NOTES 



dence that in the reading and explaining of the Bible, what 

 the children will be taught will be the great truths of Chris- 

 tian Life and conduct, which all of us desire they should 

 know, and that no effort will be made to cram into their 

 poor little minds, theological dogmas which their tender age 

 prevents them from understanding." Huxley defines his idea 

 of a church as a place in which, " week by week, services 

 should be devoted, not to the iteration of abstract propositions 

 in theology, but to the setting before men's minds of an ideal 

 of true, just and pure living; a place in which those who are 

 weary of the burden of daily cares should find a moment's 

 rest in the contemplation of the higher life which is possible 

 for all, though attained by so few ; a place in which the man 

 of strife and of business should have time to think how 

 small, after all, are the rewards he covets compared with 

 peace and charity." 

 PAGE 14 



New Reformation: Huxley writes: "We are in the midst 

 of a gigantic movement greater than that which preceded 

 and produced the Reformation, and really only the continu- 

 ation of that movement. ... But this organization will be 

 the work of generations of men, and those who further it 

 most will be those who teach men to rest in no lie, and to 

 rest in no verbal delusion." 



ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING 

 NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (1866) 



PAGE 15 



On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Know- 

 ledge : from Method and Results : also published in Lay 

 Sermons, Addresses and Reviews. 



For the history of the times mentioned in this essay, see 

 Green's Short History of the English People. 

 The very spot : St. Martin's Borough Hall and Public 

 Library, on Charing Cross Road, near Trafalgar Square. 

 Defoe (1661-1731): an English novelist and political writer. 

 On account of his political writings Defoe was sentenced 

 to stand in the pillory, and to be "imprisoned during the 

 Queen's pleasure." During this imprisonment he wrote 

 many articles. Later in life he wrote Robinson Crusoe, The 

 Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, Journal of the 

 Plague Year, and other books less well known. 



PAGE 17 



unholy cursing and crackling wit of the Rochesters 

 and Sedleys : John Wilmot,the second Earl of Rochester, 

 and Sir Charles Sedley,were both friends of Charles II, and 

 iii 



