I ought now to answer yours of some three weeks—Sunday night—since, but I shan’t find it easy to say much worth troubling you with on the subject. The first thing that occurs to me about it is that I don’t father “the fear of death is a hangman’s whip,” but Burns or Hogg or Scott or Shakespeare. Secondly, I don’t believe I applied it as you seem to think.

The fact is I don’t believe the fear of death does speak much or very effectually as a driver. What’s the reason? For if we sit down and talk it over in your style, it certainly cuts us up terribly. I rather believe we must all—even among the best of Christians—have more or less sceptisism (spell it right, I can’t.) We are religious too much from the thought: “It can’t do any harm at all events,” and have not a good substantial foundation for our belief (not faith). Were you not startled to see how little we all knew about the evidence those Sunday evenings and how much doubt we all had? I do not think Collins was right about examining the whole thing thoroughly and making up one’s mind without prejudice from the evidence, disregarding what other men think.

If we do so, I can not see how we can be wrong. And if that French infidel gave a true and candid account, I don’t see—I wish I could—how he, with all his endeavours after the truth, can suffer the pangs of remorse to all eternity in a deeper hell than you and I who merely rely upon a blind faith in a mystery. That poor fellow is a heart-sore to me. I wish I could think there was a purgatory and I could spend myself to get his truth-loving soul out of it.

I abhor infidelity and I think have convinced myself sufficiently of its absurdity. But it is seldom the needle stands firm and direct to what in my [231]soul I believe is the true faith. At present, it is dipping at (or against) Unitarianism.

I think Charley Lamb in a letter to Coleridge (they both appear to have been Unitarians) uses language something like this: “What is this,” (He is reprimanding him for some liberty of speech with sacred things) “What is this better than what they would say who make believe the” (or, a) “man, (Christ Jesus) equal to God” or “who think God a man,” or something of that sort. It is a long time since I saw it, and I can’t give it to you now, so it will [not] strike you as it did me. But my idea is if these folks are right and if hearts that prompt to goodness and acts of kindness, and searching heads, were to find what was right, we should be as likely to find it with them as with us perhaps. But I say if they should be right, should not we be guilty—no, not guilty—but are we not in the habit of a constant blasphemy and a dreadful one, too?

Now, here are some of our greatest men and best scholars & philanthropists—letting alone the Foreigners, German Philosophers and their coworkers in England (Carlyle &c)—Franklin and Jefferson (and I have a much better opinion of Jefferson every way, lately) and Adams (Franklin & Jefferson are more Unitarians at least than anything else I think) [and] our first Theologian (so considered in the Edinburgh [Review]) Channing—all these men, and plenty of others will occur to you, that on other subjects we consider almost as authorities, the results of whose investigations and reasoning we pay the greatest respect to.

Is it not at least our duty to try to be sure—to know that we have a reason, a right to be satisfied—that what we look upon and act upon as truth and duty is not as they think (and are equally confident with us) as rank and horrible blasphemy?!

I’ve somewhere got Jefferson’s ideas on this and I’d like to give them to you if I find them.

My sheet anchor (in reasoning about this) is the truth of the Bible, new and old. If ’tis true—and I can’t see how it could be otherwise—Unitarianism can’t bear up against it. I’ve given you about all my Unitarianism in the above reflections. I am not much afraid of it, but I shouldn’t like to study their books and reasoning without preparation.

I’ve rambled so far (and since I began I have been to hear Mr. Hasting’s lecture on Moses’ psalmody, etc.), I’ve really forgot ’twas I had to say on “the subject before the meeting,” i.e., fear of death. But thus much: I feel just so as you do. Only I have cause to feel ten times “more so.” Our consolation must be that we in preparation and in the hope of yet doing something for the good and help and salvation of our fellow sinners and the honor & glory of Christ through whose all-powerful atonement and mediation —as we believe— we can hope to be saved from Justice.