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Doc. 258.] 495
JOHN LEWIS’S TESTIMONY.
the printing of this second volume ; and when he had done
this, he gave express orders, that all the money that should
arise in the sale of this large work should be given towards
the charge of the propagation of the gospel. He is so far
from desiring to make a gain of his labours, that he will not
receive one farthing back of the four hundred pounds he has
expended ; and for that reason his works will come exceedingly
cheap to the public.
I further declare, I have not the least reason in the world
to believe him a bigot to any mode or method of religion ; I
know not what community he belongs to, or whether he be
longs to any ; if any one can guess by his writings, he knows
where to find them. But it matters not what or who the person
is that writes, if his writings are founded on truth, and agree
able to such learned men as are competent judges of them.
The deepest and most learned, as well as the most valuable
pieces, are sometimes misunderstood and rejected for many
years, even by learned men themselves ; to instance only three
performances out of the many that might be’ produced, viz.,
Locke on the Human Understanding, Milton’s Paradise Lost,
and Prideaux’s Connexion of the Old and New Testaments.
Those who have been conversant with books, especially in the
trading way, cannot be ignorant of the difficulties these valu
able pieces have met with in making their way into the world :
and it is as remarkable now to observe, how they have been
called for and admired for many years past.
How this great work of Arcana Calestia will succeed in
the world, is impossible, at present, to determine. If all men
of learning were of the same mind with the ingenious and
pious Mr. Penny,217 of Dartmouth, we need not fear success ;
for in his letter to me,* on the publication of the first volume,
are these following words : "I have long ardently wished to
see the historical part of the Old Testament, which seems
only to regard the Jewish dispensation, (and upon that account
is too lightly regarded by the major part of the present
Christian world,) proved to be as delightful, instructive, and
as necessary for the knowledge of Christians as the New.
* This letter is contained in subdivision B of the present Document.
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