TSAWTB Section 6 - Interlude - A Miscellany of Items

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Section 6 - Interlude 273 should be removed from the official collection of his letters. Moore makes a noteworthy comment on this censoring of Darwin’s letters for he says “With her [Emma’s] guidance, the world would know only the ‘Darwin’ the family chose to reveal” (p24). This could be particularly significant if Lady Hope’s visit was unwelcome as we will see. What is not disputed is Darwin’s approval of Church activities. Only a few weeks before he died he sent a donation to the South American Missionary Society in view of the good effect of the missionaries in Tierra del Fuego (Croft:105). One of his life-long friends was a High Anglican Churchman, and he helped with several “good works” for the poor in Downe, working in conjunction with the Church (M:16) and highly approved of Fegan’s work. His support for Christian activities is far greater than one would expect from reading his more public letters of this period - as we will now consider. Darwin’s letters That Darwin remained an agnostic to the end of his life is mainly based upon the letters he wrote at that time. Seven letters have been quoted (Q12/2:99) that show he still accepted evolution and there is little reference to any moral dilemma or Christian thinking. Lady Hope visited him in late 1881, and any interest in Christianity would only date from about that time. All previous writings can therefore be discounted as they cannot refer to a change that occurred later. This would apply to the first four of the letters quoted that are dated between 1873 and 1879 (the letter to the German student) and Darwin’s “Autobiography”. However, even then he was admitting that he “fluctuated” and that he had “never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God” (1879). He said that “the impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God” (1873). He also stated that one’s faith is a private matter for the individual alone. There are three letters dated February 1882 written two months before his death in April of that year. In all three he affirms his continuing belief in evolution, but this cannot be construed as confirming he was not a Christian; the two subjects are quite separate. The nearest he comes to touching matters of faith is when he wonders whether the existence of God can be proved from the laws of nature, which is “a perplexing subject, on which I have often thought, but cannot see my way clearly”. It is agreed that there is nothing in these last letters that actually indicates any return to faith, but neither is there anything that flatly denies it. Darwin’s dilemma? In order to fully appreciate the comments that follow, we would pause here and ask the reader to place himself in Darwin’s position. Within his own lifetime, he had become world-famous for his theory, and was one of the most prestigious men of all time. He was well aware that his theory undermined Christianity, but now, facing death, he may have sought the certainty and reassurance of the faith that he had first studied in his youth. Had he publicly admitted that he had returned to the Christian faith, let alone a truly evangelical faith, the repercussions would have been cataclysmic - both for him and the whole family. The uproar it would have created would have been unbearable to his family - both the religious and anti-religious sides. It is little wonder, therefore, that he should have decided that any interest in a true
274 Section 6 - Interlude (evangelical) Christian faith should be kept very private, such that it was not even discussed with family members. Almost certainly, they would have become aware of his new interest, but there could have been an unspoken agreement that it should be completely ignored; they also would have been well aware of the repercussions. Darwin may have maintained his stance of agnosticism for the benefit of his public image, but asked Lady Hope, whose vibrant evangelical faith was obvious to all, to visit him and discuss her faith with him. As I contended in a previous work, Darwin seems to have had one attitude for his atheistic contacts, and another for his local acquaintances. Was he hoping to have the “best of both worlds”? Emma Darwin Some have suggested that Emma herself was behind the “Lady Hope story”, but this does not bear critical examination. That Lady Hope wrote the account for the Watchman Examiner is beyond dispute. Moore notes (p119) that Emma was “reportedly present” on 28th September, when he suggests Lady Hope came. Whatever day she visited, we can be fairly certain Emma was present in the house. Emma Darwin’s silence does present a problem. She was keen to get Darwin to read his Bible, and if he was reading it when Lady Hope came, surely she would have rejoiced and referred to it at some stage. Yet she is silent. She was also sympathetic to the Band of Hope, entertaining them in the house, as she wrote on 18th August 1881, about the time when Lady Hope would have been visiting. Also, Fegan wrote that sometimes members of the family came to his Gospel services. That they did not go regularly suggests that they did not have an evangelical faith - a crucial distinction in the eyes of this writer at least, which may explain much that seems inexplicable at this distance in time. She wrote to Darwin in 1838 when they were courting, begging him to read his Bible and referred to “our Saviours farewell discourse” in John’s Gospel. The family attended the local Anglican church but in 1871 left for another when a boorish new vicar came. However, she held firmly to the Wedgewood family’s Unitarian beliefs and Moore says Emma was “Unitarian by conviction, Anglican in practice” (M:14 and Desmond:403). Emma’s silence about a change in Darwin’s faith is against Lady Hope’s account, but Moore notes that in 1881 she said that “nothing can be said too severe upon the doctrine of eternal punishment for disbelief” (M:36). That none of the family were evangelical leaves the possibility that they may all have been disturbed by any deep change of heart by their famous father. Even Emma, who rejected evolution and was concerned for her husband’s beliefs, “would not have tolerated anything so intrusive as personal evangelizing” (M:57). The date of her visit Moore gives no evidence for his suggestion that she came in the afternoon of the 28 September - the same day as Darwin’s visitors. There was very good weather on 14, 16-18 September and 28 September - 4 October. Fegan fell ill in early July and Lady Hope could have visited Darwin several times during his absence, with her last and most memorable visit that took place in the late sunny period being the one she most clearly remembered and recorded. There is one important point. Moore notes that none of those in the family
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