Autograph letter signed : Glasgow, to William Angus Knight, [1879] October 14.

Concerning his contribution to Knight's forthcoming publication, "Scotch Sermons"; apologizing that he had "...the bother of writing me again for this rubbish of mine. I wish I had time to revise, & my extempore writing will be in sad contrast with the careful production of the other contributors, but - unless you let me off, which w'd be best & most satisfactory to me - I must let the Sermons go just as they were written. I have sent these two because there is a sort of concatenation between them. As to your preface, it hits the mark admirably & I sh'd not presume to revise it. The only criticism on which I will venture is that it leaves on my mind the impression of being rather too big & solemn for the occasion. Sermons, however, good, cannot pretend to anything like scientific treatment of theological questions. The dialectic is only for science, & a Sermon writer must be content with the Verstelling. To deprecate criticism therefore as if the volume could in any sense be regarded as a theological manifesto, is only to court a very obvious rejoinder. I think we sh'd avoid anything like seeming to expect the world will make a fuss about it; & therefore if it were mine, I w'd be disposed to cancel the last paragraph, beginning "Its aim is not &c. This however is only my impression & I submit it only for what it is worth."