On the subsidence of his excitement, he was overwhelmed with the perfect recollection of all he had uttered during the utmost fury of his dreadful ravings, and his state was truly miserable and deplorable. In this state I took great pains with him, treated him with every possible kindness, and endeavoured to show him every possible mark of my confidence: one instance of which may be mentioned.—I gave him, at a very early period of his convalescence, a set of manuscript sermons, all in loose slips, and which he read with great pleasure, and preserved with great care. They were affectionate moral discourses, strictly, I believe, in agreement with the spirit of Christianity, though not on any peculiar doctrines; for in these I had purposely avoided all doctrinal points, although doctrinal views may, when properly presented, be the best preventives, and in some cases the best medicines, in the cure of insanity; but the circumstances in which I was at that time placed, appeared to forbid even their most cautious introduction, and were scarcely admissible to an audience consisting of some of almost all denominations. However, he said, the spirit of these discourses just suited his altered state of mind, for he himself felt horror-struck at the views which had led to such awful consequences.
Though no one can feel more than I do, the necessity of not busily trying to proselyte or unhinge unnecessarily any one’s settled opinions, yet this was an extreme case, and in such cases, where cure seems to depend on the proper administration of counteractive views, every other feeling should give way to this conviction; but at the same time, every thing depends on the judicious mode of stating these sounder views. This case was a remarkable instance of the necessity of such management; and where such views were apparently of the utmost importance to his comfort and peace. But it would require a separate Essay to defend what I conceive those sounder views; and even were I to give this striking case as a specimen of their happy influence, I still might lay myself open to cavils and objections. I shall, therefore, in a separate Essay, bring forth all the arguments, and exert all the power I possess in their defence.