A Crumb for the " Modern Symposium. 91 57 



orous 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 triumph- 

 antly through the perplexities and woes of the 

 world, and the possession of which, in some de- 

 gree, by most of its members, is the chief differ- 

 ential 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 enter- 

 tain theories that do not seem properly accred- 

 ited ; 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 na- 

 ture 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 " be- 

 lieve because he is told." I am sure that I un- 

 derstand Professor Huxley's attitude ; I think I 

 understand Lord Blachford's, also ; and it seems 

 to me that the difference between the two atti- 

 tudes, wide as it is, is stiU a purely intellectual 

 difference. It has its root in differently blended 



