“Although I have not the honour of being known to you, I am no stranger to your writings, nor to the uniform and noble manner in which you have asserted the cause of true and genuine Christianity, against the sophisms and absurdities of those who would persuade us that they are the only objects of the benevolence of the great Creator and common Father of all His offspring. It seems strange even to myself that so long a time has elapsed, in which I have been aware how nearly my opinions on religious subjects have agreed with your own, without introducing myself to your acquaintance. The fact is, that within the first twenty years of a life which is now verging on its seventy-eighth year, I had devoted myself to the task of forming, as far as possible, a complete code of moral conduct, from the precepts of Jesus Christ as given in the New Testament, in his own words; in which I had made a considerable progress; and although circumstances prevented my completing it, yet the impression which the attempt made on my own mind convinced me, that true Christianity consists alone in doing the will of our Father which is in heaven, which will is not only sufficiently, but most powerfully and beautifully enforced in that sacred volume.
“In my riper years, as the affairs of the
| 416 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“Some of these works I would even flatter myself may, perhaps, have occurred to your notice; but at all events, that I may not suffer the little that remains to me of this life to pass away without being better known to you, and having at present a favourable opportunity of sending you a few volumes on various subjects that may give you a tolerable idea how I have been employed, I have made up a specimen of my writings, which I have to desire you will accept as the gift of one friend to another; in order that, if they should be received in the same spirit in which they are sent, they may in fact diminish the barrier which Providence has placed between us, and introduce us to the society of each other, to be united, during our future lives, as true and faithful followers of our common Master.
“The opportunity to which I have above alluded is that
of a young friend who is about to depart
from hence on a voyage to Calcutta,
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 417 |
“We have, for some time past, been flattered with hopes of seeing you in this kingdom, but I fear I am not destined to have that pleasure. At all events, it will be a great gratification to me if I should survive the attacks of the paralytic complaint, under which I have now laboured for some years, till I hear that you have received this very sincere mark of the deep respect and attachment which I have so long entertained for you, and which I hope to renew in a happier state of being.
