Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letters from John Gray, place not specified, 1907 : manuscript transcriptions in the hand of Katharine Bradley

BIB_ID
423770
Accession number
MA 2092.17
Creator
Gray, John, 1866-1934.
Display Date
Place not specified, 1907.
Credit line
Gift of H. Bradley Martin, 1960.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 26.6 x 20.2 cm
Notes
The transcripts are not dated however a penciled note at the top of page 1 says "copied from John Gray letter 13 April 1907." Page 2 is not dated but states at the top of the page "From type-written letter." It is unclear whether the letter was written to Miss Cooper or to Miss Bradley but the transcripts are in the hand of Miss Bradley.
The letters are part of a collection of correspondence by and to Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper dating from 1888 to 1910. See the collection record for more information (MA 2092.1-48).
Provenance
Gift of H. Bradley Martin, 1960.
Summary
Saying, in the transcript from April 13, 1907, "The birth of a world is a trifle compared with the birth of a soul : all our history is to a supernatural fact what the stretching of a line is to the [illegible] of a temple. At the best we have only occasional glimpses of these most imperfect of the momentousness of Salvation, that the Eternal should have left the bosom of the Father, have emptied Himself, and contain the form of a servant, have taught us, borne with us, suffered the terrible death; this only suggests what it is worth to the Divinity to raise us to its eternity;" transcribing an additional letter on the verso, "from type-written letter / It is a good thing sometimes to reflect upon the being of God, so far as we are able - (to serve souls the Divine Majesty shows itself at moments - often to those newly reconciled, but by no means certainly. Such revelations are God's free gift, (they cannot be got by the subject] - how he holds all things in his immensity, how he moves all things, himself in ineffable repose, ineffable light; ineffable solitude 'thou art' is perfect praise of God, without our adding what is 1'r let us say / 1. Good, beautiful, wise / 2nd All these and much more in a supreme degree; more infinitely:] / 3rd Not only the [illegible] service, but ipsa bonites, ipsa pulchritudo, ipso sapientia - / The picture awaits your demand. / John Grey."