Henry Crabb Robinson, 2 Plowden Building, London, to Wilhelm Benecke, Heidelberg, 26 January 1834.

My dear Sir,

      I have delayed most unwarrantably in writing to you not for the usual cause having too little to say to you; but on the contrary, having too much. The truth is that your excellent book has deeply interested me  And I have been very desirous of writing to you at length on it:  But I have been unable to do so to my own satisfaction.  At length I have determined to do what I ought to have done, months ago, forego that more minute consideration of it, which I will reserve till we meet, I hope at no distant day; And content myself, for the present, with stating a few general results – I have read your work with mixed feelings of satisfaction and uneasiness but in which the agreeable largely predominate.  I have never attempted to conceal from you that my mind is very unsettled on the great points of religion, And that I am still, what the Quakers call, a seeker – I was very ill educated, or rather I had no regular instruction but heard what are called orthodox notions preached in my childhood, when I like other children believed all that I heard uncontradicted – But before I was 20 years old, I met with anti-religious books, and had nothing to oppose to sceptical arguments – I sprang at once from one extreme to another. And from believing every thing I believed nothing.  My German studies afterwards made me sensible of the shallowness of the whole class of writers whom I before respected  And one good effect they wrought on me.  They made me conscious of my own ignorance and inclined me to a favorable study of religious doctrines.  After this your conversation awakened my mind to this very important and salutary doubt.  It occurred to me that it might possibly be, that certain notions which I had rejected as absolute falshoods were rather ill-stated, erroneously stated & misunderstood truths than falsehoods. Or rather that possibly there might be most important truths hidden, as it were, behind these misrepresentations. Now this impression has been greatly advanced & improved by your book, And I am in consequence most anxious to pursue this inquiry – in which I flatter myself that you will kindly give me your aid.  And for that purpose I mean, if you will permit it, to come over & take up my residence for the summer in Heidelberg –

       I will however advert to one or two of the main points, both in the history of my own mind, And of your book.  Having originally heard the popular doctrines concerning the fall of man – the Sin of Adam – justification by faith And the eternal damnation of all mankind except a few believers merely on account of their belief, stated in the most gross way; the moment the inherent absurdity of such notions was made palpable to me, I rejected them without hesitation the finding in your work such a statement of the real import of the doctrines of the gospel as is entirely free from all those rational objections by which I was so strongly influenced in my youth, & the effect of which still remains  Your views concerning the fall of man may be true.  The popular doctrine must be false. Your view concerning the ultimate purpose of the scheme of redemption is worthy the purest conceptions of the divine nature.  The popular doctrine of heaven and hell is Manicheanism with this worst of additions that the evil spirit is more powerful than the good spirit – for only a few are to be saved after all – not less satisfactory to me is your explanation of the nature of faith – as expressive of a purification of the heart – Reinigung der Gesinnung.  The vulgar notion really represents the supreme being as actuated by feelings not very different from the pique and resentment of vain people who punish those who believe what they say – In a word, there is no one topic which you have elaborately treated in a manner that is repugnant to my feelings and wishes – [From this point on, the majority of the letter has been marked out] But – and now I proceed to the less pleasant class of part of the subject – Your book presumes the truth of certain doctrines; which form the very essence of religion.  Now I do not partake of this faith; tho’ very desirous indeed to become a believer  And therefore I distrust myself even as to those other portions of your work which in themselves, are not repugnant to my sentiments.  Now I learned when a school boy that if in arithmetic I made a single blunder, that was enough to prove either that I did not understand the rule, or that I wanted the faculty of giving such uninterrupted attention that I never mistook the value of every figure – So must it be, in all matters of science and truth – If your scheme of religion be true, every point of it must be true – [This next section was to be included along with the opening section of the letter] Now the one subject doctrine which forms at present an insurmountable stumbling block is that of the atonement.  The doctrine of justification thro’ the merits of Jesus Christ   For I am not without hopes that I shall hereafter receive from you explanations as reasonable as on other points.  And that I shall find here too that tho’ you talk with the vulgar, you do not think with them – But do not mistake my object in writing this.  I do not ask you to write me a book – And it is not in a letter that such a subject can be treated; but whenever I have taken up my residence near you I shall request your aid in not merely this matter only; but generally in the study of the great Christian scheme in all its bearings, about which I have been talking and talking very idly & sometimes very lightly all my life, without ever studying it as I ought.  I am anxious, as I said before to remove this reproach from me; for whether true or false it is sheer folly on my part to have given it so little attention or rather to have attended to it in so desultory a way.  [The remainder of the letter has been marked out]  I regret that I am ignorant of Greek, but I must observe by the bye, that in a number of passages your translation is far preferable to the English – But whether in these passages you have followed Luther or not I do not know – I shall bring my marked copy.  Having mentioned the Atonement as a difficulty in my way, I ought to add that I find no impediment in the common notion of the divine and human nature of the Jesus Xt  As I am conscious of being both Soul and body and yet One, I can see nothing even incredible in the notion of the divine and human nature of the redeemer, as he is called; but in what does that redemption consist? That is the great difficulty.  Here again, the vulgar doctrine expressed in such phrases as the “precious blood” of Christ  – his infinite sufferings – the atoning sacrifice &c &c – these like the doctrines which you have so well explained excite nothing but disgust for the present.  My wish & hope are that you may be able to throw light on these also – I believe I have already told you that so far from being shocked at the doctrine of preexistence, I more than thirty years ago asserted its rationality – I very early indeed came to the conclusion that it is irrational to suppose a being created with a new immortal Soul.  That which an act of generation has produced, must like all generated things be compounded of perishable substance.  If there be an eternity a parte post – there must be an eternity a parte ante – This I thought at a time when I had no clear notion or distinct belief in any immortality at all.  You are already aware of the sublime ode of Wordsworth on this subject –  “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting &c[”]  And you must have been both gratified & surprised by the singular opinions and faith avowed by Göthe in preexistence of which Falk has given so curious an account

        I will not mix up any lighter matter with this serious subject: And therefore I abstain purposely from giving any account of myself and of my Summer’s journey in Scotland with Wordsworth – As soon as I know this letter has been received, I will write a letter of a very different kind to Mrs Benecke, to whom & your family in general I beg to be kindly remembered.  I shall tomorrow call on Mr Will. Benecke, to inquire about you before  I put this in the post

                                                   I am with the sincerest esteem

                                                                               Most truly yours

                                                                                            H. C. Robinson

2 Plowden Building

26th January 1834

P.S: 28th – I called yesterday in [Tohen house yard] – Mr W. B. was not at home, but he was I understood as well as his family quite well.  By the bye I have never congratulated you on this connection

Text: Crabb Robinson Correspondence, Dr. Williams's Library, London, 1834-35, letter 3.