Genre:

Letter, Introduction; Extract, Letter, Reportage

Publications extracted:

Mr Paddon

Subjects:

Agriculture, Utility, Piety, Theology of Nature, Biblical Authority, Causation

    Clarke introduces a letter to him which gives an account of the corn reaped from a single grain over successive seasons. Urges the relevance of such material, not only as being useful in improving agriculture, but as grounds for reflection on the divine attributes. Observes: 'Many thousands of those whose only business is to cultivate the ground, to produce food for themselves and others, and who constantly read your work, are glad to see any thing that may induce them, through the medium of their own labour, to climb from earth to heaven, and see His hand, where before they were accustomed to see nothing but a sort of blind result of their own spades and plough-shares' (29). Uses Biblical texts to urge that God is the first cause.

See also:

WM3/1/9a/2, WM3/1/10a/2