56 A CRUMB FOR THE [v. 



startling, if not paradoxical, to many who have not 

 yet come to realise how true it is that there is often 

 more real faith in honest scepticism than in languid 

 or timorous assent to a half-understood creed. But 

 no paradox is intended. I believe that there is as 

 much of the true essence of religion the spirit of 

 trust in God that has ever borne men triumphantly 

 through the perplexities and woes of the world, and 

 the possession of which, in some degree, by most of 

 its members, is the chief differential attribute of the 

 human race I believe that there is as much of this 

 spirit exhibited in the remarks of Professor Huxley as 

 in those of Lord Blachford. In the serenity of mood 

 with which the great scientific sceptic awaits the 

 end, whatever it -may prove to be, in the unflinching 

 integrity with which his intellect refuses to entertain 

 theories that do not seem properly accredited, in the 

 glorious energy with which, accepting the world as it 

 is, he performs with all his might and main the good 

 work for which he is by nature fitted in all this I 

 can see the evidence of a trust in God no less real 

 than that which makes it possible for his noble 

 Christian friend to " believe because he is told." I 

 am sure that I understand Professor Huxley's atti- 

 tude ; I think I understand Lord Blachford's, also ; 

 and it seems to me that the difference between the 



