362 LESSONS FROM NATUKE. [CHAP. XII. 



of the Genesis of Species, as also its bearing on our con 

 ceptions of religion, which Mr. Spencer pretends through 

 it to reconcile with science ; though as to such reconciliation 

 Mr. Lewes truly observes * that we can never &quot; successfully 

 found a Religion on the admission of this unknowable ; for 

 Religion, which is to explain the universe and regulate life, 

 must be founded on the known and knowable relations.&quot; 

 But, indeed, Mr. Spencer s system necessarily negatives every 

 form of religion, since he distinctly affirms that &quot; Theism &quot; 

 is &quot; incredible,&quot; and that no &quot; form of Religion &quot; is &quot; even 

 thinkable.&quot; 



Professor Huxley, however, tells us that the necessity of a 

 professor belief in a personal God, in order to a religion worthy 

 of the name, &quot; is a matter of opinion !&quot; Of course the 

 word religion may be employed in some unusual sense. I re 

 collect reading of a certain Emersonian who, having accom 

 panied his wife to see Fanny Elsler dance, and being charmed, 

 remarked to her during the performance &quot;Margaret, this 

 is poetry.&quot; To which his wife replied &quot;No, Paul, it is 

 religion!&quot; Of such religion I willingly make a present to 

 Professor Huxley. But, apart from such bizarre employ 

 ments of the word, I firmly adhere to my proposition. I 

 know that Buddhism, though &quot;a religion,&quot; is sometimes 

 asserted to be atheistic ; but the Buddhistic conception of a 

 power or principle apportioning after death rewards and 

 punishments according to a standard of virtue, necessarily 

 involves the existence of an entity, which, as being most 

 powerful, intelligent, and good, is virtually, and logically, a 

 personal God, whatever may be the name habitually applied 

 to it. 



I do not know what precise meaning Professor Huxley 

 himself would give to the word religion. He speaks of 

 &quot; worship, for the most part of the silent sort, at the altar 

 of the Unknown and Unknowable,&quot; but he has not (as far as 

 I recollect) explained to us as yet the full and exact nature 



Problems of Life and Mind, vol. ii. p. 453. 



