I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
E. Meyrick Goulburn.
Mr. Robert A. Cooper.
Norwich, Feb. 25th, 1871.
Rev. Sir,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 15th inst. (which came to hand on the 22nd), and to regret that you can engage in the circulation of only one side of the important question you propose to expound. And I regret it for these reasons, because by so restricting your action, you, while attacking, prevent the fair expression of that form of thought which you seek to destroy, and allow those who hold such opinions to shelter themselves, if need be, under the assumption that your exposition of the case is not theirs. And, also, because your expression of the unqualified certainty of your own conviction of the truth of Christianity (obtained, doubtless, from a consideration of all sides of the subject), is open to the objection that you fear to trust the impartial examination of the evidence of that truth to the minds of others, and implies a latent, though unconscious, doubt of the certainty of the proof of that truth of which you speak so positively.
I cannot accept your description of my position as a “Sceptic or Infidel,” but let that pass.
I am still disposed to subscribe for 200 copies of the Bishop’s sermons, and if you desire me to distribute more, I have no doubt I can dispose of a considerable number.
I am, Rev. Sir, your obedient servant,
Robert A. Cooper.
The Very Rev. E. M. Goulburn,
Dean of Norwich.