From William Spence   5 November 1857

London

5 November 1857

My dear Sir,

Very many thanks for your excellent Sermon which I have read with great pleasure. It is just that union of Religion & good sense which a Sermon should be, with that practical application to the minds of the hearers which must assure their conviction. I am particularly pleased with your rebuke of that morbid sentiment— a pity (for to religion you have clearly shown it has no claims) which puts more for the criminal than his victim, & of the extension of this feeling to the class furnishing our juniors leading to that confounding of justice, & wilful lying which you have so admirably pointed out.

This [illeg.] affair like that of the Criminal will I have no doubt bring good out of evil as all history & experience for men is the constant method of Providence in the government of the world.

I am | my dear Sir | yours very truly | W. Spence

Please cite as “HENSLOW-488,” in Ɛpsilon: The Correspondence of John Stevens Henslow accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/henslow/letters/letters_488