14 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY cHAP. I 



Century for November 1887, under the title of 

 " Science and the Bishops " (reprinted both in Contro- 

 verted Questions and in the Collected Essays, v. 126, as 

 " An Episcopal Trilogy "). Preaching at Manchester 

 this autumn, during the meeting of the British 

 Association, the Bishops of Carlisle, Bedford, and 

 Manchester had spoken of science not only with 

 knowledge, but in the spirit of equity and generosity. 

 " These sermons," he exclaims, " are what the Germans 

 call Epochemachend ! " 



How often was it my fate (he continues), a quarter of 

 a century ago, to see the whole artillery of the pulpit 

 brought to bear upon the doctrine of evolution and its 

 supporters ! Any one unaccustomed to the amenities of 

 ecclesiastical controversy would have thought we were too 

 wicked to be permitted to live. 



After thus welcoming these episcopal advances, he 

 once more repudiated the d, priori argument against 

 the efficacy of prayer, the theme of one of the three 

 sermons, and then proceeded to discuss another 

 sermon of a dignitary of the Church, which had been 

 sent to him by an unknown correspondent, for " there 

 seems to be an impression abroad — I do not desire to 

 give any countenance to it — that I am fond of reading 

 sermons." 



Now this preacher Avas of a very different mind 

 from the three bishops. Instead of dwelling upon 

 the " supreme importance of the purely spiritual in 

 our faith," he warned his hearers against dropping 

 off any of the miraculous integument of their religion. 



