34 Teachings of Thomas Huxley 



evidence to show that our informant was not 

 more than credulous, nor less than honest. We 

 ought not to believe these narratives simply 

 because they are found in Holy Writ, for there 

 are too many possibilities of error aside from 

 a simple desire to deceive. 



THEISM AND ATHEISM. 



Reverence for belief in a Higher Power is a 

 common attribute of mankind from the basest 

 savage who worships the Sun to the highest 

 orthodox churchman. 7t is inconceivable to 

 finite minds that the Universe had no beginning 

 and that it shall alwavs continue as we know 

 it. 'W r e know that it is under control of fixed 

 laws, the harmony of which could scarcely be 

 maintained without the intervention of intelli- 

 gence ; but when we seek to explain the origin 

 of that intelligence we are absolutely power- 

 less because we deal with the infinite and un- 

 knowable. The nice adjustment of details 

 which the investigator of truth must find every- 

 where present in Nature compels admiration, 

 while it also excites interest and a desire to 

 study the more intimate relationships of mate- 

 rial things. Since it is so necessary, then, to 

 explain to oneself the characteristics of inter- 

 related objects, as well as their origin and 

 maintenance, it seems strange that a likely sci- 

 entific hypothesis, and one which fulfils better 



