Mr Cox's Museum

In 1772 John Newton visited Mr Cox's Mechanical Museum - Here is his take on that!

Before you read his letter,
take a look at this short BBC piece on The Silver Swan.

The Silver Swan was used as a crowd puller in the Museum.



August, 1772
My dear Miss,
I received some instruction where I little expected it--at Mr. Cox's Museum. The efforts of his ingenuity amazed me--while at the same time I was struck with their insignificance. His fine things were curious beyond all I had any idea of; and yet what are they better than toys and amusements, suited to the taste of children! And notwithstanding the variety of their motions, they were all destitute of life.

There is unspeakably more wisdom and skill in the mechanism of a butterfly or a bee which flutters unnoticed in the fields--than in all his fancy apparatus put together! But the works of God are disregarded, while the feeble imitations of them which men can produce gain universal applause! If you and I could make self-moving lions and elephants, what would it profit us?

Blessed be God, that He has given us some glimpses of His wisdom and love--by which our hearts, more hard and lifeless by nature than the stones in the street--are constrained and enabled to move upwards, and to seek after Him. He has given us in His Word, a greater treasure than all that we ever beheld with our eyes, and a hope which shall flourish when the earth and all its works shall be burnt up! What will all the fine things of men's devising be worth on that day?