1878 THE ECLIPSE OF FAITH 87 



others who think as I do, there is a dreadful truth in 

 those words of Hamilton, philosophy having become 

 a meditation not merely of death but of annihilation, 

 the precept know thyself has become transformed into 

 the terrific oracle to (Edipus 



' Mayest thou ne'er know the truth of what thou art.' 



There are many who abandon belief for various 

 reasons, and who in various methods stifle regret and 

 call in stoicism to their aid. There are those who 

 really care very little about the ' ultimate problems,' 

 and who find the world of sense quite enough to 

 occupy them. And there are souls who seem to be con- 

 stantly crying out in their darkness for light, the bur- 

 den of whose cry seems to be : ' Fecisti nos ad te, Domine, 

 et inquietum est cor nostrum donee requiescat in te. J 

 These last have within them the capacity for holiness, 

 the capacity for a real and tremendous power to witness 

 for the truth, to do and to suffer pro causa Dei. To 

 this class George Romanes belonged. By nature he was 

 deeply and truly religious, and interested and absorbed 

 as he was in science, it is no exaggeration to say he was 

 just as keenly interested in theology, that is to say, 

 in the deepest and ultimate problems of theology. 

 By the questions which divide Christians he was not 

 greatly attracted, and he never could see any reason 

 for the bitterness which exists between e.g. Roman 

 and Anglican. 



This is anticipating. In 1878 he had touched the 

 very depths of scepticism, and he would have rejected 

 the idea of a possibility of return, and would have 

 rejected it in terms of unmeasured regret. 



A letter from Mr. Darwin is interesting. 



