THE WISH TO BELIEVE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—As Dr. Littledale has given us an interesting account of a convert to Romanism whose wish was fathsr to his thought, perhaps you will kindly allow me space for one instance which has recently come under my notice, similar to his in some respects, but differing from it in others. The intending convert was warned (as in the case he mentions) of the existence of 4' unimpeachable evidence" against Romish doctrine, and this warning kept him, for a time, from taking any farther step in the matter. Being, however (unlike Dr. Littledale's acquaint- ance), a searcher for truth, he sought this evidence between the -covers of Dr. Littledale's "Plain Reasons against Joining the .Church of Rome." This is the only circumstance in which the cases differ. Within a few days after he had finished the volume, he, too, was received into the Church. Here, no doubt, -the "wish to believe" indirectly hastened conversion ; for, in the absence of such a wish, he would never have read the book.
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