BIB_ID
409182
Accession number
MA 9252.1
Creator
Carpenter, William Benjamin, 1813-1885.
Display Date
1873 October 27.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1908.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.7 x 11.4 cm
Notes
Acquired as part of a large collection of letters addressed to William Angus Knight, Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and Wordsworth scholar. Items in the collection have been individually accessioned and cataloged.
On stationery with the blind embossed seal of the University of London and the address: "University of London, / Burlington Gardens, W."
In the letterhead, the century has been pre-printed and Carpenter has filled out the rest of the date by hand.
On stationery with the blind embossed seal of the University of London and the address: "University of London, / Burlington Gardens, W."
In the letterhead, the century has been pre-printed and Carpenter has filled out the rest of the date by hand.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from William Angus Knight, 1908.
Summary
Concerning a spiritual crisis: thanking Knight for keeping him informed about "the various stages of the persecution you have undergone, and of the issue to which it has brought you"; expressing his sympathy with Knight's struggles; reassuring him: "But I felt sure that between the freedom which a mind like yours must have in order to live its true life, and the unreasoning adhesion to old forms of thought which is the characteristic of the noisiest of the Free Kirkites, there could be no permanent bond. If they are foolish enough to drive out men like you, their Church will all the sooner come to pieces from its inherent rottenness; for the spirit of the age will not much longer tolerate such dogmata as those you have repudiated"; writing that he is glad to see that Knight is being supported by his congregation and he trusts that "you and they may be able to show the world that the religious life of a Church does not depend on dogma, but upon what is far more vital in Christianity"; recommending a testimony by one "Mr. Geldart": "You may be glad to see what another Seceder feels at his escape from trammels, and I trust in time you may be able to feel the same enjoyment of your freedom that Mr. Geldart does."
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