believed in it. It is Science which has cleared away these dark clouds, and we can hardly fail to see that it is just in those countries where Science is most backward that Religion is less well understood, and in those where Science is most advanced that Religion is purest. The services which Science has rendered to Religion have not as yet, I think, received the recognition they deserve.
Many of us may think that Huxley carried his scepticism too far, that some conclusions which he doubted, if not indeed proved, yet stand on a securer basis than he supposed.
He approached the consideration of these awful problems, however, in no scoffing spirit, but with an earnest desire to arrive at the truth, and I am glad to acknowledge that this has been generously recognized by his opponents.
From his own point of view, Huxley was no opponent of Religion, however fundamentally he might differ from the majority of clergymen. In Science we differ, but we are all seeking for truth, and we do not dream that any one is an enemy to 'science.'
In Theology, however, unfortunately as we think, a different standard has been adopted. Theologians often, though no doubt there are many exceptions, regard a difference from themselves as an attack on religion, a suspension of judgment as an adverse verdict, and doubt as infidelity.
It is, therefore, only just to them to say that their obituary notices of Huxley were fair and even generous. When they treated him as a foe they did so, as a rule, in a spirit as honorable to them as it was to him.
The 'Christian World,' in a very interesting obituary notice, truly observed that "if in Huxley's earlier years the average opinion of the churches had been as ready as it is now to accept the evolution of the Bible, it would not have been so startled by Darwin's theory of the evolution of man; and Darwin's greatest disciple would have enjoyed thirty years ago the respect and confidence and affection with which we came to regard him before we lost him."
"Surely it is a striking and suggestive fact that both the retiring and the incoming President of the Royal Society, by way of climax to their eulogies, dwelt on the religious side of Huxley's character. "If religion means strenuousness in doing right, and trying to do right, who," asked Lord Kelvin, "has earned the title of a religious man better than Huxley?" And similarly Sir J. Lister, in emphasizing Huxley's intellectual honesty, "his perfect truthfulness, his whole-hearted benevolence," felt impelled to adopt Lord Kelvin's word and celebrate "the religion that consists in the strenuous endeavor to be and do what is right."
Huxley was not only a great man, but a good and a brave one. It required much courage to profess his opinions, and if he had consulted
