Autograph letter signed : Leeds, to William Angus Knight, 1872 August 6.

Concerning the "ecclesiastical storm" Knight has been facing; saying "One could find it in one's heart to be indignant - with those who have raised the late proceedings against you, were it not so sad: and I know not whether most to lament the pain & distress such an inquisition into your private acts of friendship must have caused you, or the existence of the state of mind which has prompted it. The latter is, indeed, the graver evil: the former naturally awakens all one's sympathy.- I rejoice, however, that the Presbytery at Dundee has had the opportunity of hearing certain truths proclaimed in a manner which it cannot readily forget, - even if it as little forgives -, and I gather that you are upheld completely by your congregation as well as by the liberal press of Scotland. Yet I do not suppose that any amount of extra-ecclesiastical support can counter balance the deep disappointment which must inevitably arise when one's own church proves unworthy & by her rigid intolerance & uncharity, dissipate the growing hopes of a larger fellowship in which she might bear a part. You know, indeed, that I differ widely from your view of the legitimate limits of intellectual divergence from the standards of the Church, but do not suppose that difference renders me insensible to the harassing nature of the contest you have conducted single handed, or to the service which it must have rendered to liberal Christianity in Scotland;" discussing at length the differences between Trinitarianism and Unitarianism; expressing his disagreement with his "...three propositions with respect to Creeds & their use...Why not leave people to unite by their religious sympathies (on wh. they are agreed), instead of trying to fasten them together by Creed wh it is admitted no two persons can understand in the same sense?;" expressing his agreement with him "on the realities of faith" as expressed in a sermon of Knight's he recently read; expressing his hope that Knight might stop by Leeds on his way to visit Dr. Martineau in Wales; apologizing for the length of his letter and saying "...but I trust that ere long you will be once more at ease in a truly 'free' Church'."