202 HUXLEY 



becomes as much a part of Christian dogma as any 

 article of the creeds. If it is to be rejected, there are 

 two alternative conclusions. Supposing the Gospels 

 to be historically accurate, it follows that Jesus shared 

 in the errors respecting the nature of the spiritual 

 world prevalent in the age in which He lived, and 

 among the people of His nation. If, on the other 

 hand, the Gospel traditions give us only a popular 

 version of the sayings and doings of Jesus, falsely col- 

 oured, and distorted by the superstitious imaginings of 

 the minds through which it had passed, what guaran- 

 tee have we that a similar unconscious falsification, in 

 accordance with preconceived ideas, may not have 

 taken place in respect of other reported sayings and 

 doings ? What is to prevent a conscientious inquirer 

 from finding himself at last in a purely agnostic posi- 

 tion with respect to the teachings of Jesus, and con- 

 sequently with respect to the fundamentals of Chris- 

 tianity ? x 



The old argument that miracles are impossible, be- 

 cause contrary to the order of nature, is no longer 

 advanced, since its force is limited to what we infer 

 from our experience of that order. The fact that a 

 certain thing has not happened within our knowledge 

 is no proof that it never happened in the past, or that 

 it can never happen in the future. Nothing, as 

 Huxley points out, is to be declared " impossible," 

 except contradictions in terms, as a round square, a 

 present past, or the intersection of two parallel lines. 

 None of us have seen a centaur or a griffin, but the 



1 Coll. Essays, v. pp. 193, I94 ; and see p. 218. 



