[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIB, — Mr. Salt in
the Spectator of April 22nd reasserts his conviction that Richard Jefferies did not return to the faith of a Christian. As Mr. Salt further asserts that it is incredible he should have done so, it is unlikely that any evidence to the contrary will be accepted by him. But for the sake of those among your readers to whom the area of spiritual possibilities is less limited, may I quote rather more fully than has hitherto been done the letters of those nearest to him during the last few months of his life ?- Prom Mrs. Jefferies's Letter to Mrs. McC. (Eltham), written in the autumn of 1887.
"God has been so good to mo and raised me up such friends, it makes me feel that He heard and answered my darling's prayers.
He used to pray so earnestly for me and the children be used to say, '0 God, for my beloved children. I love them so, I know not what to ask.' I give you his very words. Three weeks before he went to rest he was laid on the sofa in the dining-room, and asked me to read to him the sixth chapter of St. Luke, beginning at the twentieth verse. When I had finished he said : Those are the words of Jesus ; they are true, and all philosophy is hollow.' [Italics Mrs. Jefferies's.] Another time he said : 0 God, I have done wrong and thought wrong : it was my intellectual vanity. Listen to the prayer of my dearest girl : she has done no evil as I have done.' Almost his last conscious
words were : have given myself unto God and Christ, and you pray for me : dear merciful God, merciful Father God bless you for all you did : you have reaped your reward, and your prayers are answered."
Prom his friend Mr. North.
" Almost his last intelligible words were Yes, yes, that is so. Help, Lord, for Jesus' sake. Darling, good-bye. God bless you and the children and save you all from such great pain."'
From Mrs. Jefferies to myself. "Jan. 6th, 1891.
I am thankful that your beautifully written and truthful little paper has been the means of showing to many our Blessed Lord's goodness and mercy to my beloved husband in drawing him to Himself. I trust I may not be wrong in thinking so, but it seems to me that the `testimony' of a person who has been at times inclined to sceptical views has a certain small value of its own, and is an instrument in God's hands ; and if my dear husband's last words could through God be the means of helping and lifting others in doubt and perplexity, he did not live and suffer in vain. I do thank you with my whole heart that you were instrumental in showing God's merciful goodness to my dear one —that he was most anxious and desirous to bear witness' I know : his words to me Those are the words of Jesus and they are true '—what could he have said more P " Mr. Salt says (" Richard Jefferies," Swan Sonnenschein and Co.) : " Even at the last he saw no priest, he withdrew no syllable of his writings, he made no acceptance of any sort of dogma." It is a very common idea of non-believers that Christian faith is the acceptance of a creed by the medium of a priest. The New Testament idea of saving faith is (1) con- fessing sin, especially intellectual pride ; (2) turning from it ; (3) calling on Christ as Lord with a sense of personal un- worthiness : " Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, the same shall be saved." I think it is true to say that none but those who have a vital faith in Him as a personal Saviour use that title " Lord " in speaking of or to Him, and all such who have read these letters have instinctively and unquestioningly recognised in Richard Jefferies a fellow-
believer. It has been suggested that if this were so, he would
have made some public confession or repudiated some of his writings. The wonder is that his shrinking, reticent nature and his ill-health did not prevent his speaking at all. Of course, he would only do so to those who were in sympathy with him. The letters above quoted are fragmentary ; they were supplementary to conversations which at this distance of time could not be accurately recalled. But it will be recognised by all who have themselves experienced it that Richard Jefferies did pass through the great change which differentiates the believer from the unbeliever ; and only they can appreciate the full significance of the words : " 0 God, I have done wrong and thought wrong : it was my intellectual vanity " ; and " Help, Lord, for Jesus' sake."— I am, Sir, &c.,
[This touching record of Richard Jefferies's last hours seems to us to dispose finally of the allegation that he did not return to the Christian faith.—ED. Spectator.]
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