 , 1735 .

    I like ( speaking of Hoadly ' s " Plain Account" ) , both the design and the doctrine , as I do every design ^ of ( reconciling religion with reason , or where that may not be done , of briifri ' rig them as near together as possible . His enemies will insult JiU » with tfcc charge of le * -

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    2 Extracts ofLetters of Dr . Middlet on ' s .

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    sen ing Christian piety ; but the candid will see that he only seeks to destroy a superstitious devotion , by establishing a rational one in its place * But , as by

    throwing down the shrines and altars of the chureh , he will raise no small stir among the men ef raft , I rejoice much with your lordship that he hath secured the good castle of Farnham for a retreat * Feb . xi , I 735-6 '

    You would advise him { the Bishop of Winchester ) to waste no more of his time in controversy , which , generally speaking , means no more at the best , than to make plausible to iveak men , ¦ what is contemptible to men of sense .

    • March 30 , 1736 . [ On Mr , Fox ' sy now Lord llchester ' s wedding . ] This happy event will convince him > that whatever else may be found there , matches at least are made in heaven .

    Sept . 13 , 1736 , The slumberers in stalls suspect me very unjustly of designs against their peace ; for tho' there are many things in the church which I wholly dislike , yet while I am content to accquiesce in the ill 9 I should be glad to taste a little of the good , and to have some amends

    for that ugly Assent and consent * which no man of sense can approve . We read 6 £ some of the earliest of Christ's disciples , -who followed him not for his works , "but for his loaves and fishes . These were certainly blameable , because they saw his miracles ; but to us , who had not the happiness to see the one , it may be allowed to have some inclination for the

    other . Your lordship knows a certain prelate , who with a yery low notion of the church and most sacred bread , hath a very high relish 3 and a very large share , of the temporal . My appetite to

    each is equally moderate , and would be satisfied with any thing almost but mere emptiness . 1 have no pretensions to riot in the feast with the elect , but with the 9 inner only in the gospel , to gather up _ the crumbs that fafl from the cable .

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    be , that dunces will not derive authority to their censures , nor bigots a sanction to their calumnies , from the terror and injunc-

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    tions of civil establishments of religion ? . ¦ I am , Sir , Your constant reader , JOSHUA TOULMIN .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1810, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2400/page/2/