Lady Hope’s Visit with Charles Darwin

by Joseph Perrello
Published August 11, 2005

Lady Hope, a faithful Christian woman who lived in Northfield, England frequently visited Charles Darwin as he lay dying. She told the following story:

It was one of those glorious autumn afternoons that we sometimes enjoy in England when I was asked to go in and sit with Charles Darwin. I used to feel when I saw him that his fine presence would make a grand picture for our Royal Academy, but never did I think so more strongly than on this occasion.

He was sitting in his bed, propped up by pillows, gazing out on a far stretching scene of woods and corn fields which glowed in the light of a marvelous sunset. His features lit up with pleasure as I entered the room. He waved his hand toward the window as he pointed out the beautiful sunset scene beyond. In his other hand he held an open Bible, which he was always studying.

“What are you reading?” I asked.

“Hebrews,” he answered, “’The Royal Book’ I call it.” Then as he placed his fingers on certain passages, he commented on them.

I made some allusion to the strong opinions expressed by many on the history of the Creation, and then their treatment of the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis. He seemed distress, his fingers twitched nervously and a look of agony came over his face as he said, I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time about everything. To my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.”

Then he paused, and after a few more sentences on the holiness of God, and “the grandeur of this Book,” looking tenderly at the Bible which he was holding all the time, he said, “I have a summer house in the garden which holds about thirty people. It is over there (pointing through the open window). I want you very much to speak here. I know you read the Bible in the villages. Tomorrow afternoon I should like the servants on the place, some tenants, and a few neighbors to gather there. Will you speak to them?”

“What shall I speak about?” I asked.

“Christ Jesus,” he replied in a clear, emphatic voice, adding in a lower tone, “and His Salvation. Is not that the best theme? Then I want you to sing some hymns with them. You lead on your small instrument, do you not?”

The look of brightness on his face, as he said this, I shall never forget; for he added, “If you make this meeting at three o’clock, this window will be open, and you will know that I am joining in with the singing.”

Was there ever a more dramatic scene? The very soul of tragedy is here exposed to us! Darwin, enthusiast for the Bible, speaking about “The grandeur of this Book, reminded of that modern evolutionary movement in theology which, linked with skeptical criticism, has destroyed Biblical faith in multitudes. Darwin, with a look of agony, deploring it all and declaring, “I was a young man with unformed ideas.” What an overwhelming criticism! The “unformed ideas” of the young man, Darwin, are the basis of modern theology!

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