( ™ ) 



CHAPTER in. 



BELIGION. 



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 

 folt strongly that a man's religion is an essentially private 

 matter, and one concerning himself alone. This is indicated 

 by the following extract from a letter of 1879 : — j* 



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

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

 that my judgment often fluctuates ... In my most extreme 

 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." 



Ho naturally shrank from wounding the sensibilities of 

 others in religious matters, and he was also influenced by the 

 consciousness that a man ought not to publish on a subject 

 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 Cam- 

 bridge, U.S. (September 6, 1871). After explaining that 

 the weakness arising from bad health prevented 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 can reflect but 

 little on what I write; but I fully believe and hope that 



* 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. 



