CHAPTEK III. 



RELIGION. 



My father in his published works was reticent on the 

 matter of religion, and what he has left on the subject was 

 not written with a view to publication.* 



I believe that his reticence arose from several causes. 

 He felt strongly that a man's religion is an essentially pri- 

 vate matter, and one concerning himself alone. This is 

 indicated by the following extract from a letter of 1879 : f 



" What my own views may be is a question of no conse- 

 quence to any one but myself. But, as you ask, I may state 

 that my judgment often fluctuates ... In my most ex- 

 treme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist in the sense 

 of denying the existence of a God. I think that generally 

 (and more and more as I grow older), but not always, that 

 an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my 

 state of mind." 



He naturally shrank from Avounding the sensibilities of 

 others in religious matters, and he was also influenced by 

 the consciousness that a man ought not to publish on a sub- 

 ject to which he has not given special and continuous 

 thought. That he felt this caution to apply to himself in 

 the matter of religion is shown in a letter to Dr. F. E. 

 Abbott, of Cambridge, U. S. (September 6, 1871). After 

 explaining that the weakness arising from bad health pre- 

 vented him from feeling "equal to deep reflection, on the 

 deepest subject which can fill a man's mind," he goes on to 

 say : " With respect to my former notes to you, I quite 

 forget their contents. I have to write many letters, and 



* As an exception, may be mentioned, a few words of concurrence with Dr. 

 Abbott's Truths for the Times, which my father allowed to be published in 

 the Index. 



t Addressed to Mr. J. Fordyce, and published by him in his Aspects of 

 Scepticism, 1883. 



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