THEOPHOBIA: ITS CAUSE 39 



ally urged Cowper to abandon the task of trans- 

 lating Homer, a labour undertaken to distract his 

 poor sick mind from thinking of itself, because 

 such work, not being of a religious character, 

 partook of the nature of sin. It is no wonder 

 that such a rule of life had not infrequently the 

 most distressing consequences. Newton himself 

 admits that his preaching had the reputation of 

 driving people into lunacy. In a letter asking 

 that steps may be taken to remove one poor victim 

 to an asylum he says : " I hope the poor girl is 

 not without some concern for her soul ; and, 

 indeed, I believe a concern of this kind was the 

 beginning of her disorder. I believe," he con- 

 tinues, " my name is up about the county for 

 preaching people mad . . . whatever may be the 

 immediate cause, I suppose we have near a 

 dozen, in different degrees, disordered in their 

 heads, and most of them I believe truly gracious 

 people." 



Let us turn to the other example which I pro- 

 pose to select, that given by Mr. Gosse in his 

 truly remarkable work Father and Son, one of the 

 most faithful pictures of life ever written. The 

 first instance shall be an extract from the diary of 

 the mother, obviously a woman of great power 

 and gifts if she had been given an opportunity 

 of displaying them. " When I was a very little 

 child," she writes, " I used to amuse myself and 

 my brothers with inventing stories such as I had 

 read. Having, as I suppose, naturally a restless 

 mind and busy imagination, this soon became 

 the chief pleasure of my life. Unfortunately my 



