I have recently read of a pathetic case in point.  In the Encyclopaedia Americana you will find a sketch of the life of George John Romanes, from which the following extract is taken:  “Romanes, George John, English scientist.  In 1879 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society and in 1878 published, under the pseudonym ‘Physicus,’ a work entitled, ‘A Candid Examination of Theism,’ in which he took up a somewhat defiant atheistic position.  Subsequently his views underwent considerable change; he revised the ‘Candid Examination,’ and, toward the close of his life, was engaged on ‘A Candid Examination of Religion,’ in which he returned to theistic beliefs.  His notes for this work were published after his death, under the title ‘Thoughts on Religion,’ edited by Canon Gore.  Romanes was an ardent supporter of Darwin and the evolutionists and in various works sought to extend evolutionary principles to mind, both in the lower animals and in the man.  He wrote very extensively on modern biological theories.”

Let me use Romanes’ own language to describe the disappointing experiences of this intellectual “prodigal son.”  On page 180 of “Thoughts on Religion” (written, as above stated, just before his death but not published until after his demise) he says, “The views that I entertained on this subject (Plan in Revelation) when an undergraduate (i.e., the ordinary orthodox views) were abandoned in the presence of the theory of Evolution.”

It was the doctrine of Evolution that led him astray.  He attempted to employ reason to the exclusion of faith—­with the usual result.  He abandoned prayer, as he explains on pages 142 and 143:  “Even the simplest act of will in regard to religion—­that of prayer—­has not been performed by me for at least a quarter of a century, simply because it has seemed impossible to pray, as it were, hypothetically, that, much as I have always desired to be able to pray, I cannot will the attempt.  To justify myself for what my better judgment has often seemed to be essentially irrational, I have ever made sundry excuses.”  “Others have doubtless other difficulties, but mine is chiefly, I think, that of an undue regard to reason as against heart and will—­undue, I mean, if so it be that Christianity is true, and the conditions to faith in it have been of divine ordination.”

In time he tired of the husks of materialism and started back to his Father’s house.  It was a weary journey but as he plodded along, his appreciation of the heart’s part increased until, on pages 152 and 153, he says, “It is a fact that we all feel the intellectual part of man to be ‘higher’ than the animal, whatever our theory of his origin.  It is a fact that we all feel the moral part of man to be ‘higher’ than the intellectual, whatever our theory of either may be.  It is also a fact that we all similarly feel the spiritual to be ‘higher’ than the moral, whatever our theory of religion may be.  It is what we understand by man’s moral, and still more his spiritual, qualities that go to constitute character.  And it is astonishing how in all walks of life it is character that tells in the long run.”