THE MAN 15 



mind " delusive and mischievous," and there, since 

 his was not the spirit which denies, he leaves the 

 matter. The letter contains the already-quoted re- 

 mark that Sartor Resartus led him to knowledge of 

 the non-dependence of religion on theology, religion 

 meaning, as he says elsewhere, simply the reverence 

 and love for the ethical ideal, and the desire to realise 

 that ideal in life, which every man ought to feel. l 

 He adds : — 



Science and her methods gave me a resting-place 

 independent of authority and tradition. Love opened 

 up to me a view of the sanctity of human nature, and 

 impressed me with a deep sense of responsibility. 



In the chapter on " The Everlasting No " in Sartor, 

 Carlyle had said : — 



After all the nameless woes that Inquiry, which for 

 me, what it is not always, was genuine love of Truth, 

 had wrought me, I nevertheless still loved Truth and 

 bate no jot of my allegiance to her. 



In that allegiance Huxley never wavered : — 



If wife and child, and name and fame were all lost 

 to me, one after another, still I would not lie. 

 The longer I live, the more obvious it is to 

 me that the most sacred act of a man's life is to say 

 and to feel, " I believe such and such to be true." 

 All the greatest rewards and all the heaviest penalties 

 of existence cling about that act. The universe is 



1 Collected Essays, v. p. 249. 



