Perhaps the most appreciative analysis of Agassiz’s work and character
that has ever been written, appeared in _Harper’s Magazine_ for June,
1879. It was written by E. P. Whipple, his intimate friend for over
thirty years. In this most admirable article will be found a just
estimate of Agassiz’s religious views. The author says: “No justice can
be done to Agassiz which does not recognize the deep religiousness of his
nature.” Agassiz is represented as using the following words: “I will
frankly tell you that my experience in prolonged scientific investigation
convinces me that a belief in God—a God who is behind and within the
chaos of ungeneralized facts beyond the present vanishing points of human
knowledge—adds a wonderful stimulus to the man who attempts to penetrate
into the region of the unknown. For myself I may say that I now never
make the preparations for penetrating into some small province of nature
hitherto undiscovered without breathing a prayer to the Being who hides
his secrets from me only to allure me graciously on to the unfolding of
them. I sometimes hear preachers speak of the sad condition of men who
live without God in the world, but a scientist who lives without God in
the world seems to me worse off than ordinary men.”
The same author says: “Of one thing I am sure, he had a deep conviction,
as strong as that of Augustine, or Bernard, or Luther, or Edwards, or
Wesley, or Channing, that there were means of communication between the
Divine and the human mind.”