CORRESP ONDENCE. 



487 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



HOW A PHILOSOPHIC SKEPTIC WAS KEC- 

 ONCILED TO RELIGIOUS FAITH. 



IT has not been usual to regard Herbert 

 Spencer as a reconciler of skeptical 

 minds with religious verities ; nevertheless 

 he has labored with great power and ear- 

 nestness to attain this end, and there has 

 been varied and pointed evidence that this 

 labor has not been thrown away. A letter 

 recently published in the Chicago Times 

 states a quite remarkable case of reconver- 

 sion to Christianity, under the influence of 

 the study of " First Principles." There 

 have probably been many similar cases, 

 though not so conspicuous, and it is not 

 unlikely that there will be a great many 

 more. Perhaps it would be well for our 

 evangelical friends not to overlook this cir- 

 cumstance; and, when they have battered 

 away at hardened old disbelievers in reli- 

 gion with the customary weapons to no 

 purpose, to buy a copy of "First Princi- 

 ples," and, having mastered it, to try Spen- 

 cer's short method as a last resort. The 

 letter referred to relates to the return of 

 the late Judge Alfred W. Arrington from 

 what is termed " modern infidelity " to the 

 Christian faith, largely through the influence 

 of Mr. Spencer's book. The writer Mr. C. 

 C. Bonney was an intimate personal and 

 professional friend of Judge Arrington, and 

 was familiar with the matter of which he 

 writes. Mr. Arrington died in Chicago, 

 December 31, 186*7. The communication 

 to the Times is as follows. Ed. : 



" Mr. Editor : The Times of last Sunday 

 contained a letter written by the late Judge 

 Arrington in 1832, about the time of his 

 renunciation of revealed religion. It is due 

 to his memory that his final return to his 

 early faith be as widely published. In the 

 memoir prefixed to his poems, published 

 after his decease, Mrs. Arrington sketches 

 briefly his religious career, showing him in 

 youth an eloquent preacher, in manhood a 

 truth-seeking skeptic, and at the close of 

 his life a convinced and satisfied Christian. 

 She says : 



" ' At the early asre of eighteen years he com- 

 menced to preach, and at that time exhibited an 



oratorio power that resembled the inspiration 

 of an Italian improviaalore. He drew large 

 audiences, and excited the greatest enthnsiagm. 

 He continued to preach for several years at in- 

 tervals, until he los^t his childhood's faith ; and, 

 after fruitless attempts to find peace in other 

 communions, ultimately abandoned revealed re- 

 ligion. He afterward sought in philosophy a 

 solution of his intellectual difficulties ; but, of 

 course, with only partial success. He, how- 

 ever, never abandoned his search for truth. 

 The different systems of metaphysics, from the 

 Indian philosophers down to the latest schools 

 of English positivism, were as familiar to him 

 as the alphabet. The principles of the physical 

 sciencfs were fully mastered, and their rela- 

 tions to each other and to human life. He 

 sought in every quarter for the knowledge that 

 would enable him to create a sound philosophy 

 of life and morals. ... 



" ' The works of Herbert Spencer had a most 

 happy effect upon his mind. He studied them 

 with the greatest delight, and professed to find 

 in them the possible union of science and reli- 

 gion. . . . 



" ' For some time previous to his last illness, 

 his aggressive skepticism had entirely disap- 

 peared, and in various ways he manifested, not 

 only a respect for Christianity, but a strong de- 

 sire for the gift of faith. This solace was, how- 

 ever, deuied him till he lay upon his death-bed, 

 when, to use his own words, "iife a flash of 

 light, every cloud disappeared^ and the vision of 

 Jesus Christ xvas vouchsafed ?.e." ' 



" I may add to the foregoing extracts 

 that alter this event he called his wife to 

 his bedside, and said, among other things : 

 ' Promise me, Leora, that you will assure 

 my friends, especially my professional breth- 

 ren, some of whom may have been misled 

 by my skepticism, that when I returned to 

 my faith in the Christian religion my mind 

 was not enfeebled by disease, but that my 

 intellect was as clear and strong as ever, 

 and that it was not merely an assent to my 

 early faith, but a conviction as clear as the 

 light of the truth of the supreme miracle of 

 the incarnation. To believe that is to be- 

 lieve all.' 



" These are the words as I recall them, 

 and as I believe, if his voice could reach us, 

 he would ask to have them given to the 

 public. His return from infidelity to faith 

 began with his reading of ' The Unknow- 

 able,' and particularly the chapter .on 'The 

 Reconciliation,' in Herbert Spencer's ' First 

 Principles.' 



" I procured and read Mr. Spencer's 

 book at Judge Arrington's urgent request, 

 and learned its effect on his mind in subse- 

 quent conversations. 



" Some enterprising publisher should 

 give us a new edition of Judge Arrington's 

 writings, with a more ample and detailed 

 sketch of his life than has hitherto appeared. 

 He was a man of extraordinary intellectual 



